Hillary Clinton’s new Campaign Manager, Maggie Williams Accused of Predatory Lending
It finally looks like the media has finally placed a microscope on our presidential candidates and what better a place to look, then at their campaign staff. If these candidates are “serious” and their words not “hollow”, then they will address these issues, instead of sweeping them under the rug.
I have wrote extensively on the Obama / Penny Pritzker relationship and now it appears Hillary Clinton also has a subprime “maven” on her campaign staff. Both Pritzker and Williams have been accused of taking advantage of low income borrowers.
In other words, predatory lending.
On the campaign trail, Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have proposed cracking down on the predatory lending that they say helped fuel the foreclosure crisis.
Both presidential candidates, however, rely on close advisers who had oversight roles at financial institutions that went bust because of subprime loans.
Clinton’s campaign manager, Maggie Williams, earned at least $175,000 serving from 2000-07 on the board of Long Island-based Delta Financial, which filed for bankruptcy last year after a history of high-cost loans to low-income borrowers, according to public records.
Obama’s national finance chairwoman, Penny Pritzker, was chairwoman of the board of a Chicago-area bank in 1993 when it adopted a subprime business strategy that regulators say ultimately led it to collapse in 2001.
This is something that should not be taken lightly. Does this say something about our Democratic candidates and the company they keep? How can Obama or Clinton be serious about helping homeowners and change, when they are doing the same ‘ole campaign BS. If you have money, then you are “A” OK, with us!
More from USA Today:
“Superior was effectively facilitating very sleazy lending,” said Bert Ely, a Washington, D.C., banking consultant who testified before Congress on the Superior failure.
“Delta was one of the bad guys,” said Irv Ackelsberg, a legal aid lawyer in Philadelphia who represented subprime borrowers. A lawyer for Delta did not return calls.
“I joined the board because I … understood that the subprime option, for all its challenges, was the only chance for many people to own a home,” Williams said.
Clinton told USA TODAY, “We all have friends, associates and staff members who have private sector involvement … I don’t see any connection at all between her prior employment and what I’m saying” about the loan debacle.
Well, Hillary, that was about the stupidest statement that has came out of your mouth since you came “under fire” in Bosnia. Come on! It is a HUGE connection as to what your values are and when it comes to backing up your words and press releases. What, you can’t find someone else to fill these positions, except these scum bags that made their living by selling toxic loans to the American people?
Delta Funding – FTC, DOJ and HUD Announce Action to Combat Abusive Lending Practices :
Delta Funding Corporation, a consumer finance company headquartered in Woodbury, New York, today agreed to settle charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, and the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The lawsuit, filed today in federal court together with a proposed settlement, alleges that Delta — a national subprime mortgage lender — violated consumer protection and fair lending laws by approving and funding loans without regard to the borrower’s ability to repay; approving and funding home mortgage loans to African American females with higher mortgage broker fees than similarly situated white males; and paying kickbacks and unearned fees to brokers to induce them to refer loan applicants to Delta.
According to the federal agencies, Delta’s actions have burdened borrowers with thousands of dollars of debt and exposed them to unwarranted risk of default or foreclosure. This is the first suit brought by the federal government that combines allegations of consumer protection and fair lending violations by the same lender.
More from USA Today on Maggie William and Delta Funding:
Delta ‘never changed’
Williams, Clinton’s chief of staff when she was first lady, went into public relations after she left the White House in the 1997. In April 2000, she joined the Delta board.
In 1999, Delta paid $12 million to settle predatory lending allegations with New York state and the U.S. Justice Department, court records show. Consumer advocates say it continued to peddle high-interest loans. “Their practices never changed,” said Matthew Lee of Inner City Press, a New York watchdog group. “They continued to compensate brokers for making overly expensive loans.”
In 2006, Delta originated $4 billion in loans and earned a profit of nearly $30 million on revenue of $467 million, according to securities records. The average interest rate ranged from 10% to 12%, compared with a typical mortgage rate of 6%, federal bank records show.
In 2002, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission levied a $910,000 fine against a brokerage firm it found had been selling exploitative loans, some through Delta, in predominantly black Philadelphia neighborhoods. Four of the Delta loans had originated while Williams was on the board.
Do the American people need any more facts then presented here ? (if not, I included some documents from our government below, accusing them of predatory lending and settling with Delta Funding) It is obvious that Maggie Williams and Delta Funding preyed on lower income borrowers out of greed and greed only.
Clinton and Obama need to do the “right” thing and fire these scum bags NOW!
United States v. Delta Funding Corporation Lawsuit
US DOJ – DELTA FUNDING CORPORATION SETTLES U.S.
US DOJ – SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND ORDER
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Where is the disclosures about mccain? Media Bias???
