subprime mortgages

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Capitol Hill's Favorite New Book: The Big Short

Lawmakers love how it explains meltdown

(Newser) - Listen to debate over financial reform on Capitol Hill for any length of time and you might think lawmakers were being paid to plug The Big Short, by Michael Lewis. They're not; they just love the way the book explains the financial meltdown and how a handful of investors made...

Billionaire Jeff Greene to Run for Senate

So what if Mike Tyson was his best man, and Heidi Fleiss his galpal

(Newser) - Billionaire investor Jeff Greene launched what promises to be a rather colorful campaign for Florida's Democratic Senate nomination today, depicting himself as an outsider who isn't beholden to anyone. “I won’t take a penny of special interest money in this campaign or after I am elected—never!”...

Fabulous Fab: 'I Regret the Emails'

Goldman Sachs exec Fabrice Tourre faces Senate panel

(Newser) - Fabrice Tourre, the 31-year-old trader who is the only company official directly accused in the SEC suit against Goldman Sachs, testified today that he does not recall telling investors a Goldman hedge fund client had bought into an investment that soured. "I deny categorically the SEC's allegation," Tourre...

Blankfein Will Deny Goldman Bet Against Clients
Blankfein Will Deny Goldman Bet Against Clients
TESTIMONY PREVIEW
Apr 26, 2010 6:36 PM CDT

Blankfein Will Deny Goldman Bet Against Clients

Goldman Sachs CEO plans to strike apologetic tone in Senate testimony

(Newser) - The CEO of Goldman Sachs will tell a Senate panel tomorrow he understands Americans' distrust of the bank, but its "functions are important to economic growth and job creation." Lloyd Blankfein's remarks, released ahead of the eagerly awaited hearing, are his most accommodating yet, reports the New York ...

Real Subprime Scandal Is Ratings Firms, not Goldman
Real Subprime Scandal Is Ratings Firms, not Goldman
paul krugman
Apr 26, 2010 5:48 AM CDT

Real Subprime Scandal Is Ratings Firms, not Goldman

99% of AAA-rated subprime securities now junk

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs won't come out of the Senate financial reform hearings smelling of roses, but it's the much bigger stink coming from credit ratings firms that lawmakers should focus on, warns Paul Krugman. Emails released by the Senate subcommittee probing the financial crisis show how corrupt the system of credit...

Germany May Go After Goldman Sachs

One of the nation's big lenders nearly collapsed

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs may soon have another government on its back: Germany will ask the SEC for information about its fraud case against the Wall Street giant. One of Germany's big lenders, IKB, got caught up in Goldman's mortgage investment scheme and required a bailout to avoid collapse, explains the Wall ...

Goldman Withers in SEC Spotlight

 Goldman Withers 
 in SEC Spotlight 
OPINION roundup
Apr 16, 2010 1:14 PM CDT

Goldman Withers in SEC Spotlight

Fraud charges kneecap stock price; observers play wait-and-see

(Newser) - The SEC's civil suit against Goldman Sachs is hardly a slam-dunk, experts agree, but the scrutiny is certainly not doing the firm any good . Some reactions:
  • This "is explosive stuff," Felix Salmon blogs for Reuters . "Goldman Sachs has lost more than $10 billion in market capitalization today,
...

SEC Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud
SEC Charges Goldman
Sachs With Fraud
Apr 16, 2010 10:26 AM CDT

SEC Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud

Says firm misled investors on subprime mortgages

(Newser) - The government is accusing Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs of defrauding investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in mortgage investments it sold as the housing market was faltering. The SEC today announced civil fraud charges against Goldman and one of its vice presidents. The agency alleges Goldman failed...

WaMu 'Poisoned' Financial System: Senate Report

Senate panel says lender knowingly built 'mortgage time bomb'

(Newser) - Washington Mutual made subprime loans it knew would go bad, then packaged them into risky securities, creating a “mortgage time bomb,” according to a Senate report. The permanent investigations subcommittee is grilling former WaMu execs this morning. The report also says the bank packaged and sold loans it...

