Source: San Diego Daily Transcript Fri Apr 27, 2007
Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH – news) said Thursday that the audit committee of its board of directors has launched a review of the company’s mortgage-origination business related to a federal fraud investigation. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the homebuilder said it had retained independent legal counsel and an independent financial consultant to assist with the review and so far found no evidence to support the allegations of possible fraud in the company’s mortgage lending practices and other transactions. The company said it intended to vigorously defend itself.
The Associated Press attempted to reach a company official for comment, but none was available. The Atlanta-based company said last month that it had received a subpoena from the U.S. attorney’s office focused on the company’s mortgage origination services. The company said it was cooperating.
Beazer Homes has recently suffered hefty losses amid a downturn in the housing market.
The company reported Thursday that losses for the quarter ended March 31 totaled $43.1 million, compared with last year’s profit of $104.4 million. From the late 1990 to the mid-2000s, Beazer was a merchant builder in San Diego County. Among its projects were the Crest View neighborhood in master-planned San Elijo Hills in San Marcos and the Summit View neighborhood in The Villages of Morro Hills in Oceanside.
