COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENCIES AND REGULATORY MATTERS

Litigation

From time to time, we are involved in legal and administrative proceedings arising in the course of our business. We record a liability for these matters if an unfavorable outcome is probable and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated, including expected insurance coverage. For proceedings where the reasonable estimate of loss is a range, we record a best estimate of loss within the range.

On September 8, 2014, the West Palm Beach Firefighters’ Pension Fund filed a putative securities class action suit against Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. and certain of its current or former officers and directors in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida alleging violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 with regard to disclosures concerning pricing and transactions with related parties that allegedly inflated Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. share prices. The Court subsequently appointed the Pension Fund for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 35 and the Annuity Fund for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 35 as Lead Plaintiffs. On January 30, 2015, Lead Plaintiffs filed an amended class action complaint which added Ocwen Financial Corporation as a defendant, and seeks a determination that the action may be maintained as a class action on behalf of purchasers of Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. securities between April 25, 2013 and December 21, 2014 and an unspecified amount of damages. Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. moved to dismiss the suit on March 23, 2015. On September 4, 2015, the Court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss, finding that the Lead Plaintiffs’ amended complaint failed to state a claim as to any of the defendants, but permitting the Lead Plaintiffs to file another amended complaint. Lead Plaintiffs subsequently filed second and third amended complaints with substantially similar claims and theories. Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. moved to dismiss the third amended complaint on October 22, 2015. On December 22, 2015, the Court issued an order dismissing with prejudice all claims against Ocwen Financial Corporation and certain claims against Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. and the officer and director defendants, but denying the motion to dismiss as to other claims. On December 19, 2016, the Court granted Lead Plaintiffs leave to file the fourth amended complaint, and Lead Plaintiffs filed the fourth amended complaint on December 28, 2016. On January 6, 2017, Defendants filed a motion to strike certain matters from the fourth amended complaint and a motion to dismiss certain claims pled in the fourth amended complaint. Before the Court ruled on Defendants’ motions, the parties notified the Court on January 19, 2017 of their agreement to settle the action, which is subject to Court approval. On February 10, 2017, the Court entered an order preliminarily approving the settlement, certifying a settlement class, approving the form and content of notice of the settlement to class members, and setting a hearing for May 30, 2017 to determine whether the settlement should be approved and the case dismissed with prejudice. Under the proposed settlement, Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. will pay a total of $32 million in cash, a portion of which will be funded by insurance proceeds, to a settlement fund to resolve all claims asserted and which could have been asserted on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. stock between April 25, 2013 and December 21, 2014. The proposed settlement provides that Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. and the officer and director defendants deny all claims of wrongdoing or liability.

On February 11, 2015, W.A. Sokolowski, an alleged shareholder of Ocwen Financial Corporation, filed an amended shareholder derivative complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Ocwen Financial Corporation (as a nominal defendant), certain of its current or former officers and directors, Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. and other companies. The suit seeks recovery of an unspecified amount of damages for alleged breaches of fiduciary duty by Ocwen Financial Corporation’s officers and directors, which were allegedly aided and abetted by Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. and other defendants. Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on November 9, 2015. While that motion was pending, additional lawsuits alleging similar claims for alleged breaches of fiduciary duties by current or former Ocwen Financial Corporation officers and directors were filed in or transferred to the Court. The Court subsequently consolidated these actions and denied Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A.’s motion to dismiss the Sokolowski complaint without prejudice to re-file following appointment of lead counsel for the consolidated action and the filing or designation of an operative complaint. Lead counsel for plaintiffs filed their Consolidated Verified Shareholder Derivative Complaint (the “Consolidated Complaint”) on March 8, 2016. The Consolidated Complaint alleges claims that Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A., its subsidiary Beltline Road Insurance Agency, Inc. and other defendants aided and abetted alleged breaches of fiduciary duties by Ocwen Financial Corporation officers and directors and/or were unjustly enriched in connection with business dealings with Ocwen Financial Corporation. The Consolidated Complaint also seeks contribution from Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A., its subsidiary Beltline Road Insurance Agency, Inc. and other defendants for amounts Ocwen Financial Corporation paid in connection with a settlement with the New York State Department of Financial Services. Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. and Beltline Road Insurance Agency, Inc. filed motions to dismiss the Consolidated Complaint on May 13, 2016. On October 13, 2016, the Court disclosed that the parties reached a settlement at a settlement conference held that same day. Following a Final Approval Hearing on January 18, 2017, the Court granted final approval of the settlement and entered a judgment dismissing the action with prejudice. Neither Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. nor Beltline Road Insurance Agency, Inc. made any monetary contribution to the settlement, and both Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. and Beltline Road Insurance Agency, Inc. deny all claims of wrongdoing or liability in connection with the Sokolowski action.

