FDIC change helps the middle class too…by Congresswoman Jane Harman

Congresswoman Jane Harman responds to Washington Post editorial comment which falsely claimed Indymac victims as a few wealthy investors. Congresswoman Harman aptly describes the average depositor, who had no idea to suspect that Indymac was cooking the books, and an unscrupulous OTC employee overseeing the “Western Region” of banking allowed backdating of funds to prop up the value of the bank, allowing it to accept new deposits, all the way through the day of closing.

Further to that, bank employees, as alleged and proven by many Federal Court cases incorrectly titled accounts in their electronic records, leaving off beneficiaries, and co-owners of CD’s, further reducing FDIC coverage. Since the bank did not provide copies of signature cards, there was NO WAY to know these facts, unless one could get into the computer records, and compare with paper signature cards. FDIC only accepted the computer records as proof of account ownership and titling.

To read the editorial article, please click HERE.

Humble Start for FDIC Shift… WSJ article by Ruth Simon & Peter Lattman

To read the article, please click HERE.

A quote:
An FDIC spokesman said the retroactive rescue “would provide a more-even treatment of uninsured depositors since the onset of the crisis.” In response to depositor complaints, the agency has simplified some of its rules on insurance coverage for account beneficiaries. A spokesman for OneWest Bank, formed by private-equity investors who bought IndyMac assets and operations from the FDIC last year, declined to comment. … Of course they declined to comment.

HARMAN, DREIER “InDY ACT” PROVIDES RETROACTIVE PROTECTION FOR INDYMAC DEPOSITORS Congressional Desk

American Chronicle echoes the same message about the Press release on behalf of Congresswoman Harman and Congressman Dreier.

A couple of nice quotes here:
“Our bill will restore to IndyMac customers what they suddenly lost in July 2008, and treat them as equals to other Americans whose savings were swallowed by the economic crisis,” said Harman. “Congress can make these people whole again. We have spent a trillion dollars bailing out Wall Street, the auto industry and banks. It´s time for more help for Main Street.”

“Seeking fairness for former IndyMac depositors has been a priority since the bank´s takeover in the summer of 2008,” Dreier said. “Their losses were no less difficult and no less tragic than those that occurred later that same year. It is only fair that the families and small business owners who kept their savings with IndyMac receive the same protection as those who lost funds at other financial institutions but were covered by the higher deposit insurance amount.”

To read the American Chronicle article, Click Here.

Indymac depositors get another shot at retroactive deposit insurance

Ryan Carter
Posted: 05/27/2010 04:23:20 PM PDT

Local lawmakers Thursday introduced an amendment to financial reform that would allow depositors at failed Pasadena-based Indymac Bank to recoup a collective $233 million in lost savings.

The amendment, called the Indy Act, would make a federal deposit insurance cap of $250,000 retroactive to the time IndyMac failed in July of 2008. At the time, deposit insurance was set for deposits up to $100,000. But as the financial crisis grew Congress only a few months later approved the heightened cap.

But the cap did not extend to institutions that failed before October 2008.

“The whole thing is about fairness,” said Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, who along with Rep. Jane Harman, D-Venice, introduced the bill Thursday.

Read more: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_15176568#ixzz0pCo8I9Re

Thrifts post 1Q net income of $1.82B, By MARCY GORDON The Associated Press Monday, May 24, 2010; 7:29 PM

A glimpse of this article:

Many lawmakers and consumer advocates have criticized the OTS for what they say was lax oversight of the thrift industry in the run-up to the financial crisis. The previous OTS director, Scott Polakoff, was put on leave pending an investigation into improper backdating of cash infusions at six thrifts including IndyMac. He later left the government. Sweeping legislation to overhaul financial regulations that passed the Senate last week calls for abolishing the OTS.

To read more of this Washington Post article, Click Here.

Bankers jailed, sued as Iceland seeks culprits for crisis May 12 01:44 PM US/Eastern

More than a year and a half after Iceland’s major banks failed, all but sinking the country’s economy, police have begun rounding up a number of top bankers while other former executives and owners face a two-billion-dollar lawsuit.

