Crooked Republicans go to jail. Crooked Democrats become committee chairmen.
Lawmaker Blocking Countrywide Subpoena Received Loans From Firm
By Lorraine Woellert
Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The chairman of a U.S. House committee who has refused Republican requests to subpoena Countrywide Financial Corp. over questions about preferential treatment for lawmakers received at least two loans from the company, records show.
One of the loans to Representative Edolphus Towns, a New York Democrat, was processed through an office the company used to prepare so-called VIP loans, according to public mortgage documents. Towns, as head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has rejected calls from Republicans to subpoena the company for details of the VIP program.
“Congressman Towns did not receive, nor did he seek, any special mortgage benefits,” Towns spokeswoman Shrita Sterlin said in an e-mail yesterday. “We have no reason to believe there is anything to this matter.”
The Senate Ethics Committee yesterday said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Kent Conrad of North Dakota, both Democrats, didn’t violate ethics rules when they refinanced their home mortgages with Countrywide Financial Corp. While finding “no substantial credible evidence” that the transactions violated the standards, the panel said the two senators should have “exercised more vigilance” to “avoid the appearance” of preferential treatment.
Towns has cited the investigation by the Senate panel as a reason for not issuing a subpoena.
‘Clears the Way’
Representative Darrell Issa of California, the top Republican on the House oversight committee, said the ethics panel ruling “clears the way” for a subpoena, which can be issued only by Towns.
“The limited scope of the Senate Ethics Committee investigation has not addressed Countrywide’s intentions in extending the benefits of its VIP program to high-ranking government officials,” Issa said in a written statement.
Bank of America Corp. took over Countrywide in July. Bank spokesman Dan Frahm said in an e-mail yesterday it doesn’t comment on individual customers and “would comply with a valid congressional subpoena for information.”
Towns’s committee also has been investigating Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. Towns yesterday in a letter asked Bank of America to submit records pertaining to the deal.
Towns, 75, and his wife Gwendolyn refinanced their home in Lutz, Florida, in September 2003 with a $183,000 loan from Countrywide, according to mortgage documents filed in Hillsborough County, Florida.
Two weeks later, the couple borrowed about $190,000 from Countrywide against their Brooklyn home, according to New York City records.
Interest Rates
The Brooklyn loan, which has been refinanced with another lender, carried an adjustable rate with a five-year fixed introductory rate of 4.625 percent.
The loan on the couple’s home in Florida also was adjustable. It carried a five-year fixed introductory rate of 4.5 percent that capped at 9.5 percent.
The Florida loan was processed in Room 850 of Countrywide’s Rosemead, California, office, which was used to process loans for politicians and other people of influence. The VIP loan recipients were known as “Friends of Angelo,” after the company’s then-Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo.
The loans also were called 850 loans, named for the processing office in Rosemead, according to Robert Feinberg, a former loan officer in the unit who spoke to House Republican investigators about the program.
“If you saw a designation of 850, more than likely that was going to be the VIP processing center,” Feinberg said according to a transcript of his interview.
Program’s Purpose
Countrywide used the VIP program to finance loans to federal and local legislators, law enforcement officials, judges, industry lobbyists, business partners, homebuilders, entertainers and journalists, among others. One of the program’s purposes was to “ingratiate Countrywide to politically influential people who could help the company,” Feinberg told House investigators earlier this year.
Issa said Towns’s loans, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, would not be a main point of an investigation by the House oversight committee into Countrywide and its role in the home-mortgage crisis.
Issa said the investigation “will continue to focus on the efforts of Countrywide to buy political influence and not on individual allegations of ethical misconduct by government officials.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Washington at lwoellert@bloomberg.net Last Updated: August 8, 2009 00:01 EDT
Lawmaker Blocking Countrywide Subpoena Received Loans From Firm
By Lorraine Woellert
Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The chairman of a U.S. House committee who has refused Republican requests to subpoena Countrywide Financial Corp. over questions about preferential treatment for lawmakers received at least two loans from the company, records show.
One of the loans to Representative Edolphus Towns, a New York Democrat, was processed through an office the company used to prepare so-called VIP loans, according to public mortgage documents. Towns, as head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has rejected calls from Republicans to subpoena the company for details of the VIP program.
“Congressman Towns did not receive, nor did he seek, any special mortgage benefits,” Towns spokeswoman Shrita Sterlin said in an e-mail yesterday. “We have no reason to believe there is anything to this matter.”
The Senate Ethics Committee yesterday said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Kent Conrad of North Dakota, both Democrats, didn’t violate ethics rules when they refinanced their home mortgages with Countrywide Financial Corp. While finding “no substantial credible evidence” that the transactions violated the standards, the panel said the two senators should have “exercised more vigilance” to “avoid the appearance” of preferential treatment.
Towns has cited the investigation by the Senate panel as a reason for not issuing a subpoena.
‘Clears the Way’
Representative Darrell Issa of California, the top Republican on the House oversight committee, said the ethics panel ruling “clears the way” for a subpoena, which can be issued only by Towns.
“The limited scope of the Senate Ethics Committee investigation has not addressed Countrywide’s intentions in extending the benefits of its VIP program to high-ranking government officials,” Issa said in a written statement.
Bank of America Corp. took over Countrywide in July. Bank spokesman Dan Frahm said in an e-mail yesterday it doesn’t comment on individual customers and “would comply with a valid congressional subpoena for information.”
Towns’s committee also has been investigating Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. Towns yesterday in a letter asked Bank of America to submit records pertaining to the deal.
Towns, 75, and his wife Gwendolyn refinanced their home in Lutz, Florida, in September 2003 with a $183,000 loan from Countrywide, according to mortgage documents filed in Hillsborough County, Florida.
Two weeks later, the couple borrowed about $190,000 from Countrywide against their Brooklyn home, according to New York City records.
Interest Rates
The Brooklyn loan, which has been refinanced with another lender, carried an adjustable rate with a five-year fixed introductory rate of 4.625 percent.
The loan on the couple’s home in Florida also was adjustable. It carried a five-year fixed introductory rate of 4.5 percent that capped at 9.5 percent.
The Florida loan was processed in Room 850 of Countrywide’s Rosemead, California, office, which was used to process loans for politicians and other people of influence. The VIP loan recipients were known as “Friends of Angelo,” after the company’s then-Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo.
The loans also were called 850 loans, named for the processing office in Rosemead, according to Robert Feinberg, a former loan officer in the unit who spoke to House Republican investigators about the program.
“If you saw a designation of 850, more than likely that was going to be the VIP processing center,” Feinberg said according to a transcript of his interview.
Program’s Purpose
Countrywide used the VIP program to finance loans to federal and local legislators, law enforcement officials, judges, industry lobbyists, business partners, homebuilders, entertainers and journalists, among others. One of the program’s purposes was to “ingratiate Countrywide to politically influential people who could help the company,” Feinberg told House investigators earlier this year.
Issa said Towns’s loans, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, would not be a main point of an investigation by the House oversight committee into Countrywide and its role in the home-mortgage crisis.
Issa said the investigation “will continue to focus on the efforts of Countrywide to buy political influence and not on individual allegations of ethical misconduct by government officials.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Washington at lwoellert@bloomberg.net Last Updated: August 8, 2009 00:01 EDT
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment