Here is a quick look into 3 former Fannie Mae executives who have brought
down Wall Street.
Franklin Raines was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie
Mae. Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae
when auditing discovered severe irregularities in Fannie Mae's accounting
activities. At the time of his departure The Wall Street Journal
noted, ' Raines, who long defended the company's accounting despite
mounting evidence that it wasn't proper, issued a statement late Tuesday
conceding that 'mistakes were made' and saying he would assume
responsibility as he had earlier promised. News reports indicate the
company was under growing pressure from regulators to shake up its
management in the wake of findings that the company's books ran afoul of
generally accepted accounting principles for four years.' Fannie
Mae had to reduce its surplus by $9 billion.
Raines left with a 'golden parachute valued at $240 Million in benefits.
The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of the accounting
scandal became clear.http://housingdoom.com/2006/12/18/fannie-charges/ .
The Government noted, 'The 101 charges reveal how the individuals
improperly manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while
knowingly neglecting accounting systems and internal controls,
misapplying over twenty accounting principles and misleading the
regulator and the public. The Notice explains how they submitted six
years of misleading and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate
capital reports that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and
unsound manner.' These charges were made in 2006. The Court ordered
Raines to return $50 Million Dollars he received in bonuses based on the
miss-stated Fannie Mae profits.
Tim Howard - Was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard
'was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that
would ensure a 'stable pattern of earnings' at Fannie. In everyday
English - he was cooking the books. The Government Investigation
determined that, 'Chief Financial Officer, Tim Howard, failed to provide
adequate oversight to key control and reporting functions within Fannie
Mae,'
On June 16, 2006, Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., asked the Justice
Department to investigate his allegations that two former Fannie Mae
executives lied to Congress in October 2004 when they denied
manipulating the mortgage-finance giant's income statement to achieve
management pay bonuses. Investigations by federal regulators and the
company's board of directors since concluded that management did
manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard resigned
under pressure in late 2004.
Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!
Jim Johnson - A former executive at Lehman Brothers and who was
later forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO. A look at the
Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's May 2006 report on
mismanagement and corruption inside Fannie Mae, and you'll see some
interesting things about Johnson. Investigators found that Fannie Mae
had hidden a substantial amount of Johnson's 1998 compensation from the
public, reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million when it
fact it was $21 million.' Johnson is currently under
investigation for taking illegal loans from Countrywide while serving as
CEO of Fannie Mae.
Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
FRANKLIN RAINES? Raines works for the Obama Campaign as Chief Economic
Advisor
TIM HOWARD? Howard is also a Chief Economic Advisor to Obama
JIM JOHNSON? Johnson hired as a Senior Obama Finance Advisor and was
selected to run Obama's Vice Presidential Search Committee
IF OBAMA PLANS ON CLEANING UP THE MESS - HIS ADVISORS HAVE THE EXPERTISE
- THEY MADE THE MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE. Would you trust the men who
tore Wall Stree t down to build the New Wall Street ?
McCain Charges Obama with Taking Advice from Raines
By Howard Kurtz
The Ad: Obama has no background in economics. Who advises him? The Post says it's Franklin Raines, for "advice on mortgage and housing policy." Shocking. Under Raines, Fannie Mae committed "extensive financial fraud." Raines made millions. Fannie Mae collapsed. Taxpayers? Stuck with the bill. Barack Obama. Bad advice. Bad instincts. Not ready to lead.
Analysis: This John McCain ad is based on a disputed premise.
There's no dispute that Obama has no background in economics -- but then, neither does McCain, which makes this an odd charge for the Arizona senator to hurl.
Fannie Mae did collapse, requiring a government takeover, and Raines, its former chairman, paid $25 million in April to settle a case brought by federal authorities investigating his role in the agency's accounting problems. But he has never been a close adviser to Obama.
The commercial's main charge is based on an April story in The Washington Post that said Raines has "taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters." Reporter Anita Huslin says Raines told her that during an in-person interview.
An Obama spokesman called the ad's contention "a flat-out lie," saying Raines has "never advised Senator Obama about anything, ever." But Raines did not claim to have advised the Illinois senator personally. In an accompanying statement, Raines said he never "provided his campaign with advice on housing or economic matters." That contradicts what he told Huslin five months ago.
Whether viewers will somehow hold Obama responsible for the Fannie Mae collapse because of what is at best a slight association with its former head is open to question. The commercial seems intended as a response to an earlier Obama spot charging that McCain can't clean up Washington because seven of his top campaign officials are former lobbyists.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/19/_the_ad_obama_has.html
The rest of your post is also garbage, so I don't feel the need to waste my time any further ... Believe whatever makes you happy ... just don't think you can fool anyone other than yourself & the Koolaid drinkers...
Go search You Tube.
Yes, he is O'Bombs advisor.
