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Archive for June, 2010
Who Died And Made BP King Of The Gulf Of Mexico?
June 21st, 2010 | 
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There is one question that I would really like an answer to. Who died and made BP king of the Gulf of Mexico? In recent weeks, BP has almost seemed more interested in keeping the American people away from the oil spill than in actually cleaning it up. Journalists are being pushed around and denied access, disaster workers are being intimidated and abused and now BP has even go so far as to hire an army of private mercenaries to enforce their will along the Gulf coast. Are we suddenly living in occupied Iraq? How in the world did a foreign oil company get the right to start pointing guns at the American people? The last time I checked, BP did not own the Gulf of Mexico and did not have the right to tell the American people where they can and cannot go. The truth is that BP could have avoided all of this by running an open, honest and transparent operation from the start. They could have welcomed help from all sources, they could have tried to be open with the media, and they could have tried to be fair with the volunteers and rescue workers. But instead BP has been conducting this whole thing as if we are living in a totalitarian dictatorship and they are the dictators.
Over the last several weeks, members of the mainstream media attempting to cover the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have been yelled at, harassed, kicked off public beaches and threatened with arrest. The Obama administration keeps promising ”to improve media access”, but so far their promises haven’t seemed to make much difference. In fact, a recent AP report detailed several recent highly disturbing incidents of journalist intimidation….
Seriously.
The workers say that they are only using their own safety equipment because BP has not provided what they need. It is a fact that a large number of rescue workers have already gotten sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, so it certainly makes sense that those working to clean up the oil would want to do whatever they can to stay safe.
But no, BP has to be a bunch of jerks about the whole thing.
Even the EPA says that workers need to be careful. Hugh Kaufman, a senior policy analyst at the EPA’s office of solid waste and emergency response, made the following statement during an interview on Thursday….
“There’s no way you can be working in that toxic soup without getting exposures.”
It’s not just the oil that is the problem. The chemical dispersants that BP is using in the Gulf are even more toxic than the oil. In fact, because it is so extremely toxic, the UK’s Marine Management Organization has completely banned Corexit 9500, so if there was a major oil spill in the North Sea, BP would not be able to use it.
But the Obama administration has allowed BP to dump over a million gallons of Corexit 9500, Corexit 9527 and other highly toxic dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico.
Apparently the truth is that BP would rather disperse the oil so that the spill doesn’t look so bad even if it means creating an ecological disaster of nightmarish proportions.
You see, these days BP does what it wants, and anyone who doesn’t like it gets pushed out of the way.
Monique Harden, the co-director and attorney at the New Orleans-based Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, is so outraged over BP’s behavior that she recently made the following statement….
“BP should not be running the Gulf region like a prison warden, and we’ve got to stop that.”
But rather than becoming more open and taking responsibility for their actions, BP has now hired private security contractors to keep the American people away from the oil cleanup sites.
In other words, BP has brought in a horde of private mercenaries (just like the U.S. uses in Iraq and Afghanistan) to muscle the American people around.
Yeah, we are really going to appreciate that.
Doesn’t BP understand that the American people do not respond well to this kind of nonsense?
In fact, it is being alleged that BP has actually attempted to manipulate the search results on sites like Google and Yahoo.
They seem absolutely obsessed with controlling what we see and think.
Perhaps what BP should be obsessed with is stopping the oil from shooting out of the ground.
Meanwhile, BP execs are busy testifying in front of Congress and making half-hearted apologies.
Carl-Henric Svanberg, the BP chairman, has even apologized for referring to those affected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as “small people”.
Isn’t that nice of him?
While all of this is going on, BP is already trying to ensure that things go their way legally. Back in May, BP requested that one particular judge be assigned to preside over all lawsuits related to the spill. Well, it turns out that this particular judge gets tens of thousands of dollars a year in oil royalties and is paid travel expenses to attend oil industry conferences.
Isn’t that convenient?
