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Exclusive: Obama to hit McCain on Keating scandal
Politico ^

Posted on 10/05/2008 7:37:18 PM PDT by Chet 99

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Monday will launch a multimedia campaign to draw attention to the involvement of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the “Keating Five” savings-and-loan scandal of 1989-91, which blemished McCain’s public image and set him on his course as a self-styled reformer.

Pushing back against what it calls “guilt-by-association” tactics by McCain, the Obama campaign is e-mailing millions of supporters a link to a website, KeatingEconomics.com, that will have a 13-minute documentary on the scandal beginning at noon Eastern time on Monday. The overnight e-mails urge recipients to pass the link on to friends.

The Obama campaign, including its surrogates appearing on radio and television, will argue that the deregulatory fervor that caused massive, cascading savings-and-loan collapses in the last ‘80s was pursued by McCain throughout his career, and helped cause the current credit crisis.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; keating; keating5; keatingfive; mccain; obama; stevebisatroll
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To: teletech

“He needs to show voters how Obama trained ACORN workers to obtain these sub-prime loans.”

The one that Democrats DO NOT want known, and Repubs are afraid to talk about because they would be charged with RACISM, is how much inner-city MORTGAGE FRAUD there was!

In 2005-2006 alone, we had over 1,000 (!!!) homes repo’d as part of just TWO scams!

some of these properties were sold 5 and 6 times, with crack addicts signing mortgages for a few bucks, and folks well-connected to the local Dems pocketing HUGE sums of cash!


161 posted on 10/05/2008 9:21:07 PM PDT by tcrlaf (SARAH PALIN-The American Everywoman (Yes, You Really CAN!))
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To: wardaddy

I live in Ohio. and it is going to be very close.

The last 3 weeks were bad. Like the rest. I have my ups and downs. But I am feeling much more positive tonight.

I am just tired of these old guard Republicans who have no personality or fight in them. We are now the party of Sarah Palin.


162 posted on 10/05/2008 9:22:20 PM PDT by se_ohio_young_conservative (GO Sarah Palin !)
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To: bossmechanic

The FEC is more likely to be a party in power’s way of keeping competitors out of power.


163 posted on 10/05/2008 9:22:59 PM PDT by dr_who
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To: FFranco
"Wasn’t McCain found not guilty in the Keating Five Scandal?"

McCain has nothing to worry about. First off, he was found not guilty. Second, all of the CNN, MSNBC, etc. documentaries have already reported this in their "exposes" - it's old news.

If the 0bomber campaign wants to somehow connect this to the economic downturn, let 'em. McCain has the hammer and it's called the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac - BHO payoff scheme. I would welcome that conversation every day of the week. Franklin Raines, Jim Johnson & Democrats who were warned of a financial meltdown yet decided to look the other way due to huge payoffs is bad news for Barry. BHO's playing with fire on having the root cause of this whole economic mess exposed - himself and all of his Rat friends.

I say bring it, 0bambi.

164 posted on 10/05/2008 9:25:14 PM PDT by Nasher (BHO: His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: Himself!)
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To: tcrlaf
The one that Democrats DO NOT want known, and Repubs are afraid to talk about because they would be charged with RACISM, is how much inner-city MORTGAGE FRAUD there was!

In 2005-2006 alone, we had over 1,000 (!!!) homes repo’d as part of just TWO scams!

some of these properties were sold 5 and 6 times, with crack addicts signing mortgages for a few bucks, and folks well-connected to the local Dems pocketing HUGE sums of cash!

If you have this kind of information, you need to get it to Rush or Hannity or SOMONE who WILL talk about it!

165 posted on 10/05/2008 9:25:16 PM PDT by teletech (Friends don't let friends vote DemocRAT)
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To: Chet 99

Oh, wow. I am so very surprised.


166 posted on 10/05/2008 9:28:53 PM PDT by fightinJAG (Fly the flag!)
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To: Chet 99

I like how you think.


167 posted on 10/05/2008 9:29:30 PM PDT by fightinJAG (Fly the flag!)
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative

You have no idea what you’re talking about, do you?


168 posted on 10/05/2008 9:29:33 PM PDT by clintonh8r
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To: beagleone

I totally agree. It’s too easy and the outcome too well known.


169 posted on 10/05/2008 9:31:39 PM PDT by Jenny217 (Competition defines and refines a person. It really is nothing to be afraid of. ItÂ’s said the only)
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To: unspun

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=S8QcpdUtxNQ

Add this one to your post. Barack Obama and Raila Odinga.