On March 26, 2015, Robert Moncavage, an alleged shareholder of Ocwen Financial Corporation, filed an amended shareholder derivative complaint in the Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, Florida against Ocwen Financial Corporation (as a nominal defendant), certain of its current or former officers and directors, Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. and other companies. The suit seeks recovery of an unspecified amount of damages for alleged breaches of fiduciary duties by the current or former Ocwen Financial Corporation officers and directors, which were allegedly aided and abetted by Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. and other defendants. On November 9, 2015, the Court entered an order staying all proceedings in the case pending further order of the Court. The judgment entered in connection with the Sokolowski action discussed above bars further prosecution of all claims asserted, or that could have been asserted, in this action based on the facts, events, conduct, and transactions alleged, all of which were released as part of the Sokolowski settlement. On February 9, 2017, the plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice and submitted a proposed order to the Court asking it to approve the dismissal of plaintiff’s claims against all defendants. The proposed order dismissing the action without prejudice is currently pending with the Court. Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. denies all claims of wrongdoing or liability in connection with the Moncavage action.

In addition to the matters referenced above, we are involved in legal actions in the course of our business, some of which seek monetary damages. We do not believe that the outcome of these proceedings, both individually and in the aggregate, will have a material impact on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Regulatory Matters

Periodically, we are subject to audits, examinations and investigations by federal, state and local governmental authorities and receive subpoenas, civil investigative demands or other requests for information from such governmental authorities in connection with their regulatory or investigative authority. We are currently responding to such inquiries from governmental authorities relating to certain aspects of our business. We believe it is premature to predict the potential outcome or to estimate any potential financial impact in connection with these inquiries.

In addition, on November 10, 2016, Altisource received a Notice and Opportunity to Respond and Advise (“NORA”) letter from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) indicating that the CFPB is considering a potential enforcement action against Altisource relating to an alleged violation of federal law that primarily concerns certain technology services provided to Ocwen. The NORA letter provides the recipient an opportunity to present its positions to the CFPB before an enforcement action is recommended or commenced. On December 15, 2016, we provided a written response to the NORA letter setting forth the legal, policy and factual reasons why we believe an enforcement action is not warranted. We are committed to resolving any potential concerns of the CFPB. If the CFPB were to bring an enforcement action against us, the resolution of such action could have a material adverse impact on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations. However, we believe it is premature to predict the potential outcome or to estimate any potential financial impact in connection with any potential CFPB enforcement action that may be under consideration.

Ocwen Related Matters

Ocwen is our largest customer and 56% of our 2016 revenue was from Ocwen. Additionally, 19% of our 2016 revenue was earned on the portfolios serviced by Ocwen, when a party other than Ocwen selected Altisource as the service provider.

Ocwen has disclosed that it is subject to a number of ongoing federal and state regulatory examinations, consent orders, inquiries, requests for information and other actions and is subject to pending legal proceedings that have or could result in adverse regulatory or other actions against Ocwen. While not all inclusive, regulatory actions to date have included subjecting Ocwen to independent oversight of its operations and placing certain restrictions on its ability to acquire servicing rights. Ocwen may become subject to future federal and state regulatory investigations, inquiries, requests for information and legal proceedings, any of which could also result in adverse regulatory or other actions against Ocwen.

As a result of the sale of substantially all of the assets of HLSS to NRZ in April of 2015, NRZ owned the rights to approximately 78% of Ocwen’s non-government-sponsored enterprise (“non-GSE”) servicing rights as of September 30, 2016. Under an agreement between NRZ and Ocwen, NRZ has the right (not necessarily the obligation or ability) to transfer servicing away from Ocwen if Ocwen does not maintain certain minimum servicer ratings on or after April 6, 2017.