But that is how the game is played these days.
Meanwhile, the “oil volcano” on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico continues to pump out a nightmarish amount of oil every single day. BP is even admitting that oil is escaping from the leak at such high pressure that if they try to cap it the entire well may blow.
So this crisis may keep getting worse for months.
By the time this is over, will anything in the Gulf be left alive?
Even now, hordes of dolphins, fish, sharks, crabs, rays and other sea creatures find themselves trapped between the rapidly advancing oil and the shore. Unprecedented numbers are showing up just off the Gulf coast in an attempt to escape certain death, but once the oil reaches shore there will be nowhere else for them to go. The tragedy will be unspeakable.
Things did not have to turn out this way. BP and the Obama administration could have done things much differently. But they didn’t.
Now we all have to live with the results.
FDIC flashes code red – Banking system insolvent and expecting more bank failures. Since 2008 247 banks with $616 billion in assets have failed. History of Federal Reserve designed to protect the big banks.
The FDIC which technically supports the nation’s banking system is for all practical purposes insolvent. I’m not sure the magnitude of this problem has sunk into the psyche of the American public. The FDIC insures accounts at banks that include checking, saving, and CD accounts from a bank failure. This has occurred with regular frequency since the recession started 29 long months ago. Some 247 banks have failed since 2008 with a total asset base of $616 billion. The government has tried to calm the unsettled waters by raising the regular deposit coverage from $100,000 to $250,000 even though the FDIC deposit insurance fund is in the negative. This seems to have calmed the nerves of people since the days of long lines at IndyMac Bank in California but nothing has really changed at least at the core of the financial system. To the contrary things have worsened for the banking system.
The list of troubled banks continues to grow:
Source: Fortune, FDIC
This chart tells us that we should be gearing up for another round of bank failures. The increase of deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 is largely a charade. 1 out of 3 Americans have absolutely no savings whatsoever. We have 17 percent unemployed or underemployed and another 20 to 25 percent working in the low paying service sector. Nearly 50 percent of Americans have nowhere close to $100,000 in liquid assets to insure, so increasing the insurance to $250,000 is merely a public relations move to show strength.
The current amount of assets at troubled banks is over $400 billion but since the FDIC doesn’t list all troubled banks this is much larger:
Source: FDIC
Now the above survey only goes up to the end of 2009. Since the start of the year another 82 banks have failed and the FDIC is probably at some undisclosed location somewhere in the United States right now getting ready to close another few banks since Fridays have become synonymous with bank closings. The list of troubled banks increasing is a reflection of the massive amount of troubled loans. These loans wouldn’t be in such deep trouble if the economy was healthy and Americans were servicing their loans. But the middle class isn’t really participating in this shadow recovery.
A recent survey by none other than the FDIC shows that a good portion of Americans don’t even participate in the banking system:
“ A substantial percentage of lower-income households are unbanked. Nearly 20 percent of lower income U.S. households—almost 7 million households earning below $30,000 per year—do not currently have a bank account. Households with earnings below $30,000 account for at least 71 percent of unbanked households.
Not having enough money to feel they need an account is the most common reason why unbanked households are not participating in the mainstream financial system.”
Do these people care that accounts are insured up to $250,000? Who are we really protecting here? You also need to ask how we are going to pay for all these additional bank failures if the deposit insurance fund is already in the negative. That is where the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury step in with more of your taxpayer money.
The Federal Reserve attempts to paint this image as a government agency but they are not. They serve the purpose to protect the banking system. Even the Fed website gives us a nice little history on this:
“(Fed history) From December 1912 to December 1913, the Glass-Willis proposal was hotly debated, molded and reshaped. By December 23, 1913, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act into law, it stood as a classic example of compromise—a decentralized central bank that balanced the competing interests of private banks and populist sentiment.”