Goldman Seizes Homes as Securities Sour

Just getting them to admit they hold your mortgage can be an ordeal

(Newser) - Imagine finding yourself in a foreclosure battle and discovering that your opponent isn't the obscure lender who wrote your insane mortgage, but the formidable Goldman Sachs. It seems that after years of buying subprime mortgages and packaging them into bonds, at a handsome profit, Goldman is now in the business...

First Major Financial Crisis Trial Begins

Bear Stearns execs accused of lying as funds imploded

(Newser) - The first major criminal trial against top Wall Street execs involved in the financial crisis kicked off in New York yesterday. Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin are accused of misleading investors in a desperate attempt to stop them from abandoning the funds, even as they...

Watchdog: Feds Need to Expand Foreclosure Plan

$50B plan proving ineffective as more mortgage holders lose their jobs

(Newser) - The Treasury's $50 billion loan-modification program is in danger of being swamped as the foreclosure crisis accelerates, the Congressional Oversight Panel said in a report yesterday. The Home Affordable Modification Program has met its target of 500,000 trial mortgage modifications started by November 1, but the watchdog warned that...

Subprime Salesmen Now Refinance Experts

(Newser) - The market for subprime mortgages may have dried up, but former salesmen have found a new calling: as loan modification advisers who help clients refinance the high-risk loans they used to sell, reports the New York Times. For a fee of around $3,500—the bulk paid upfront—former subprime...

One Man to Blame at AIG
 One Man to Blame at AIG 
GLOSSIES
Jul 7, 2009 7:31 PM CDT

One Man to Blame at AIG

(Newser) - AIG’s contribution to the world financial crisis may be bafflingly complex, but a single villain is emerging, writes Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair. Joseph Cassano was a "cartoon despot" who ran AIG's Financial Products division, now infamous for its credit-default swaps. Cassano, unfortunately, "didn’t fully understand...

Credit Crisis Traps NYT Economics Scribe
 Credit Crisis Traps 
 NYT Economics Scribe 
Perspective
May 16, 2009 6:55 PM CDT

Credit Crisis Traps NYT Economics Scribe

(Newser) - New York Times economics reporter Edmund Andrews was smart enough to avoid a financial disaster like the mortgage crisis. But “I had two utterly compelling reasons for taking the plunge,” he writes: “The money was there and I was in love.” With a new fiancée—...

Foreclosure Crisis Wallops Minority Neighborhoods

Lenders accused of 'redlining' black neighborhoods for subprime loans

(Newser) - The national foreclosure crisis is battering minority neighborhoods with disproportionate force, the New York Times reports. Few areas in the New York region have been untouched by the crisis, but 85% of the worst-hit neighborhoods have a majority of black and Latino homeowners. Experts blame the trend on subprime lenders'...

'Mini-Madoff' Scammed Churchgoers, Blames Banks

(Newser) - For some, 2009 may be remembered as the year of the Ponzi scheme: Last year, federal regulators prosecuted 13 such scams, but in just the first few months of this year, they’ve already filed 22 cases, reports ABC News. One recent bust is Long Island's Peter Dawson, who stiffed...

Top Subprime Lenders Owned by Bailout Banks

Analysis of gov't data reveals sources of the economic meltdown

(Newser) - Some 21 of the top 25 subprime lenders that triggered the global economic collapse were either owned or financed by banks that ended up needing bailouts, an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity finds. Among the backers, who make huge profits on the subprime business, were Lehman Brothers, Merrill...

Credit Rating Agencies Off-Base But Bullet-Proof

(Newser) - Until the day Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, all three of the major credit-ratings agencies swore its debt was safe, rating it A or better. They rated AIG at AA. And they gave 75% of the $3.2 trillion of subprime mortgage securities iron-clad AAA ratings. Moody’s, S&P and...

To Dodge Recession, Move to Huntsville

Mid-size cities do better in crunch, have seen lending increase

(Newser) - While big cities and rural areas have taken a beating as the financial crisis unfolds, many mid-size cities have seen consumer lending increase, indicating an economic resilience that other areas lack, the Wall Street Journal reports. In cities with populations around 400,000—like Huntsville, Ala.; McAllen, Texas; and Provo,...

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