Phil Gramm who is a discreditted corrupt GOP lobbyist and works for UBS and is mccain main strategist. Hello? He proposed a lot of policys in the 90’s that have helped lead our country into this financial system breakdown. tisk tisk.
Is there anyone out there with any background in finance NOT affliated with the subprime fiasco? All of the banks were involved, all of wallstreet and the entire global investment community profited and everyone who owned a home in america saw there value increase and promptly liquidated their equity for a plasma tv…I would like to see you write about Phil Graham, Keating 5, Long Term Capital Management, who voted to strike down the Glass-Stegall act, why the OCC isn’t acting on behalf of the American consumer, the list goes on. My take is, all politicians talk a good game, make promises for change etc. but the truth always follows the paper trail. Aside from “who” is advising the candidate, the larger question is “where” is their money coming from? McCain knows who rights his checks, which explains the 180 degree change in his political views. The Clintons have political backing since the early 90’s from heavy donors, but Obama gets $35mil a month from donors that avg $98 per donation. So who will win? The rich few or the masses?
She hit the nail on the head!
The blame for this entire \’e2\’80\’9cMortgage Meltdown\’e2\’80\’9d can be laid upon the shoulders of all the greedy mortgage loan industry executives and the investment bankers who designed a scheme calculated to make themselves rich. Under the guise of \’e2\’80\’9chelping people\’e2\’80\’9d to realize the American dream of owning a home, these white collar fraudsters were really only concerned with creating feigned profits by quickly churning mortgage loans into securitized investments which they in turn sold to investors.
Based upon these feigned profits these executives and their cronies were able to extract large bonuses and convert stock options into personal profts. While the investors got stuck holding the proverbial empty bag. Many investors were large national banks. Ironically these same banks would have never loan money to the borrowers who\’e2\’80\’99s notes they were now holding indirectly through their investments in these \’e2\’80\’9cmortgage backed securities\’e2\’80\’9d. It is now estimated that the losses incurred by these banks may well surpass three hundred billion dollars.
There can be no argument these losses were the result of fraud from top to bottom of the mortgage industry. From mortgage lenders suchs as Countrywide, Washington Mutual, Fieldstone and Option One to secondary mortgage market makers, such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, Citicorp, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers etc.
This mortgage fraud created a false demand for housing in the U.S. This false demand caused an increase in home building. Now with the Mortgage Meltdown the U.S. has an over supply of new and existing homes. This over supply of homes has caused serious economic effects through every facet of the U.S. economy. Recovery will take years. The U.S. dollar has also suffered against other currencies. In April of 2003 a Euro could be purchased for $.85. Five years later in April of 2008 it takes $1.60 to purchase a Euro.
Rather than throwing themselves out of their executive office windows when their financial scandal was discovered and the billions in losses started to mount, these white collar crooks simply took early retirmenet or quietly resigned, taking with them the hundreds of millions they had EARNED for their part in the Largest financial scandal in U.S. history.
Americans should be outraged at how this went on unchecked by state or federal authorities.
It surprises me that nobody has commented on the social toll this takes on the community either. Do you think a neighborhood full of families waiting to move grows close? Do you think people strive to display pride of ownership when they are on their way out? Do parents become involved in their kids\’e2\’80\’99 classrooms when they probably won\’e2\’80\’99t be there in a few months? There is so much more being lost than money. It just breaks my heart.
Dolce,
Your words echoed a reminder in me about writing a post about this very issue. You are so right. All the money and home stuff is superficial when compared to the emotional and relationship strains this causes.
To Rod M – If we are to believe the newspapers Penny Pritzker, Obama’s Subprime Pal, has raised over $188 million for Obama in his campaigns for Illinois office and this presidential campaign.
There’s a grave difference between managing a business and owning and masterminding a business, i.e Maggie Williams (Clinton) and Penny Pritzker (Obama). See the Chicago Sun Times article, April 28, 2008, title Obama’s Subprime Pal. Unfortunately for Barack Obama we are judged by the company we keep, i.e Jerimiah Wright, Penny Pritzker, Tony Rezko. Like Jerimiah Wright, Penny Pritzker is more than a casual acquaintance of the Obamas, see the Wall Street Journal article Money Maven. When candidates have political positions that are the same or very similar, wise people judge them by their character. One of the factors in judging character is the company a person keeps. Penny Priztker states she is proud of how her family responded to the Superior Bank failure. They agreed to pay the FDIC $460 Million over 15 years at no interest and at an escalating devaluation of the dollars owed. The Superior Bank failure will cost the FDIC over $700+ million. Does Penny mean to say she’s proud she was able to get away with stiffing the government for over $250 Million and the Superior Bank depositors of the remaining $15 Million she still owes them?