There is much more back history to this but suffice it to say that this move helped consolidate the power of banks into a few hands instead of having many more banks competing for your business. Keep in mind when this past, the public was heavily against it just like the public was against TARP when this crisis rolled around. Yet the Fed listens to their big banks and protects them at all costs even if it means robbing the public blind (a sort of reverse Robin Hood). In the end after nearly 100 years of the Federal Reserve, the main purpose is nearly accomplished:
“The top 4 banks of Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citibank make up 55 percent of all banking assets.”
And banking assets across the country are enormous. The FDIC backs 8,000 banks that carry over $13 trillion in assets. These big four banks have their hands in over 50 percent of this amount. Who controls the wealth in this country controls the levers of political power. The way the system is currently setup we find that the banks have an incredible amount of power. Actually, it is the biggest banks that have the big power since they are fine with hundreds of little bank failures since that opens up the market for bigger banks to step in and open up shop. Smaller banks don’t have access to the easy money Federal Reserve window and certainly did not get handouts like many of the biggest banks did.
Foreclosures remain at record levels and this means banks are facing more and more loans that enter into default. This costs money. As we have mentioned, the FDIC is insolvent so where is this money coming from?
“(US Banker) Treasury likes it, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. likes it, and the banking industry likes it—that is, S. 541, introduced last week by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) The bill would permanently increase the FDIC’s ability to borrow from the Treasury for its Deposit Insurance Fund, raising the cap to $100 billion from $30 billion, the limit set back in 1991. The Depositor Protection Act would also temporarily allow the FDIC to borrow up to $500 billion after consultations with Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the President.
FDIC chairman Sheila Bair voiced enthusiasm in a letter to Dodd, noting “the FDIC believes it is prudent to adjust the statutory line of credit proportionally to leave no doubt that the FDIC can immediately access the necessary resources to resolve failing banks and provide timely protection to insured depositors.” Passage of the increased borrowing ability “would give the FDIC flexibility to reduce the size of the recent special assessment, while still maintaining assessments at a level that supports the DIF with industry funding.”
And there you have it. I am certain that the banks are spending large amounts of money creating a way to couch this additional bailout as a helping hand for middle class Americans but in the end if we don’t change the system, the money will flow through the same rivers as of those from the last decade. With so many bank failures lined up because of horrible commercial real estate and residential loans, we can expect to bailout indirectly failed casinos in Las Vegas and owning shopping malls in random parts of the country. The FDIC is flashing code red and they are lining up with hat in hand for taxpayer money. If after 29 months you still haven’t gotten it, this money is likely to funnel up to the top 1 percent in an incredibly unbalanced fashioned.
Posted in bailouts, Banking System, Banks, Corruption, Debt, Economic Crisis, Economy, Federal Reserve, Financial System, Fraud, Government, Money | 
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God's Work? Luck? Or Lawbreaking?
By Karl Denninger
One has to wonder about the BP thing….
It seems incomprehensible that the president and other members of the administration still have jobs when it is now being reported that the federal government was apprised by BP on February 13 that the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was leaking oil and natural gas into the ocean floor.
In fact, according to documents in the administration’s possession, BP was fighting large cracks at the base of the well for roughly ten days in early February.
Further it seems the administration was also informed about this development, six weeks before to the rig’s fatal explosion when an engineer from the University of California, Berkeley, announced to the world a near miss of an explosion on the rig by stating, “They damn near blew up the rig.”
Hmmm….
Now let’s see…. there was no public dissemination of this information, was there? Well, no.
According to regulatory filings, RawStory.com has found that Goldman Sachs sold 4,680,822 shares of BP in the first quarter of 2010. Goldman’s sales were the largest of any firm during that time. Goldman would have pocketed slightly more than $266 million if their holdings were sold at the average price of BP’s stock during the quarter.
Really…..
Tony Hayward cashed in about a third of his holding in the company one month before a well on the Deepwater Horizon rig burst, causing an environmental disaster.
