Nearly 1,000 Florida employees have been laid off from Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortage Corp.
The Ocala, Fla.-based firm made the disclosure in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed yesterday with the State of Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.
Taylor Bean indicated in the filing that 964 employees were laid off on Aug. 5.
WARN filings are required at least 60 days in advance of termination, and the company could be subject to payroll liabilities through Oct. 5.
Taylor Bean, which in March was the lead investor in a $300 million bid to acquire failing Colonial BancGroup, began crumbling when that deal fell apart last month.
On Aug. 4, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a statement indicating that Taylor Bean had been temporarily suspended from originating or underwriting FHA-insured loans. HUD alleged that the company was complacent about mortgage fraud, failed to notify HUD about problems with its financial audit and failed to submit a required annual financial report.
The firm, which HUD said is the third largest FHA direct endorsement lender, also neglected to inform HUD about two examinations into its business practices by Kentucky regulators.
The next day, Taylor Bean disclosed that Freddie Mac had terminated it as a seller-servicer and said it would “cease all originations operations effective immediately,” including not funding or closing loans in the pipeline.
