COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENCIES AND REGULATORY MATTERS

We record a liability for contingencies 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.

Litigation

We are currently 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.

Sales Taxes

On June 21, 2018, the United States Supreme Court rendered a 5-4 majority decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., holding that a state may require a remote seller with no physical presence in the state to collect and remit sales tax on goods and services provided to purchasers in the state, overturning existing court precedent. The Company is analyzing its services for potential exposure to sales tax in various jurisdictions in the United States and believes that the Company has a related estimated probable loss of $6.2 million. As a result, the Company recognized a $6.2 million loss for the year ended December 31, 2018 in selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss). The Company is in the process of developing and implementing a solution that will enable it to invoice, collect and remit sales tax in the applicable jurisdictions. The Company is also analyzing what rights, if any, it has to seek reimbursement for sales tax payments from clients. As the Company completes its evaluation of potential sales tax exposure, the Company may increase its accrual for sales tax exposure and recognize additional losses, which are not currently estimable. These additional losses could result in a material adjustment to our consolidated financial statements which would impact our financial condition and results of operations.

Ocwen Related Matters

As discussed in Note 3, during the year ended December 31, 2018, Ocwen was our largest customer, accounting for 52% of our total revenue. Additionally, 6% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2018 was earned on the loan portfolios serviced by Ocwen, when a party other than Ocwen or the MSR owner selected Altisource as the service provider.

Ocwen has disclosed that it is subject to a number of ongoing federal and state regulatory examinations, cease and desist orders, consent orders, inquiries, subpoenas, civil investigative demand, requests for information and other actions and is subject to pending legal proceedings, some of which include claims against Ocwen for substantial monetary damages. For example, on May 15, 2017, Ocwen disclosed that on April 20, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the State of Florida filed separate complaints in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Ocwen alleging violations of Federal consumer financial law and, in the case of Florida, Florida statutes. As another example, on May 15, 2017, Ocwen also disclosed that on April 28, 2017, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit against Ocwen in the Superior Court for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts alleging violations of state consumer financial laws relating to Ocwen’s servicing business, including lender-placed insurance and property preservation fees. Ocwen disclosed that the complaints seek to obtain permanent injunctive relief, consumer redress, refunds, restitution, disgorgement, damages, civil penalties, costs and fees and other relief. The foregoing or other matters could result in, and in some cases, have resulted in, adverse regulatory or other actions against Ocwen. Previous regulatory actions against Ocwen resulted in subjecting Ocwen to independent oversight of its operations and placing certain restrictions on its ability to acquire servicing rights.

In addition to the above, Ocwen may become subject to future federal and state regulatory investigations, cease and desist orders, consent orders, inquiries, subpoenas, civil investigative demands, requests for information, other matters or legal proceedings, any of which could also result in adverse regulatory or other actions against Ocwen.

Ocwen has disclosed that NRZ is its largest client. As of September 30, 2018, NRZ owned MSRs or rights to MSRs relating to approximately 57% of loans serviced and subserviced by Ocwen (measured in UPB). In July 2017 and January 2018, Ocwen and NRZ entered into a series of agreements pursuant to which the parties agreed, among other things, to undertake certain actions to facilitate the transfer from Ocwen to NRZ of Ocwen’s legal title to the Subject MSRs and under which Ocwen will subservice mortgage loans underlying the Subject MSRs for an initial term of five years. NRZ can terminate its sub-servicing agreement with Ocwen in exchange for the payment of a termination fee.

The foregoing may have significant adverse effects on Ocwen’s business and/or our continuing relationship with Ocwen. For example, Ocwen may be required to alter the way it conducts business, including the parties it contracts with for services (including IT and software services), it may be required to seek changes to its existing pricing structure with us, it may lose its non-government-sponsored enterprise (“GSE”) servicing rights or subservicing arrangements or may lose one or more of its state servicing or origination 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 could 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, sells or transfers a significant portion or all of its remaining 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


•	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


•	Altisource otherwise fails to be retained as a service provider

Management cannot predict whether any of these events will occur or the amount of any impact they may have on Altisource. However, in the event one or more of these events 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 loan portfolios serviced by Ocwen (such as a transfer of Ocwen’s remaining servicing rights to a successor servicer), we believe the impact to Altisource could occur over an extended period of time. During this period, we believe that we will continue to generate revenue from all or a portion of Ocwen’s loan portfolios.

Our Servicer Solutions, Origination Solutions and Consumer Real Estate Solutions businesses are focused on diversifying and growing our revenue and customer base and we have a sales and marketing strategy to support these businesses. Management believes our plans, together with current liquidity and cash flows from operations, would be sufficient to meet our 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, 2018 under non-cancelable operating leases with an original term exceeding one year are as follows:



(in thousands)	Operating lease obligations

2019	$	17,600
2020	14,137
2021	9,849
2022	5,558
2023	3,441
Thereafter	1,323

	$	51,908

Total operating lease expense, net of sublease income, was $19.9 million, $19.0 million and $17.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Sublease income was $1.6 million, $1.3 million and less than $0.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The minimum lease payments in the table above have not been reduced by minimum sublease rentals totaling $2.8 million expected to be received under non-cancelable subleases. The operating leases generally relate to office locations and reflect customary lease terms which range from less than 1 year to 10 years in duration.

We have executed five standby letters of credit totaling $3.1 million, related to four office leases and a litigation matter that are secured by restricted 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 asset recovery management business’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 $23.6 million and $35.1 million at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.