The latter article also says:
There is no suggestion that he acted improperly or had prior knowledge that the company was to face the biggest setback in its history.
Oh really?
Again:
Further it seems the administration was also informed about this development, six weeks before to the rig’s fatal explosion when an engineer from the University of California, Berkeley, announced to the world a near miss of an explosion on the rig by stating, “They damn near blew up the rig.”
So here are my questions, which I believe we all deserve answers to:
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Did Goldman or Mr. Hayward know this?
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Did they sell stock with knowledge of material inside information that had not been disseminated to the market?
Just curious, mind you….
Spend Now, Save Never
By Karl Denninger
One word response to Krugman today: Ridiculous.
At the moment, as you may have noticed, the U.S. government is running a large budget deficit. Much of this deficit, however, is the result of the ongoing economic crisis, which has depressed revenues and required extraordinary expenditures to rescue the financial system.
A crisis that was caused by the refusal of the government to enforce the law, just as the spill in the gulf is a result of the government refusing to enforce the law.
Regulated corporations cannot act in a fashion necessary to destabilize the economy or harm the environment unless the government regulators are willfully blind or worse.
So let’s put the blame where it belongs: Squarely in Washington DC.
It is illegal to deceive investors by claiming you have “good recordable titles” for each loan when you do not.
It is illegal to take bearer paper in trusts in a state where that practice is not permitted.
It is illegal to bribe government and other officials to rig bids on GIC contracts, sewer system bonds and derivatives.
It is illegal to back-date deposits with full knowledge of the regulator overseeing your institution so as to falsely present a balance sheet and liquidity that does not reflect the firm’s actual condition.
And it is illegal to rig appraisals so as to “support” deals that are fundamentally unsound.
All of these facts and acts (plus many more) were known to The Federal Government as early as 2003. All of them were intentionally ignored at best and actively conspired in by the government at worst.
To date, none of them have led to material numbers of indictments for these acts. Indeed, I can’t seem to find any indictments against the “captains of the financial industry” who committed these acts.
As the crisis abates, things will improve. The Congressional Budget Office, in its analysis of President Obama’s budget proposals, predicts that economic recovery will reduce the annual budget deficit from about 10 percent of G.D.P. this year to about 4 percent of G.D.P. in 2014.
No it won’t. Things didn’t improve last time. Here we are again with the graph:
During the 2000s, Bush tried the same thing. The recession of 2001 brought out the Keynesian spending and loosening of credit.
Did the government ever back off it’s spending? Nope. The above chart shows it clearly – that’s the blue line. The claim that when “prosperity returns we will save” was a lie. We did no such thing, and we won’t this time either, because….
Unfortunately, that’s not enough. Even if the government’s annual borrowing were to stabilize at 4 percent of G.D.P., its total debt would continue to grow faster than its revenues. Furthermore, the budget office predicts that after bottoming out in 2014, the deficit will start rising again, largely because of rising health care costs.
Right. And who turned that into a structural deficit issue? Well, it was Congress, but during Bush’s administration it got added into massively – by Medicare Part “D”.
Penny-pinching at a time like this isn’t just cruel; it endangers the nation’s future. And it doesn’t even do much to reduce our future debt burden, because stinting on spending now threatens the economic recovery, and with it the hope for rising revenues.
There is no hope for rising revenues until the excessive debt is defaulted or paid down. Since it can’t be paid down with a depressed economy, it has to be defaulted. There is no other option.
But defaulting that debt means forcing those “captains of industry” to eat their losses. It means forcing public pension systems to admit that they cannot pay what they promised, and to force adjustments down the throats of those teachers in Illinois and firefighters and cops in California who were promised $100,000+ annual pensions post-retirement – money we simply don’t have and can’t obtain.
But the time for such a deal is a long way off — probably two years or more. The responsible thing, then, is to spend now, while planning to save later.
We hear that ever time there is a recession Paul. But “tomorrow” never comes. It didn’t the last time and it didn’t the time before that. Indeed, it never does.
