"What quid pro quo? I tell ya---it was a lousy mortgage from my pal, Angie."
Posted on 09/26/2008 5:50:44 AM PDT by stockpirate
The Wall Street Journal reports that a federal grand jury in Los Angeles is investigating the so-called "Friends of Angelo" loan program at Countrywide Financial, under which influential borrowers received preferential terms on home loans.
The reported borrowers under the program have included U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Franklin Raines, and California state appeals court judge Richard Aldrich.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
Mark Twain
Doesn’t this group include Obama and Biden as well?
Good news.
But like all investigations against rat crooks in high places, it will go nowhere.
First, we have the MSM which will ignore this reality and focus on Sarah abusing the rights of polar bears, moose and Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.
Then, we have the left over Clintoon perfumed princes and lesbians needing to shave in justice. They are still looking at how they can impeach GW and Cheney.
Last, but not least the California Supreme court and 9th circus posing as a court will delay and squash any real indictments.
They have all of the names, now lets see them all busted!
republicans and right thinking dems must do this in order to have any respect!
“I WANT HEADS ON A SILVER PLATTER!!!!”
I’d also like them to have to sit and watch while all of their assets are sold at auction. We have welfare so the families won’t starve. A good public education for the children might improve the stock.
Probably not in the way you wish. The grand jury’s investigation is for the purpose of NOT bringing any indictments back. Thereby in the future the wrongdoers will be able to say, “A federal grand jury thoroughly investigated this matter and refused, on the basis of evidence, to issue indictments”.
They’ll call it a verdict of complete innocence and challenge anyone to dispute “a federal grand jury exoneration”.
The fix is in.
I hope Democratic Senator Dodd gets frog marched to prison.Keep in mind that this is the Dodd who's daddy, also a senator (who says the U.S. doesn't have hereditary royalty), copied a translation of the Nazi gun control laws to "write" GCA 1968. [Details on jpfo.org]
From your lips to God's ears.
I think about that, or I should say, I dream about that, regularly:)
I’m looking toward NEW sentencing for “white collar” crimes. They should be judged for ruining the lives of thousands, or millions, of people.
For their premeditated acts, we should consider them in the same class as pedophiles, rapists, drug pushers and murderers. They take the same joy of controlling and demoralizing others.
IMHO, ALL of the above should not be sent to prison to lie leisurely at our expense. They should die. Maybe then, others will learn that crime does not pay.
"What quid pro quo? I tell ya---it was a lousy mortgage from my pal, Angie."
POSTED FOR YOUR REFERENCE
RAINING MONEY - Franklin Raines fired for cooking the books---walks away w/ $90 million tax dollars
archived headliner reports dot.com with 2006 update
Proving you can fool most of the people most of the time until you get caught, Franklin Raines, who reigned for 5 years following Clinton's appointing him as CEO of Fannie Mae, the US' quasi-governmental mortgage house, has been ousted. There are several ongoing investigations of Fannie Mae's operations and accounting practices covering the last 5 years in order to determine when accounting irregularities started and the magnitude of the financial shortfalls. Current estimates indicate that there was a $9 billion misstatement of earnings and accounting irregularities between 2000-2004.
Former chief executive Franklin Raines received more than $40 million in bonuses and other pay as a result of falsely inflated earnings at the US' largest mortgage finance company. This is according to a supplement of a lawsuit filed by Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro. Fannie Mae added "tens of millions of false revenue" to meet "Raines' 1999 publicly announced goal to double" earnings over the next five years, Petro's November 23, US District Court in Washington alleges. The filing alleges that, "Raines personally profited by over $40 million by this false earnings history.
Update -- 2/22/2006: Former Senator Warren Rudman's team of investigators and auditors selected from his law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and from Huron Consulting Group presented their 600-page report calling Fannie Mae's accounting systems "grossly inadequate." It is based on a review of millions of documents.
The report found that accounting obfuscations were intended to increase stock valuations, thus increasing executive bonuses.
Raines was one of the most influential and politically savvy figures in Washington is identified by the Rudman investigation as not directly knowing that Fannie Mae's accounting practices violated rules. The report does state, "We did find, however, that Raines contributed to a culture that improperly stressed stable earnings growth and that... he was ultimately responsible for the failures that occurred on his watch".
Raines will continue to live well being supported by Fannie Mae's shareholders. Some relevant facts include: -- Raines and his wife will be paid $114,393 a month as long as they live. -- Stock options: Raines holds vested stock options worth roughly $5.7 million. -- Stock bonuses: Raines was granted awards, payable in stock, for reaching performance goals. Under the program, he got 69,577 shares... half of what Fannie determined he should receive in January. At Monday's close, the shares are worth $4.9 million. It is unclear if he will receive the rest. -- Deferred pay: For tax planning while employed by the company, Raines was allowed to put off the receipt of payment. These deferred past payments total $8.7 million --
Future salary: Although Fannie Mae says Raines' retirement was effective December 21, 2004, he is seeking to have it effective as of June 22, 2005, and thereby receive $600,000 more in pay.
Mr. Raines followed a well-worn path in the United States during the later half of the 20th century. His humble beginnings were in Seattle. He won a scholarship to Harvard and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He worked on Wall Street for over a decade in the prestigious firm Lazard Freres. He was a member of President Clinton’s cabinet and director of his Office of Management and Budget. In 1999, Clinton selected him for the position of Fannie Mae CEO.
Following revelations of the financial scandal, Mr. Raines took early retirement from Fannie Mae so that he could collect a compensation package including $1 million per year for life and $11 million in vested stock. In 2003 Mr. Raines was paid $20 million in salary and bonus.
Fannie Mae is facing criminal investigations by the Justice Department, operational investigations by the SEC, and various Congressional investigations. There are questions regarding earnings statements being incorrectly inflated. In 2003, if derivative and other losses had been included, no bonuses would have been paid to top executives. However, deferral of the losses allowed declared earnings to reach a level which triggered maximum executive bonuses.
It is a far stretch to imagine that Franklin Raines actually was capable of satisfying the requirements of the positions he held from Harvard to Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. If he had been competent enough to hold those positions, how could he have been Fannie Mae's CEO for 5 years and allowed, not known about, or not understood that $9,000,000,000 was being mishandled.
FR POSTED http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2086744/posts?page=1
Don’t count the chickens before they hatch.
thanks Ernest.
The Democratic ACORN bailout; Update: Video added
(Hidden in the Paulson Recovery Plan?)
Hot Air | 7:55 am on September 26, 2008 | Ed Morrissey
Posted on 09/26/2008 6:11:36 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2091002/posts
bump
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