Federal, state regulators seek Met Mortgage probe
SPOKANE -- Federal and state regulators called Monday for an independent examination of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. to determine if the company has defrauded thousands of investors.
The request from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the state Attorney General's Office was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Spokane. The regulators also want to examine the books of Met Mortgage's sister company, Idaho-based Summit Securities Inc.
"We take this action today to safeguard the interests of more than 35,000 investors who purchased stocks and bonds in Metropolitan and Summit," said Helane Morrison, administrator of the SEC office in San Francisco. "An examiner will protect the rights of investors and help creditors locate sources of recovery."
A spokeswoman for Met Mortgage did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.
An SEC official said such requests are generally granted by bankruptcy judges.
Met Mortgage, a $2.5 billion financial conglomerate that was once a shining business star in Spokane, last Wednesday filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code. Company executives have said they want to save the company and emerge from Chapter 11 under a debt-for-equity plan in which investors would end up owning the business.
Some investors are skeptical that will work and are pushing for the company to sell its many real estate holdings across the United States to pay at least a portion of its $582 million in debt.
New Mormon temple will stand on 'Rexburg Hill'
SALT LAKE CITY -- The Mormon church has selected a hill overlooking its Brigham Young-Idaho campus as the new site for a temple.
The temple will stand prominently on "Rexburg Hill" to the south of campus, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Monday. A groundbreaking date has not yet been determined.
The church already has two temples in the state. The Idaho Falls temple was dedicated in 1945, and the Boise temple in 1984.
Currently, there are more than 360,000 members of the church in Idaho.
The church was first established in Idaho in 1860 when a party of colonizers arrived at what is now Franklin in northern Cache Valley in southeastern Idaho.