Government will spend every penny it obtains and then add more spending onto it. This is the nature of government when half or more of the people don’t pay taxes any more. They will always vote for the guy or gal who says they’ll give ‘em the most. They get what they ordered, without regard to ability to pay. Those people don’t care whether the funding needs can be met or the spending can be funded, and neither do the lawmakers.
When the ability to fund the government and private debt binge via honest taxation and earnings are exhausted, we then get massive, pervasive and pernicious fraud that runs rife through both corporate and government life, without exception. The cops refuse to prosecute and the crooks then literally steal everything up to and including the shelves on the wall. All of this happens with government not only acquiescing but in direct contribution and complicity.
You’re a fool Paul. 30 years of history says you’re 100% full of crap, and your prescription, if it is followed, will guarantee the collapse of our nation.
It is time for the whining children to be sent to timeout and adults to enter the room – while there is still time before the good ship America impacts the Grecian Iceberg.
We can start by locking up all the fraudsters and returning budgets to fiscal sustainability, accepting that our present consumptive path cannot be afforded – whether we want to or not.
Posted in Corruption, Debt, Economic Crisis, Economy, Federal Reserve, Financial System, GDP, Government, Money, Paul Krugman |
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Social Security: Here's The Problem
By Karl Denninger
You have to chuckle at the so-called “commentators” and “reporters” and “idealogues.” Listen to this:
Here’s the transcript, if you care to read it….
Guess what: Senator Simpson is correct and Alex is, as usual, trying to spin this issue. Here’s reality:
Want to argue the facts? Sounds good. Let’s do so.
Blow up the above pie chart (click it.) Notice that the so-called “pre-funding” that the 1983 commission allegedly did was a lie. The government took all that money and spent it, rather than hanging onto it. That is, they stole it.
Then the government got even more clever, and manipulated the CPI so as to prevent the indexing that is built into the law from reflecting the loss in purchasing power.
There is no surplus from the Social Security funds and it is not separate. The government took the money and blew it. It’s gone.
I don’t care what Alex believes Social Security is (or how many other people believe the same thing); the Supreme Court has in fact ruled that Social Security (and Medicare) is just a tax and can be changed at whim (or even eliminated entirely.) Social Security and Medicare are not an insurance program and they are not an annuity, despite the commonly-held beliefs of the public. The programs themselves are nothing more or less than political promises, and we know how often those are kept.
Here’s the reality of the surplus (or deficit) as a whole, including Social Security, going back to the 1990s:
Notice that Clinton’s so-called “surplus” wasn’t real. He stole the Social Security surplus and spent it. He wasn’t alone, incidentally, as both Bush’s did too, as has Obama – when he could. Now, however, Social Security has actually generated monthly deficits, and although it is projected to start returning surpluses again for a short while, it doesn’t matter as the government will simply continue to steal and spend it.
There is no “lock box” where the Social Security funds are kept away from the rest of the government. If Peter robs Paul but Peter and Paul both live in the same house and eat out of the same fridge, there is no net change in wealth between Peter AND Paul.
So again, with a $4 trillion budget 1.5 trillion of that, or 37% of it, is borrowed – that is, not funded.
Looking at the pie chart, where would you like to get that 37% from?
Well, you can’t get it from interest payments, and indeed right now that interest payment is extremely small due to the very favorable short-term rates – indeed, it’s lower today than it was in 2007. That won’t stay nearly so favorable, incidentally, so one must plan for that slice of the pie (4.63%) to expand, not contract.
You can take the entire rest of the chart above the interest and remove it – that is, every discretionary spending item and department – and you don’t get here. Indeed, doing so only consumes about 19% of the budget – but you need double that, approximately.
Which sacred cow(s) would you like to slaughter and BBQ?
