Sweeney amends lawsuit against AIME, names UWM

The legal skirmish between Katie Sweeney and the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) is continuing to develop with a first amended complaint that officially names United Wholesale Mortgage, AIME’s main sponsor, and Sarah DeCiantis, UWM’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, as defendants.

Sweeney previously filed a motion on Oct. 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which sought permission to amend her complaint to add UWM and DeCiantis, alleging that they “tortiously interfered” with Sweeney’s transition agreement.

Now, in an amended complaint filed Dec. 11, Sweeney — who was CEO of AIME from 2021 to 2023 — claims that she helped grow the trade group financially but was pressured by UWM executives to run the nonprofit in UWM’s interests rather than independently.

AIME has disputed her role and instead described her as a board chair. But last week’s amended complaint says that “in January 2021, AIME issued a press release approved
by Summers and DeCiantis publicly announcing Sweeney as CEO of AIME.”

The amended complaint also alleges that both DeCiantis and UWM CEO Mat Ishbia “began pressuring Sweeney and [Marc] Summers via text messages, phone calls, and emails to behave in ways that directly benefited UWM, essentially seeking for AIME to operate as an extension of UWM and prohibiting the promotion of competing wholesale lenders.”

Sweeney also alleged that she, with the help of AIME’s senior vice president of development and an outside auditor, uncovered financial misconduct at AIME.

“In July 2023, the auditor notified the SVP of definitive embezzlement by an employee who had used AIME funds to pay her mortgage [to UWM] for over twelve months, including a payment that had been made in 2023. That same employee was alleged to have abused a company credit card by making personal purchases for months.”

When Sweeney notified Summers, she said that he was aware of the misconduct and had asked the employee to stop the conduct. When Sweeney directed him to fire the employee, she said Summers delayed the termination and “committed to putting the employee on a repayment plan, of which AIME and Summers never enforced or collected.”

Sweeney then notified DeCiantis of Summers’ actions and was told “that Summers would not now, nor ever, be removed from AIME.”

Sweeney also claims that she pushed for governance reforms, which UWM opposed. At the time of publication, representatives for UWM and AIME did not respond to HousingWire‘s requests for comment. Sweeney declined to comment.

Both situations ultimately led to Sweeney’s resignation in September 2023 and the signing of a transition agreement that promised her a $240,000 bonus and $240,000 in severance. Sweeney has noted that DeCiantis, not AIME’s president, negotiated and revised the terms of her exit from AIME.

But Sweeney claims that AIME never paid the $240,000 bonus and stopped paying severance before it was finished, which amounted to a remaining balance of $60,000. She also said that UWM and DeCiantis directed AIME not to pay her, especially after she went to work for their competitor, Rocket Pro, in January 2025.

The suit shows that Sweeney’s first amended complaint is “charging Defendant AIME with breach of contract and Defendants DeCiantis and UWM with tortious interference with contractual relations.”

Sweeney is also asking the court to award her all of the actual damages requested, as well as attorneys’ fees, interest before and after judgment, court costs and any other relief.