JPMorgan sued over $3.6 billion in mortgage securities

The National Credit Union Administration sued JPMorgan Securities and Bear Stearns & Co on Monday over alleged misconduct in the sale of $3.6 billion in mortgage securities to credit unions that collapsed on losses from the securities. Bear Stearns made misrepresentations in connection with the underwriting and subsequent sale of mortgage-backed securities to U.S. Central, Western Corporate, Southwest Corporate and Members United Corporate federal credit unions, the lawsuit alleged.

New Home Sales hit 2-year High

NEW YORK  -- In another sign of a housing market recovery, new-home sales rose in September to the highest level in more than two years, according to a government report released Wednesday.

Sales sold at an annual rate of 389,000 homes in the month, according to the Census Bureau report, up 5.7% from the 368,000 sales pace in August. The last time sales were at this pace, in April 2010, they were being helped by a short-term home buyer's tax credit.

This time, the new home market has been showing steady signs of improvement. The pace of home building hit a four-year high in September, according to a separate government report. The year-over-year sales improvement in September reached 27.1%.

The improvement in the market is part of a broader recovery in real estate, helped by a number of factors all coming together.

Mortgage rates are near record lows, pushed down by the Federal Reserve's decision to buy $40 billion in mortgages to spur greater economic growth. The low rates, coupled with years of weak home sales, have resulted in affordable housing prices. Recently, home prices have started to rise, which is attracting buyers who were waiting for prices to bottom out.

There has also been a drop in unemployment, a positive development for people looking for mortgage loans.

Foreclosures have fallen to a five-year low, reducing the supply of distressed homes available on the market.

NY Man Faces Charges in Facebook Scam

Paul Ceglia, a wood-pellet salesman from Wellsville, New York, was charged with mail fraud and wire fraud over what the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan said was fabricated evidence to support his claim of a large ownership stake in Facebook. His lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

The businessman sued Facebook and its CEO in 2010 claiming a 2003 contract he signed with Mark Zuckerberg, then a Harvard University student, entitled him to a stake in the social media company. This past March, as part of that case, Facebook released emails sent by Mark  Zuckerberg around the time of the contract to show Paul Ceglia's claims were false.

"Ceglia used the federal court system to perpetuate his fraud and will now be held accountable for his criminal scheme," Orin Snyder, a partner at law firm Gibson Dunn representing Facebook and Mark  Zuckerberg in the civil case, said in a statement.

Paul Ceglia, 39, was arrested at his home Friday morning and was to appear in federal court in Buffalo later in the day, authorities said.

Investigators for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which is conducting the probe, made the arrest following Paul Ceglia's return this week after spending time out of the country, according to a source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly on the case.

The case is USA v. Paul Ceglia, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

TiVo Settles Verizon Lawsuit for $250m

Verizon will pay  TiVo Inc. at least $250.4 million to license its digital video recording technology and settle a patent lawsuit. It is the third settlement that Tivo has garnered in recent patent cases. At the heart of the cases, Tivo has alleged that companies have copied its DVR technology. The company's string of settlements "bodes well for its future litigation," said Alan Gould, an analyst with Evercore, in a research note.

TiVo, based in Alviso, Calif., is set to go to trial in patent lawsuits over DVRs made by Google Inc.'s Motorola unit and Cisco Systems Inc. next year. Gould reiterated his "Overweight" rating on shares with a $13 price target. News of the settlement sent Tivo's stock up 38 cents, or 4 percent, to close at $9.94 Monday. The stock traded at a 52-week high of $12.37 in late March. Shares of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. rose 4 cents to $45.68.

The two companies agreed to dismiss all pending litigation. They had been scheduled to go to trial in October. The deal with Verizon is the latest in a string of patent settlements for TiVo, which developed the first commercially available DVR. The device made it easy for people to record programs and watch them later, skipping over ads. Last year TiVo settled with satellite TV company Dish Network Corp. and its set-top box provider EchoStar Corp. for $500 million, and earlier this year resolved a lawsuit against AT & T Inc. for $215 million. The payments from those settlements are staggered over several years. The company has said the settlements bring its operations closer to profitability.

TiVo has posted an annual loss in eight of the past 10 years. Under the settlement with Verizon, TiVo will get an initial cash payment of $100 million and quarterly payments totaling $150.4 million through July 2018. Verizon will also pay monthly license fees through July 2018 for each of its DVR subscribers above a certain level. If the companies work together on certain joint initiatives, $29.4 million of the payment would be subject to a credit. The companies may also make Internet video services developed through Verizon's joint venture with video rental kiosk Redbox accessible through TiVo's DVRs.