The news just keeps getting worse for Standard & Poor’s Financial Services.
Setting in stone a tentative decision reached last week, a federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif. refused late Tuesday to toss a Justice Department lawsuit accusing S&P of duping investors with inflated credit ratings for financial products backed by subprime securities. U.S. District Judge David Carter rejected arguments by S&P’s lawyers at Cahill Gordon & Reindel and Keker & Van Nest that the company’s statements about the integrity of its rating process are mere “puffery,” allowing the government’s potentially groundbreaking case to move forward.
via Judge OKs S&P Fraud Suit, Nixing ‘Puffery’ Defense — The Litigation Daily