HUD hires DOJ special counsel.

HUD will be getting an assist from the Department of justice in its pursuit of fair lending, and it will come in the presence of one of Janet Reno's chief investigators. Richard Ritter, a former special counsel in Justice's housing and civil enforcement section, has been given a four-month contract with HUD to prepare a paper that will assist HUD in developing fair lending regulations to be released sometime next year (see Sept. 12 Mortgage Marketplace).

Ritter will also provide training sessions for HUD investigators and other employees on developing pattern of practice lending discrimination cases and assist the department on specific fair lending investigations. Ritter, who spearheaded Justice's first insurance redlining investigation of American Family Insurance Co. in Milwaukee, will also provide assistance to HUD in their probes of insurance discrimination cases.

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