Moodys Beats Whistleblower Suit

A whistleblower lawsuit claiming Moody’s Investors Service defrauded the U.S. government by failing to downgrade thousands of credit ratings quickly enough, leading to the 2008 financial crisis, has been dismissed. The suit was filed by a former Moody’s managing director who accused the financial firm of violating the False Claims Act by issuing inflated ratings for mortgage securities, credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations to win more business. But a Manhattan District Judge ruled that the suit failed to show Moody’s abused its status as a national credit ratings agency or led anyone to file false payment claims to the government.