STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 16 May 2014

[Demeter]

18. Geithner must give S&P documents in U.S. fraud lawsuit: filing

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/14/us-sp-lawsuit-geithner-idUSBREA4D07020140514?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

A federal judge ruled that former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner must hand over documents to Standard and Poor's relating to the ratings agency's claim that the United States sued it in retaliation for downgrading government debt.

The U.S. Department of Justice brought a civil fraud lawsuit against S&P in 2013, accusing it of inflating ratings to win more fees from issuers, and then failing to downgrade debt backed by deteriorating mortgage-backed securities fast enough.

S&P, a unit of McGraw Hill Financial Inc (MHFI.N), has claimed the lawsuit was filed in retaliation for the downgrade, and should be dismissed. Its main rating agency rivals, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, were not sued.

U.S. District Judge David Carter denied both Geithner's request to set aside S&P's subpoena and a similar request made by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Terrence Checki, the bank's executive vice president....


THEM COWS ARE COMING HOME TO ROOST, IT SEEMS