Let’s assume that we cut all discretionary programs, without exception, by 20%. This will produce howls of protest, but we’ll assume we can do it. We now have 4% of the 37% we need. Let us also further assume interest rates return to reasonable long-term averages (that is, we don’t get Greece’d) which means interest expense roughly doubles.
Discretionary cuts of 20% of the budget and interest expense increases balance – net zero.
So we need to find 37% of the budget in the “sacred areas” to eliminate.
If you eliminate the Department of Defense, you only get halfway there.
That’s ridiculously unrealistic, so we’ll instead assume that the lefty dream comes true tomorrow, every threat we have to our national security disappears with a wave of Harry Potter’s wand, and we can bring every troop home right now. This might shrink the DOD budget by half, which would be extraordinary.
Congratulations, you still need to eliminate 27.63% of the budget. 
If we eliminate Social Security, we don’t get there – it’s only 19.63%. Doing so isn’t going to happen, of course, as Granny will grab her shotgun if you try it.
So let’s assume we do not touch Medicaid and Social Security – after all, it’s unfair to get rid of either base pay for old people or medical care for the poor and (especially) the children, and besides, there’s a real risk of an insurrection if you attempt do do either. Fine and well, but then you must eliminate all unemployment, welfare and other mandatory spending plus Medicare (health care for old folks.) That adds up to 28.92% – just enough, plus a couple percent for a (tiny) surplus of about $80 billion.
See the problem yet?
What Alex Lawson wants, along with the rest of the left, can’t happen.
It can’t happen because the math doesn’t work. It is not about “mean people”, it’s not about “tax cuts for the rich”, it’s not about “sacred defense programs.”
It’s about mathematics. You need to find $1.5 trillion in budget savings and there is no way to get there without digging deeply into promises that were made by the left but cannot be kept, because they were unfunded when made and worse, the very same government STOLE all the temporary surpluses the programs generated and spent them!
President Bush papered over the reality when it was 1/3rd as bad as it is now. He did so with lies and deceit, and President Obama has now compounded that error by a factor of three, and appears to have built in a $1.5 trillion structural deficit where Bush’s was $600 billion or so. Neither was able to be funded in perpetuity, and instead of fixing Bush’s idiocy in driving straight toward the cliff at 50mph when President Obama took office he floored it and now we’re doing 150mph – in the same direction.
The math doesn’t care whether you like what it says or not.
It just is.
Posted in Corruption, Debt, Deficit Spending, Deficits, Economic Crisis, Economy, Government, Social Security, Sovereign Debt |
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Bank of America, Wachovia Employees Received Up to $55,000 in Bribes
The newest twist in a long-running federal mortgage fraud case was revealed Thursday as a “Bank Bribery Scheme,” in which prosecutors said three Bank of America or Wachovia employees pulled in bribes of as much as $55,000.
Federal prosecutors announced the scheme as they unsealed indictments against 10 more defendants in the serpentine case, part of a broader federal crackdown on mortgage fraud.
The nationwide “Operation Stolen Dreams” has involved 1,215 criminal defendants, including 485 arrests, officials said Thursday in Washington. Losses are estimated at more than $2.3 billion.
The FBI is working more than 3,000 mortgage fraud cases, almost twice as many as two years ago. Fraud helped fuel the nation’s foreclosure crisis.
“Mortgage fraud ruins lives, destroys families and devastates whole communities…,” Attorney General Eric Holder said.
In Charlotte, prosecutors showcased Operation Wax House, which has now produced charges against 35 people since the first in November 2008.
Of those 35, 25 had previously agreed to plead guilty, including 10 in the last week.
The latest defendants have been indicted, indicating they do not have plea deals.
From the beginning, prosecutors have said the mortgage fraud involved seven pricey subdivisions in Union and Mecklenburg counties. The investigation has touched every step of the mortgage process. Defendants include a real estate agent, an appraiser, a builder, buyers, mortgage brokers and attorneys.
Prosecutors have said the victims were banks that loaned money for the homes.
