CrossCountry Mortgage settles sexual harassment case in Georgia

CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM), a branch manager in Georgia and a former employee have reached a settlement in a sexual harassment lawsuit, according to court filings.

The case began in June 2023 when former processor Christina Nielsen alleged that branch manager Steven Bocca subjected her and other female employees to sexual comments, unwanted touching and inappropriate solicitations.

Neither Bocca nor Nielsen’s attorney responded to HousingWire‘s requests for comment. CCM said it does not comment on legal matters.

On Aug. 18, the parties notified the court that they had reached a settlement, and Judge Michael L. Brown directed the clerk to close the case. The judge noted the parties must file a dismissal, but if the settlement falls through, they may move to reopen the case.  

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia‘s Atlanta Division, followed a complaint Nielsen filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in May 2022 and a right-to-sue notice in February 2023.

Nielsen joined CCM’s branch in Alpharetta, Georgia, in July 2018. Two and a half years later, she began reporting to Bocca, with whom she had daily interactions. In her lawsuit, she claimed she was repeatedly subjected to sexually inappropriate comments and advances.

“Plaintiff began to notice that Bocca’s leadership style was to intimidate, manipulate, and verbally abuse, and he commonly sexually harassed his female staff,” Nielsen’s attorney wrote in the lawsuit. 

Nielsen also alleged CCM retaliated against her after she raised complaints with human resources during a call on May 18, 2022. The company first reassigned her to work from home, then cut off her email access and effectively ended her ability to work, according to court documents.

“On July 5, 2022, Plaintiff was informed that CCM had accepted her termination during the Call on May 18 and that her last day of pay would be July 1, 2022,” the lawsuit states. “CCM had no basis to fire Plaintiff except for retaliation from her complaint of sexual harassment.”

The lawsuit stated that the company never investigated Bocca’s alleged conduct nor questioned other women at the branch. According to the lender’s website, Bocca remains a branch manager at CCM in Georgia.

CCM is the nation’s eighth-largest mortgage lender, with $23 billion in volume in the first half of 2025. according to Inside Mortgage Finance. That figure represents year-over-year growth of 32.5%.

The company was recently ordered to pay $2.1 million in a age discrimination case in Ohio, and it still faces another case with similar allegations in Pennsylvania.