IWETHEY v. 0.3.0 | TODO
1,095 registered users | 0 active users | 0 LpH | Statistics
Login | Create New User
IWETHEY Banner

Welcome to IWETHEY!

New http://forum.iwethey.org/forum/post/396142/ :-)
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 59 years. meep
New #300235, #305866, #332955, #349171, #389566, etc.
http://forum.iwethey.org/forum/post/300235/

http://forum.iwethey.org/forum/post/305866/

http://forum.iwethey.org/forum/post/332955/

http://forum.iwethey.org/forum/post/349171/

http://forum.iwethey.org/forum/post/389566/

Etc.

The big banksters aren't stupid, even though they destroyed the economy and millions of lives with their "brilliance". Whether they can be convicted of breaking laws is an open question. I believe there was fraud on a massive scale in the housing bubble and in the CDO, etc., alphabet soup. I believe that criminal laws were broken in many cases; not just civil laws. But they've got clever lobbyists and maybe they were able to dance on the line without crossing it in many cases.

I think a fair reading of my posting history wouldn't leave the impression that I defend the banksters. But I recognize that what's in my head often isn't expressed clearly...

FWIW.

Cheers,
Scott.
New Man, I forgot that real estate thread
--

Drew
New Two things.
First, I didn't mean you defended the banksters. I meant you defended the Obama Administration which, as the article Ashton link points out convincingly is and was complicit in covering up all the crimes that were committed by the banksters.

Second, the banksters not only have excellent lobbyists, they've had at least the last three Presidents (Bill, Cheney and Obama) and their administrations in their pockets.
New Hmm...
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-federal-and-state-partners-secure-record-13-billion-global-settlement

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Justice Department, Federal and State Partners Secure Record $13 Billion Global Settlement with JPMorgan for Misleading Investors About Securities Containing Toxic Mortgages

*CORRECTION: The release below previously stated that New York is receiving $613.8 million in this settlement, however, the number is $613.0 million. This correction notice was posted on Nov. 20, 2013.*

The Justice Department, along with federal and state partners, today announced a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan - the largest settlement with a single entity in American history - to resolve federal and state civil claims arising out of the packaging, marketing, sale and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) by JPMorgan, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual prior to Jan. 1, 2009. As part of the settlement, JPMorgan acknowledged it made serious misrepresentations to the public - including the investing public - about numerous RMBS transactions. The resolution also requires JPMorgan to provide much needed relief to underwater homeowners and potential homebuyers, including those in distressed areas of the country. The settlement does not absolve JPMorgan or its employees from facing any possible criminal charges.

This settlement is part of the ongoing efforts of President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force’s RMBS Working Group.

“Without a doubt, the conduct uncovered in this investigation helped sow the seeds of the mortgage meltdown,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “JPMorgan was not the only financial institution during this period to knowingly bundle toxic loans and sell them to unsuspecting investors, but that is no excuse for the firm’s behavior. The size and scope of this resolution should send a clear signal that the Justice Department’s financial fraud investigations are far from over. No firm, no matter how profitable, is above the law, and the passage of time is no shield from accountability. I want to personally thank the RMBS Working Group for its tireless work not only in this case, but also in the investigations that remain ongoing.”

The settlement includes a statement of facts, in which JPMorgan acknowledges that it regularly represented to RMBS investors that the mortgage loans in various securities complied with underwriting guidelines. Contrary to those representations, as the statement of facts explains, on a number of different occasions, JPMorgan employees knew that the loans in question did not comply with those guidelines and were not otherwise appropriate for securitization, but they allowed the loans to be securitized – and those securities to be sold – without disclosing this information to investors. This conduct, along with similar conduct by other banks that bundled toxic loans into securities and misled investors who purchased those securities, contributed to the financial crisis.

“Through this $13 billion resolution, we are demanding accountability and requiring remediation from those who helped create a financial storm that devastated millions of Americans,” said Associate Attorney General Tony West. “The conduct JPMorgan has acknowledged - packaging risky home loans into securities, then selling them without disclosing their low quality to investors - contributed to the wreckage of the financial crisis. By requiring JPMorgan both to pay the largest FIRREA penalty in history and provide needed consumer relief to areas hardest hit by the financial crisis, we rectify some of that harm today.”

[...]


I don't know why Taibbi's piece is so different from what was announced a year ago. The tone of his piece certainly doesn't match the facts of the announcement:

From the RS piece:
In late November, the two sides agreed on a settlement deal that covered a variety of misbehaviors, including the fraud that Fleischmann witnessed as well as similar episodes at Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns, two companies that Chase had acquired during the crisis (with federal bailout aid). The newspapers and the Justice Department described the deal as a "$13 billion settlement," hailing it as the biggest white-collar regulatory settlement in American history. The deal released Chase from civil liability. And, in what was described by The New York Times as a "major victory for the government," it left open the possibility that the Justice Department could pursue a further criminal investigation against the bank.

