The settlement closes the chapter on the last investigation by a Justice Department task force on the role financial firms played in the collapse of the housing market in 2008.
The Swiss-banking giant UBS agreed on Monday to pay $1.4 billion to settle U.S. claims that it misrepresented bonds backed by mortgages sold in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, a sign that the legacy of the turmoil that engulfed the global financial system continues to haunt Wall Street.
The settlement with UBS is the last action brought by a Justice Department task force that was set up in 2012, during the Obama administration. It investigated the role of big banks and other financial firms in selling flawed and predatory mortgage products that contributed to the collapse of the U.S. housing market, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said in a news release.