On June 6, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued a transfer order consolidating consumer fraud and securities actions brought by the attorneys general of fifteen states against Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (S&P) and two related declaratory judgment actions brought by S&P.  The state attorneys general suits, which had been pending in fifteen separate federal district courts, allege that S&P (and Moody’s Investor Service, Inc., in one of the cases) mischaracterized its independence in rating mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations.  The Panel noted that the actions implicated common factual issues and centralized the actions in the federal district court for the Southern District of New York.  Transfer Order.