Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) on Monday dropped JPMorgan Chase from a mortgage securities lawsuit against the country’s biggest banks, after learning that his predecessor Ken Cuccinelli (R) had already struck a confidential settlement with the bank, the Washington Post reported yesterday. The decision comes a week after Herring announced a $1.15 billion lawsuit against 13 of the country’s biggest banks for misleading a state retirement fund about the quality of bonds made up of residential mortgages. JPMorgan and its Washington Mutual subsidiary were named in the suit, along with Citigroup and Bank of America, for packaging faulty home loans into securities sold to the Virginia Retirement System (VRS). According to Herring’s office, the pension fund failed to inform the attorney general that the previous administration had reached a $3 million settlement with JPMorgan in 2013. Kelly said the case against the remaining 11 banks will go forward.