But the idea that Holder had cracked down on Chase was a carefully contrived fiction, one that has survived to this day. For starters, $4 billion of the settlement was largely an accounting falsehood, a chunk of bogus "consumer relief" added to make the payoff look bigger. What the public never grasped about these consumer--relief deals is that the "relief" is often not paid by the bank, which mostly just services the loans, but by the bank's other victims, i.e., the investors in their bad mortgage securities.

Moreover, in this case, a fine-print addendum indicated that this consumer relief would be allowed only if said investors agreed to it – or if it would have been granted anyway under existing arrangements. This often comes down to either forgiving a small portion of a loan or giving homeowners a little extra time to pay up in full. "It's not real," says Fleischmann. "They structured it so that the homeowners only get relief if they would have gotten it anyway." She pauses. "If a loan shark gives you a few extra weeks to pay up, is that 'consumer relief'?"

The average person had no way of knowing what a terrible deal the Chase settlement was for the country. The terms were even lighter than the slap-on-the-wrist formula that allowed Wall Street banks to "neither admit nor deny" wrongdoing – the deals that had helped spark the Occupy protests. Yet those notorious deals were like the Nuremberg hangings compared to the regulatory innovation that Holder's Justice Department cooked up for Dimon and Co.


Emphasis added in each.

The settlement is at the bottom of the DOJ link above - the details weren't hidden.

Holder gets a bad rap from lots and lots of people. I don't think he deserves it. YMMV.

Cheers,
Scott.
New What percentage of Chase's profits are represented by the 9 billion?
These guys robbed ALL OF US and paid a comparative slap on the wrist and got to go right back into the very same businesses where they committed their crimes. Hell, the mafioso Dimon got a 27% increase after he and his buddy Holder inked the deal.

They committed criminal fraud and yet NONE of them are convicted criminals. Holder made sure of that. And, as the article states, Holder will stay in office long enough to ensure that none of his criminal buddies on Wall Street ever see the inside of the prisons in which they so richly deserve to spend the rest of their lives.

This is the New Left in America. Founded by Rubin and Clinton and accelerated with the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act. Wall Street criminals have run our federal government since at least the Clinton Administration. Do I think the R's would do any better? No. But that's the point, isn't it? NEITHER party will do anything about it.

Edit: Sorry, my miscue.
Expand Edited by mmoffitt Nov. 9, 2014, 09:34:13 AM EST
Expand Edited by mmoffitt Nov. 9, 2014, 09:34:49 AM EST
New That's not the only issue though
Even if this administration has been no better on economic issues than a Romney administration would have been - and I don't think that's true - they've been far better on other, equally important issues. We haven't initiated major unprovoked ground wars. Millions more people have healthcare.

There *are* differences between the parties, even if on your pet issue they both disappoint you.
--

Drew
New glad libya is a minor side issue, provoked indeed
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 59 years. meep
New And the 1500 more going to Iraq announced this week.
New And assassination Tuesdays (i.e. who do I kill with a drone today?)
New yeah, when you double down on shrub, the argument that rmoney would be worse
doesn't really wash very well
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 59 years. meep
New OK, we're not living in the same world ... I'm done
--

Drew
     Taibbi/Rolling Stone and Democracy Now on the $9B fine - (Ashton) - (16)
         It amazes me that Scott defends these people. - (mmoffitt) - (15)
             So, are 2nd Amendment remedies the answer? - (a6l6e6x) - (1)
                 The Second Amendment doesn't apply, but ... - (mmoffitt)
             Read me in my posts, please... -NT - (Another Scott) - (12)
                 http://forum.iwethey.org/forum/post/396142/ :-) -NT - (boxley) - (11)
                     #300235, #305866, #332955, #349171, #389566, etc. - (Another Scott) - (10)
                         Man, I forgot that real estate thread -NT - (drook)
                         Two things. - (mmoffitt) - (8)
                             Hmm... - (Another Scott)
                             What percentage of Chase's profits are represented by the 9 billion? - (mmoffitt) - (6)
                                 That's not the only issue though - (drook) - (5)
                                     glad libya is a minor side issue, provoked indeed -NT - (boxley) - (4)
                                         And the 1500 more going to Iraq announced this week. -NT - (mmoffitt) - (3)
                                             And assassination Tuesdays (i.e. who do I kill with a drone today?) -NT - (mmoffitt) - (2)
                                                 yeah, when you double down on shrub, the argument that rmoney would be worse - (boxley) - (1)
                                                     OK, we're not living in the same world ... I'm done -NT - (drook)

I swear, you make people want to jump into a volcano.
252 ms