Katie Sweeney, AIME lawsuit escalates as broker group files counterclaims

Katie Sweeney, the former top dog at the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) and the current executive vice president of strategy and broker advocacy at Rocket Pro, is denying claims by AIME that she misrepresented her role, concealed conflicts and awarded herself payments she wasn’t entitled to.

Sweeney is suing the trade group for more than $280,000 in unpaid bonus and severance payments. Sweeney originally filed suit in February in Texas’s Tarrant County District Court, claiming that AIME breached a 2024 transition agreement that promised her a $240,000 bonus and $240,000 in severance across 12 months after her March 2024 resignation.

Only Sweeney and AIME are listed as parties in the lawsuits.

Sweeney claims that AIME failed to pay the bonus by its Feb. 29, 2024, deadline and stopped making $20,000 monthly severance installments in January after paying nine of 12 installments. Sweeney made several demands and inquiries regarding the payments, the suit shows.

“On January 31, 2025, AIME responded, acknowledging Sweeney’s January 27th demand letter but advising that AIME is ‘investigating’ the Agreement and that, while its investigation is pending, AIME will not be making any payments to Sweeney,” the suit states.

AIME, however, filed a notice of removal on April 10, 2025, which moved Sweeney’s lawsuit out of the Texas state court and into federal court. The group then fired back with an answer to the complaint on April 17 — outlining several counterclaims and allegations that Sweeney arranged her own exit package, pressured AIME President Marc Summers to sign it, and directed more than $900,000 in payments to herself between 2021 and 2024.

AIME also noted in the April 17 document that Sweeney steered contracts and sponsorships to entities in which she had an interest, including the Broker Action Coalition (BAC) and Brokers are Better, now known as The Mortgage Xchange.

AIME is now asking the federal judge to declare the transition agreement void. It argues that the document violated bylaws that barred compensation for directors and was never approved by its board. AIME is also seeking to rescind payments already made to Sweeney.

In an August court filing that answered AIME’s counterclaims, Sweeney denied wrongdoing and said the group already acknowledged her 2023 bonus and approved her transition agreement. She also argued that United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) chief marketing officer Sarah DeCiantis, not AIME’s president alone, negotiated and revised the terms of her exit.

In its amended answer and counterclaims, filed Sept. 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, AIME denied that Sweeney was ever the CEO, describing her instead as board chair.

Several reports published during Sweeney’s time at AIME, however, referred to her as the group’s CEO, including a 2021 HousingWire article announcing Sweeney’s promotion.

Sweeney’s lawsuit seeks damages of $280,000 plus attorneys’ fees and interest.

“For more than 5 years, I dedicated all of my time and energy to helping independent mortgage brokers build stronger, more diverse businesses,” Sweeney said in a statement. “My legal claims are based on facts of a mutually signed agreement, and I will continue to fight back against efforts to intimidate or discredit me.

“This is about standing up to legal bullies and ensuring that brokers and the communities they serve have fair and honest advocates on their side. I look forward to sharing more of my experiences from my tenure at AIME throughout the course of this process.”

Neither AIME nor its legal team responded to HousingWire’s request for comment, nor did UWM, The Mortgage Xchange or Sweeney’s lawyers.