First of all, Balboa, I found your exact post, word for word on Snopes.com - a website that debunks urban myths and lies. So I think it's likely that you got your information from a bullshit right wing email and certainly not from a reputable news source. Maybe you'd like to share the source for all of your information?
Here's what is verifiable:
1. Franklin Raines stepped down FOUR years ago from Fannie. I suppose the leadership between then and now has nothing to do with the collapse.
2. You said Franklin Raines "works for the Obama Campaign as Chief Economic Advisor." Nope. He doesn't. He and the Obama campaign have both issued statements to the contrary. He has admitted only that he has gotten "a couple of calls from the Obama campaign." To imply that he is Chief Economic Advisor is a lie.
3. Tim Howard left Fannie the same time as Franklin Raines. Four years ago. In Snopes.com research they say, "We haven't yet found any substantive connection betwen Tim Howard and the Obama campaign, however, much less any information supporting the claim that Howard is (or was) a "Chief Economic Advisor to Obama." So this is also bogus.
4.Jim Johnson was Franklin Raines' PREDECESSOR. He left Fannie 10 freakin years ago dude!
5. Contrast this to the embarrassing revelations published by real news organization like Newsweek, that the Rick Davis who is leading the McCain campaign has been on the payroll as a lobbyist for Freddie and Fannie as recently as last month.
6. According the Newsweek article, "McCain's own campaign is swarming with TWENTY SIX ADVISORS or fundraisers who have lobbied or are currently lobbying for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac--including campaign manager Rick Davis."
You still want to compare who's got more ties to Freddie and Fannie?
save your breath & time ... to the Koolaid crowd, he'll always be "a Muslim / antiChrist / Terrorist " etc, etc
-- Modified on 10/1/2008 2:58:48 PM
Leave it to the dirty rotten bastard dems to send this country to Hell. And you can sure bet it is going to be Hell.
Why you might ask?!?!!
Well brother, I'll tell you why. Here goes. The dems in elected office are like a bunch of mafia wise-guys. It's the truth!!! It's the truth I tell ya! They're going to send the Capos and foot soldiers and associates out to whack us w/baseball bats if we don't pony-up.
Not exactly like the mafia but pretty close. They're already promising to shake-down private businesses by taxing till they DIE!!! And individuals too!!!!!!
And the dems have know shame. No shame at all. They'll do a scumball Barney spitswhentalks Frank..Remember 25 years ago or so when he was censored in the House and he was supposed to face the members of the House while the speaker ripped him a new asshole with the reading of the censor. That dirty scumball maggot refused to face the House while the censor was being read. He stood and faced the speaker!!!!
That dirty piece of shit scum eating maggot Barney Frank is a---is --- a --A REAL JERK!!!!
Being in prison would be a heaven/hell type thing for Barney Frank if you know what I mean-- Heaven till his hemorrhoids---oh never mind---it's not good to make those stupid prison jokes.
But those dirty bastard democrats do belong in prison I tell ya. Because they're all a bunch of whore-baby-bastards.
Oh shit--no offense to providers. There are providers that are angels and there are amateurs that are whores. A provider is NOT a whore. But I am sure that there are some whores that are lousy providers but they do not stay in the profession to long precisely because they are whores. A good provider is awesome but a bastard is a bastard.
-- Modified on 10/1/2008 10:15:02 PM
Don't exaggerate. It was all the people and companies that pushed those bad mortgages and all the banks and insurance companies (AIG) that sold those mortgage-backed swap derivatives. The fact was, enough people fell for the these. Whatever things these guys did, I think everybody did. Which is really why our economy is teetering now. Probably, it's difficult to find people with expertise who aren't tainted by this.
It took thousands of people to do this. All regulated by greed.
These three guys will not escape investigation and prosecution. I doubt that they will get appointments from Obama, and there's no chance they will get a pardon. Don't fool yourself about that.
If McCain could attack Obama about this, I guess he should. But wait: McCain himself has a lot of people working for him who have "troubled" relationships with the market.
-- Modified on 10/2/2008 6:18:55 AM
and Invested $1.5 M in these two entities...
So tell me that they (MOCs) are innocent - when the appoint 5 board members to each of these organizations... this is just totally irresponsible conflicts of interest.... maybe legal, but certainly questionable...
the top 4 guys... got over 500K from FM2
Name Grand Total
Chris Dodd, D $165,400
Barack Obama, D $126,349
John Kerry, D $111,000
Bob Bennett, R $107,999
But least you think that there was an untainted MOC, They ALL took some money, every last damn one of them Members of Congress.... more like members of shit.
As for Mccain - he in the top half also....
John McCain, R $21,550
This is all too much.... just too damn much.
and our fearless leader out of this mess? Barney frank...
Barney Frank, D $42,350
-- Modified on 10/2/2008 1:13:35 PM