170 posted on 10/05/2008 9:32:07 PM PDT by word_warrior_bob (You can now see my amazing doggie and new puppy on my homepage!! Come say hello to Jake & Sonny)
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative

well then don’t take it out on folks here who have as realistic a view on the current state of the race as you did yourself last nite

just because we are saddned by seeing an easy victory slip away hardly means we are giving up

i’m sure not

but I’ll tell you, Mccain has nowhere near the troops on the ground Bush did in 2000 and 2004 and it’s tto lateb to kmake that up...it is hard just getting big billboards and yard signs just came out tlast week in Nashville...hell, Bush had them out after the primaries in 2000

and Obama baring something huge this month will get at least the % votes Kerry did .....some will drop out....PUMAs and some Jews but the Dems have newly registered a buttload of folks

we will need the largest GOP turnout in history to win

let’s ask someone who might know...and in your state btw


171 posted on 10/05/2008 9:32:11 PM PDT by wardaddy (everyone has underestimated the media and their bias, it's killing us)
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To: teletech

It’s old news, and has been out there for some time. This is just ONE of the schemes:

INDIANAPOLIS MAN SENTENCED TO 7 YEARS IN PRISON AND ORDERED TO MAKE $3.4 MILLION IN RESTITUTION IN MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME
http://indianapolis.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel06/mckinney.htm

According to Assistant United States Attorneys James M. Warden and Donna R. Eide, who prosecuted the case for the government, the evidence against McKINNEY established that McKINNEY was a licensed mortgage broker involved in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme that occurred in Indianapolis, Anderson, and other locations within the Southern District of Indiana, and elsewhere. The fraud scheme utilized inflated appraisals of real property, loan applications with false information to make borrowers appear more creditworthy, and kickbacks to participants.

MCKINNEY was president and co-manager of American Savings Mortgage (ASM) with co-defendant Pamela Martinez. ASM was a mortgage brokerage company doing business in Indianapolis, Indiana. ASM obtained financing for the purchase of residential properties in cities throughout Indiana, including Indianapolis, Marion, Fairmount, Kokomo, and Anderson, from various financial institutions, including First Bank, Inc., of Louisville, Kentucky.

ASM would prepare false loan application packages for buyers and submit fraudulent documents to mortgage lenders in support of the buyers’ loan application packages on the buyer’ s behalf. Relying on the inflated appraisals and false information in the loan applications, the lender, First Bank, would wire funds to Anchor Title in Anderson, Indiana. The transactions would close at Anchor Title. MCKINNEY and other co-conspirators would receive checks from the excess loan proceeds after closing the transactions.

MCKINNEY’ s role in the scheme was to bring together sellers, such as co-defendants Joseph Britton and Mark Speckman,(who were convicted on September 22, 2006, following a two-week trial) with the ultimate buyers of the real estate, who would pay an inflated purchase price based upon inflated appraisals procured by MCKINNEY. The sellers, Britton and Speckman, provided MCKINNEY a list of real property that they had available for sale which included the inflated values which needed to be used in order for Britton and Speckman to make a profit and for all the participants in the scheme to receive their kickbacks (called “ referral fees” by the participants). McKINNEY provided this list of properties, which set forth the inflated value for the properties, to the appraiser, James Spicer, who has pled guilty in the case and awaits sentencing.

For example, in June or July 2002, defendant Britton found property for sale located at 948 N. Oakland Avenue in Indianapolis, Indiana, intending to buy and then sell the property to a third person using an inflated appraisal and purchase price and share the proceeds from the inflated selling price. At the same time, other defendants recruited Richard Pollett to be the second buyer of this property. On or about July 10, 2002, MCKINNEY contacted James Spicer to falsely appraise the property located at 948 N. Oakland Avenue as being worth $60,000.00. Spicer provided the certified appraisal alleging that the property was valued at $60,000.00.

On or about July 11, 2002, Britton, doing business as Aspen Group, LLC, purchased the 948 N. Oakland Avenue property for its fair market value of $10,900. Pollett agreed to purchase the property at 948 N. Oakland Avenue in Indianapolis, Indiana for an inflated price of $48,000, which is 80% of the inflated value. Pollett received funds for his role as the purchaser.

In July 2002, in order to secure a loan for the inflated purchase price, ASM caused false information to be provided on behalf of Pollett to First Bank, Inc., for the purchase of the property. The false information included the inflated appraisal from Spicer and false information as to Pollett’ s income and employment, overstating his assets to make him appear more creditworthy.

On or about July 26, 2002, Britton purchased an official check from Union Federal Savings Bank in the amount of $7,029.18, to be used as Pollett’ s down payment for the purchase of the Oakland Avenue property, to further mislead the lender into believing Pollett would have equity in the property.

Based on false and fraudulent information provided to First Bank, Inc., that financial institution agreed to fund the loan to Pollett for the purchase of the Oakland Avenue property and, on or about July 26, 2002, caused funds in the amount of $46,532.22 to be wire transferred from First Bank, to the title agent, Anchor Title. After the loan closing at Anchor Title, the excess loan proceeds, that is, the difference between the fair market value of the property and the amount of the loan, were distributed in various amounts among the participants in the scheme as set forth herein.

