KB, Ryland Settle Kickback Probes

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KB Home, Ryland Group Inc. and four other home builders agreed to pay a total of $1.4 million to settle federal investigations into whether they accepted rebates from insurers for referrals when selling homes.


State regulators said they found that some referral payments made to realtors, developers, lenders and builders led to higher closing costs for some consumers, the settlements said.


Los Angeles-based KB agreed to pay $456,000 while Calabasas-based Ryland paid $84,000 to settle the probes without admitting wrongdoing, the federal housing agency said in a statement.


The other builders that settled and the amounts they agreed to pay: Pulte Homes Inc., the nation’s third-largest homebuilder, $466,000; Beazer Homes USA Inc., the ninth-largest U.S. homebuilder, $261,000; Meritage Homes Corp., $66,000; and Tousa Inc., $52,000.


Shares in KB gained 1.8 percent to $28.33 while Ryland added 2.7 percent to $28.85 in afternoon trading Tuesday.

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