Any or all of the foregoing may have significant adverse effects on Ocwen’s business and our continuing relationships with Ocwen. For example, Ocwen may be required to alter the way it conducts business, including the parties it contracts with for services (including information technology and software services), it may be required to seek changes to its existing pricing structure with us, it may lose or sell some or all of its non-GSE servicing rights or subservicing arrangements or may lose one or more of its state servicing licenses. Additional regulatory actions or adverse financial developments may impose additional restrictions on or require changes in Ocwen’s business that could require it to sell assets or change its business operations. Any or all of these effects could result in our eventual loss of Ocwen as a customer or a reduction in the number and/or volume of services they purchase from us or the loss of other customers.

If any of the following events occurred, Altisource’s revenue would be significantly lower and our results of operations could be materially adversely affected, including from the possible impairment or write-off of goodwill, intangible assets, property and equipment, other assets and accounts receivable:


•	Altisource loses Ocwen as a customer or there is a significant reduction in the volume of services they purchase from us


•	Ocwen loses or sells a significant portion or all of its non-GSE servicing rights or subservicing arrangements and Altisource fails to be retained as a service provider


•	Ocwen loses state servicing licenses in states with a significant number of loans in Ocwen’s servicing portfolio


•	Altisource fails to be retained as a service provider


•	The contractual relationship between Ocwen and Altisource changes significantly or there are significant changes to our pricing to Ocwen for services from which we generate material revenue

Management cannot predict the outcome of the above Ocwen related matters or the impact they may have on Altisource. However, in the event these Ocwen related matters materially negatively impact Altisource, we believe the variable nature of our cost structure would allow us to realign our cost structure in line with remaining revenue. Furthermore, in the event of a significant reduction in the volume of services purchased or loans serviced by Ocwen, we believe the impact to Altisource could occur over an extended period of time.

In this regard, we have a plan that we believe would allow us to efficiently execute on this realignment. We believe that transfers of Ocwen’s servicing rights to a successor servicer(s) would take an extended period of time because of the approval required from many parties, including regulators, rating agencies, residential mortgage-backed securities trustees, lenders and others. During this period of time, we believe we would continue to generate revenue from the services we provide to the transferred portfolio. Additionally, we have several strategic initiatives that focus on diversifying and growing our revenue and customer base. Our major strategic initiatives include growing our:


•	Servicer Solutions business


•	Origination Solutions business


•	Consumer Real Estate Solutions business


•	Real Estate Investor Solutions business

We have a sales and marketing strategy to support these initiatives.

Management believes our plans, together with current liquidity and cash flows from operations would be sufficient to meet working capital, capital expenditures, debt service and other cash needs. However, there can be no assurance that our plans will be successful or our operations will be profitable.

Leases

We lease certain premises and equipment under various operating lease agreements. Future minimum lease payments at December 31, 2016 under non-cancelable operating leases with an original term exceeding one year are as follows:



(in thousands)	Operating lease obligations

2017	$	17,857
2018	13,560
2019	10,706
2020	7,406
2021	5,469
Thereafter	1,154

	$	56,152

Total operating lease expense, net of sublease income, was $17.6 million, $20.0 million and $20.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Sublease income was $0.5 million, less than $0.1 million and $0.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. The minimum lease payments at December 31, 2016 in the table above have not been reduced by minimum sublease rentals of $3.1 million due in the future under non-cancelable subleases. The operating leases generally relate to office locations and reflect customary lease terms which range from 1 to 9 years in duration.

We have executed four standby letters of credit totaling $2.1 million, related to four office leases that are secured by cash balances.

Escrow and Trust Balances

We hold customers’ assets in escrow and trust accounts at various financial institutions pending completion of certain real estate activities. We also hold cash in trust accounts at various financial institutions where contractual obligations mandate maintaining dedicated bank accounts for our Financial Services segment’s collections. These amounts are held in escrow and trust accounts for limited periods of time and are not included in the consolidated balance sheets. Amounts held in escrow and trust accounts were $64.1 million and $66.6 million at December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.