Nationstar has been a leading U.S. subprime lender. But the industry has been hit hard by escalating defaults and foreclosures, forcing several dozen subprime operators to close, curtail operations or seek bankruptcy protection. Fortress was not immediately available for comment. Any approved applications in Nationstar's pipeline will be honored, the subprime lender said. The company's servicing operations, which services over 105,000 loans totaling more than $10 billion, are unaffected. Edwards worked for Fortress as an adviser after he lost his vice presidential campaign in the 2004 election.