Couple claims former AGs conspired with Bank of America, suit says


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SALT LAKE CITY — Already facing multiple criminal charges, former Utah Attorneys General Mark Shurtleff and John Swallow have been sued by a Salt Lake couple over their handling of a lawsuit against Bank of America.

Darl and Andrea McBride say Shurtleff and Swallow personally benefitted from their involvement in the case at the expense of Utah homeowners, including the McBrides, whose houses Bank of America had foreclosed on. The couple says the bank forced them into default as a condition of modifying their loan and then tried to take their home.

Kevin McBride, a lawyer and Darl McBride's brother, said the criminal case against the state's two former top law enforcement officials triggered the lawsuit filed last week in 3rd District Court.

Some felony charges against Shurtleff and Swallow, including receiving or soliciting a bribe and accepting gifts when prohibited by law, are connected to the Bank of America case.

"Mr. Swallow got a big campaign contribution. Mr. Shurtleff got a new job and Utah homeowners got nothing," Kevin McBride said.

In March 2011, Timothy and Jennifer Bell filed a federal lawsuit against Bank of America, challenging its foreclosure practices. They claimed the bank induced them into default as a condition of a home loan modification.

The attorney general's office later intervened in the Bells' case, taking the position that Bank of America's practices in Utah were illegal.


We knew what Bank of America did was wrong in leading my brother and other homeowners into default. But the whole connection between the attorney general giving protection for that kind of activity never became clear until the criminal case was filed just a few weeks ago.

–Kevin McBride


In August 2012, the Bells hosted a fundraiser for Swallow's 2012 attorney general campaign that cost $28,000 to put on but that he reported on campaign finance disclosures as a $15,000 in-kind donation and later a $1,000 donation, according to the criminal charges.

Later that month, Swallow met with Bank of America lobbyists and told a division chief in the attorney general's office that he might have given the bank the impression that if the Bells' case was settled, the state would drop out of the lawsuit.

The Bells accepted a loan modification from the bank on Oct. 30, 2012. On the same day, Shurtleff interviewed for a job in Washington, D.C., with the law firm Troutman Sanders, whose clients include Bank of America.

During his last week in office, Shurtleff dismissed its claim in the Bells' Bank of America lawsuit over the objections of the attorneys in his office who worked on the case.

"We knew what Bank of America did was wrong in leading my brother and other homeowners into default," Kevin McBride said. "But the whole connection between the attorney general giving protection for that kind of activity never became clear until the criminal case was filed just a few weeks ago."

McBride said they "realized at that point in time that whole arrangement had essentially been a bribe. There's no other way to say it."

The lawsuit, which names Bank of America as a defendant, seeks at least $33 million, including $30 million in punitive damages.

Contributing: Becky Bruce and Geoff Leisik

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