Thursday’s court documents detail allegations of nearly $11 million in fraudulent deals for eight Waxhaw houses, all forced into foreclosure or distressed sale at a steep loss.
Participants in the fraud agreed to buy homes at one price from builders, arranged buyers at a higher price and then lied to get mortgages at the higher level, according to court documents. Prices were generally inflated by $200,000 to $500,000. At closing, the difference between the two prices was shared by fraud participants.
The deals occurred mainly during 2006 and 2007.
Prosecutors have identified five “cells” of fraudsters. Thursday’s charges involve participants in Cell No. 2.
Each of the 10 is charged with at least one count of bank fraud or bank bribery, each of which carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years. In addition, each is charged with at least one count of mortgage fraud conspiracy or bank bribery conspiracy, which each call for a maximum sentence of 5 years. Other charges include perjury, identity theft and money laundering.
At least five of the new defendants were connected to the “Bank Bribery Scheme,” which took place from September 2007 through January 2008, the filing said.
In those cases, mortgage fraud participants and unidentified others paid bribes of $4,000 to $55,000 to three bank employees and others for false letters of credit. The documents, typically used by businesses, can be used for such activities as obtaining other financing or guaranteeing payment for goods.
Landrick O.A. McClain, 47 of Silver Spring, Md., is described as the “leader and primary financier” of the scheme. He owned a Washington financial services firm, Credit Risk Re Limited. As of Thursday, an arrest warrant was pending for him.
Ericka L. Flood, also known as Ericka Lomick, 35, of Charlotte, is described as a go-between for McClain, the bank employees and others.
She also is called a promoter in the fraud case and was a mortgage broker for several Charlotte companies. She controlled the Kashmir Group, which was allegedly used to receive money from the scam. For example, in one sale, Kashmir allegedly received $409,000.
Flood, like the bank employees, was released on bond with the condition she not work in the banking, financial services and mortgage industries.
McClain, Flood and unidentified others allegedly paid bribes to the indicted bank employees, who are no longer with the banks. They are:
Jamilia N. Brown, 29, Charlotte. Brown, was an assistant branch manager for Bank of America’s Cotswold branch and allegedly accepted a bribe of $55,000 for a fake letter of credit.
Vic F. Henson, whose maiden name was Vic F. Gray, 41, Charlotte. Henson was a Bank of America branch manager in Charlotte who allegedly participated in both the mortgage fraud and bribery schemes. Henson allegedly received two bribes totaling $38,000. She also arranged to “falsely verify” a deposit for a “fraudulent loan application for a buyer whose identity was stolen” and used to apply for loans, according to documents.
Bonnie S. Ramey, 43, Charlotte. Ramey worked at a Wachovia branch in the Ballantyne area and allegedly accepted a bribe of $9,000 in cash for producing a bogus letter of credit from the bank. The $468.5 million letter of credit was issued “as a guarantee that a Swiss entity would carry out certain contractual obligations in Iceland.” The relation to the mortgage fraud is not explained. The bank couldn’t immediately comment on the alleged transaction.
Anne Tompkins, U.S. attorney for North Carolina’s Western District, which includes Charlotte, noted the wide impact of mortgage fraud and pledged that “investigating and prosecuting these cases will continue to be a top priority for this office.”
Posted in Bank of America, banking fraud, Banks, Corruption, Financial System, Fraud, Mortgage Fraud, Mortgage Loans, Wachovia |
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proudly supports:
Bill Still For President
for Congress
Michigan 11th District
By Bill Still
There is only one answer for the world economic situation; monetary reform.
1. No More National Debt
2. No More Fractional Lending
PDF PowerPoint Congressional Patriots Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Paulson's Lies Bernanke's Lies FedUpUSA Archive Mathematics of Failure Media Kit Door Hanger Corruption Flier Bank Flier Made In America A list of products and services made right here in the USA. Choosing to buy American made products preserves and creates American jobs.