Posted on 09/24/2008 10:33:19 AM PDT by george76
Fannie Mae CEOs Raines, Johnson got exemptions from standard requirements.
Two Barack Obama advisers, Franklin Raines and James Johnson, received preferential home loans as industry favors, apparently in deference to their executive positions heading Fannie Mae.
Raines and Johnson, as "friends of Angelo Mozilo," the chief executive of Countrywide Financial Corp. ...were funneled millions of dollars for personal home loans. Mozilo himself made exceptions from Countrywide policy to provide the two Fannie Mae CEO's "sweetheart deals."
Countrywide was acquired by Bank of America in January in an emergency rescue ...
Johnson earned $21 million in just his last year at Fannie Mae, where he served as CEO from 1991 to 1998. Raines earned $90 million in his five years as Fannie Mae CEO, from 1999 to 2004.
Raines and two other top Fannie Mae executives agreed to pay $24.7 million, including a $2 million fine, to settle a civil lawsuit filed in December 2006 that accused them of manipulating Fannie Mae earnings, allowing executives to pocket hundreds of millions in bonuses.
Johnson was appointed to head Obama's vice-presidential selection committee, but he was forced to step down when a controversy surfaced in June concerning alleged millions in questionable real estate loans he had received on favorable terms from Countrywide.
A Washington Post profile published July 17 said Raines was then playing a role advising the Obama presidential campaign on mortgage and housing policy.
Obama in his three complete years in the Senate is the second largest recipient of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae campaign contributions, behind only Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Mr. Raines, was forced to retire from Fannie Mae in 2004 when its regulator found it had violated accounting rules in an effort to conceal fluctuations in profit and hadn’t maintained adequate risk controls.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121279970984353933.html
And yet the NY Times is going after John McCain’s campaign manager because his company had dealings with Fannie and Freddie. Indirect links are so much more damning than direct ones when it comes to getting a Liberal elected.
No. Obama/Johnson/Raines/Dodd all tied tightly to the crisis. Two CEO’s and two top money recipients vs. one lobbyist. Stick this to them all the way to the election.
I’m not sure, but I think I read that Fannie Mae was still spending tens of thousands of dollars per year on Raines for lifetime health and life insurance and on contributions to his retirement fund.
They control the info...they control the outrage.
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