S&P faces a $5 billion fraud claim brought by the US Justice Department. The Justice Department is seeking to recover this sum after the US government paid out similar amounts to institutions which were insured by the government and which had relied on S&P ratings on mortgage-backed securities and other products. It is alleged that its ratings were not independent or free from conflicts of interest. However, S&P is expected to try to show that the government was influenced by the fact that the company had downgraded US sovereign debt. 

S&P has recently lost a pretrial attempt to get the case dismissed in a federal court in California. Representing S&P, John Keker of Keker & Van Nest told the judge in California that he will attempt to get access to documents in the first place, and then will seek to interview individuals. According to Bloomberg Law, he said: 'We anticipate highly contentious motion practice. They’re going to fight like mad.'

Former federal prosecutor Wayne Gross of Greenberg Gross expects the government to put up strong resistance to attempts to get access to documents and individuals. He said: 'It is important that the government be able to conduct investigations confidentially to protect the subjects of investigations who may never be charged.'