Saying that it failed to disclose the risks to two now-defunctcorporate credit unions, the NCUA on Tuesday filed suit against thecompany formerly known as Wachovia Securities.

The suit alleges that residential mortgage backed securities thefirm sold U.S. Central and WesCorp were “significantly riskier''than represented in the offering documents and the securities were“destined from inception to fail.”

U.S.Central bought $43.9 million in RMBS from Wachovia and $78.1million in RMBS underwritten by Wachovia. WesCorp bought $44.3 million of RMBS from Wachovia, the suitsaid.

Since it was purchased by Wells Fargo, the firm is now known asWells Fargo Securities.

The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas,is the latest in a series of lawsuits the agency has filed againstfirms that sold RMBS to corporate credit unions.

“The NCUA continues to do everything within our authority toseek maximum recoveries and ensure that those who caused theproblems in wholesale credit unions pay for the losses incurred byretail credit unions,” NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz said in astatement. “By filing these suits, we intend to hold responsibleparties accountable for their actions.”

The NCUA already has sued J.P. Morgan Securities, RBS Securities and Goldman Sachs fornot fully disclosing the risks when it sold RMBs to the corporates.The collapse of the housing market caused the value of thosesecurities to plummet, leading to massive losses to thecorporates.

That convergence of events required the NCUA to rescue some ofthem, with the help of a loan from the Treasury Department. Thecredit union system is paying for the rescue through annualassessments. This year's assessment was 25 basis points.

On Nov. 14, the agency announced it had reached settlements totaling $165.5 million with Citigroup andDeutsche Bank Securities over the sales of residentialmortgage-backed securities to the five corporate credit unions thatfailed.

The settlements, in which the banks admitted no guilt, were for$20.5 million from Citigroup and $145 million from Deutsche BankSecurities. The agency reached those settlements without filinglawsuits.