Since Iceland’s three largest banks — Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir — collapsed in late 2008, their former executives and owners have largely been living untroubled lives abroad. Maybe the US will be next? or will we just dole out more TARP funds for Banker’s bonuses?

To read the full story, Click Here!

Mortgage Meltdown: How Banks Silenced Whistleblowers In-House Investigators at Banks Say Company Officials Ignored Their Warnings About Fraud

Amid the frenzy of the nation’s mortgage boom, the back-of-the-hand treatment that Parmer describes wasn’t out of the ordinary. Parmer was one of a small band of in-house gumshoes at various financial institutions who uncovered evidence of corruption in the mortgage business—including made-up addresses, pyramid schemes, and organized criminal rings—and tried to warn their employers that this wave of fraud threatened consumers as well as the stability of the financial system. Instead of heeding their warnings, they say, company officials ignored them, harassed them, demoted them, or fired them.

In interviews and in court records, 10 former fraud investigators at seven of the nation’s biggest banks and lenders—including Wells Fargo (WFC), IndyMac Bank, and Countrywide Financial—describe corporate cultures that allowed fraud to thrive in the pursuit of loan volume and market share. Mortgage salesmen stuck homeowners into loans they couldn’t afford by exaggerating borrowers’ assets and, in some cases, forging their signatures on disclosure documents. In other instances, banks opened their vaults to professional fraudsters who arranged millions of dollars in loans using “straw buyers,” bogus identities, or, in a few instances, dead people’s names and Social Security numbers. To read the full story of fraud encounters: Click Here

Goldman Sachs FRAUD Charges Filed By SEC Over Subprime Mortgage Securities

The SEC claims Goldman Sachs and one of its top officers misled investors by not disclosing that hedge fund manager John Pauson, who made billions betting against the housing market, selected the assets that went into a complex security called “Abacaus.” How does John Paulson relate? Well, ladies & gentlemen, he bought (with friends) the remnants of Indymac Bank. He was also in September 2008, prior to his purchase of the bank testifying before Congress on how to develop financial reform regarding the subprime mortgage lending- which he helped create. How odd.

To read the article CLICK HERE

To read about the Time Magazine article from November 2008, CLICK HERE.

IndyMac Attack: Did Schumer, Paulson, Soros, and the CRL Kill the Bank and Profit From Its Collapse? by Andrew Mellon

I have been saying this was in the cards from the beginning since July 2008. Now maybe it will come out in the dirty laundry being aired.

To read the article click here

J.P. And The Fat Cats By: Bruce Krasting Tuesday, April 20, 2010 9:08 AM

From iStockanalyst.com

This article gets particularly interesting on page two.

To Read more click here

The players in this Indymac- now OneWest Consortium:

Steve Mnunchin – Goldman Alum – Billionaire
John Paulson – Goldman Alum – Billionaire
J. Christopher Flowers – Goldman Alum – Billionaire
Robert Leeds – Goldman Alum – Billionaire
Michael Dell – Dell Computer – Goldman Client – Billionaire
George Soros – Big Goldman Client – Billionaire

There is some evidence that the FDIC has had some “sellers remorse” on the sale of Indymac assets. On 2/21/2010 they did a $2 billion deal where they sold more underwater mortgages. Based on the over collateralization of that transaction it would appear that similar pricing (haircuts) to the OneWest discounts were established. There was a big difference between the OneWest deal and the CMO that was recently done. This time around the FDIC kept the equity. What upside is in the portfolio is theirs to keep. The FDIC kept the equity on a $2b deal but gave it away to One West in a $16b deal. Way to go JP&Co.

There has been some criticism of the FDIC/OneWest deal. Some have suggested that the new owners of the Indymac mortgages have not been treating the old customers very well. Never mind that, what about the depositors who owed nothing to the bank, but lent it to them to give to bad debtors. Now they want to give the deadbeats yet another chance to default.