A federal judge has thrown out FDIC lawsuits against Citigroup Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp and U.S. Bancorp to recoup some of the more than $695 million that the regulator said it lost by selling soured mortgage debt once owned by a failed Texas bank, Reuters reported on Friday. U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter in Manhattan said on Friday that the FDIC, the receiver for Austin-based Guaranty Bank, lacked standing to sue after selling the debt in question through a March 2010 resecuritization transaction. "Any claims that plaintiff might have held, travelled with the bonds when they were transferred," Judge Carter wrote. The FDIC had accused the defendant banks of failing, in their roles as bond trustees, to ensure that mortgages backing $2.7 billion of securities bought by Guaranty were properly underwritten, or to require lenders to fix or buy back troubled loans. According to the lawsuits, the securities were issued from 2005 to 2007, and sponsored by the EMC unit of Bear Stearns Cos. or by a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp.