On or about July 26, 2002, co-defendants Britton and Speckman sold a total of twenty-eight properties in Indianapolis to Pollett and co-defendant James McClung, via ASM. All of the loan closings included false financial information as described. A total of over $1.3 million dollars in fraudulently obtained loan proceeds was disbursed to three companies controlled by Britton and Speckman: Aspen Group, Pacific Group, and Home Source Investments.

After these funds were deposited into three separate accounts at Union Federal Bank, Britton and Speckman wrote 29 checks totaling approximately $430,000 to Senicure Investment Group to fund kickbacks to the other participants in the scheme. These checks were deposited into an account controlled by MCKINNEY at Bank One in the name of Senicure Investment Group. MCKINNEY then wrote a series of checks on the Senicure account from these proceeds to pay Martinez, McNair, Wilcox, himself, and indirectly, the buyers for their parts in the scheme. The Senicure account was used to hide the nature and source of these funds. MCKINNEY wrote himself a check for $71,000.

The scheme in which MCKINNEY participated involved a total of ninety-nine fraudulent loans, which resulted in a criminal loss figure of approximately $3,398,600.

Judge Barker also imposed 3 years supervised release following McKINNEY’s release from imprisonment. McKINNEY was ordered to make restitution in the amount of $3.4 million.

This one is just the most recent of the larger schemes:

On Wednesday, the prosecutor’s office announced charges of welfare fraud and theft against six men. Investigators say they were involved in different mortgage cartels over the past three to seven years.

Mehran Valiyi, Brian Beach, Marcus Dewayne Ward and Omar Dillard were all involved with different schemes all with the same result: defrauding HUD out of $284,000 and facilitating $37 million in mortgage loans that investigators say the suspects never paid on. Two out-of-state residents, Patrick Ladarius and Preston Forte, were also charged.

Investigators say the suspects took out almost $38 million in mortgages under fake companies they created, buying 568 homes across the city and then re-selling them for an inflated price to investors. The suspects never paid the mortgages on the homes they bought, sending properties like the one at 917 North Parker into foreclosure, according to the report.

Investigators say the suspects also registered some of their properties as Section 8 so they could collect HUD money all while not paying the home’s mortgage. Soon the home was in foreclosure and unsuspecting renters were on the street.

“Then they file for bankruptcy to keep from having to pay the judgment on the foreclosure and its just a never ending circle,” said Barbara Crawford, Marion County prosecutor’s office.

Authorities credit the Targeting Violent Crime Initiative for establishing links between violent crime and mortgage fraud cartels, leading to the charges against these 6 suspects.

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=8141228
From WTHR-13 Indianapolis

And yet ANOTHER large scheme from 2006:

Indianapolis - One of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders claims a Fishers man and his family in Virginia duped dozens of investors in what may be the biggest case of mortgage fraud in US history. The complicated scheme will likely put innocent investors into bankruptcy.

The 52-page lawsuit filed in June by Countrywide Financial alleges that 50-year-old Robert Penn, members of his family and associates victimized dozens of Virginia investors in what could be one of the largest mortgage fraud cases in American history.

A downtown office is where Penn operated ShowHomes Property management. The doors are now locked, with a sign in the window listing a telephone number and post office box address. The suit accuses Penn of tricking dozens of Martinsville, Virginia residents—many who are friends of his family, into unknowingly taking out loans to buy homes then getting mortgage lenders to loan far more money than each home is worth.

The suit lists 112 properties on the east side of Indianapolis and Westfield, but one source tells Eyewitness News the figure could be well over 400, amounting to losses between $40 and $80 million.

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=5477563


172 posted on 10/05/2008 9:35:02 PM PDT by tcrlaf (SARAH PALIN-The American Everywoman (Yes, You Really CAN!))
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To: bossmechanic
Exactly. You've got easily 10-20 scandals on BHO. They've got Keating Five. Keating Five. The mountain of information that this opens up against Barry is HUGE. Ayers/Rezko/Wright/Odinga/etc. is just the tip of the iceberg.

"Their reliance on the Keating stuff tells me that they are going to a gunfight with a knife."

Have to disagree with the knife vs. gun analogy a bit. If McCain/Palin bring out everything radical about BHO it's more like one of those Somali pirate "boats" taking on the U.S. Fleet.

173 posted on 10/05/2008 9:38:54 PM PDT by Nasher (BHO: His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: Himself!)
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To: teletech

Sorry... I should have added that these are just a FEW of the schemes, from just ONE Medium sized, formerly Democrat run city.

Multiply that by a Hundred Dem-run cities, many MUCH larger, like Detroit, and you can see where this mess is coming from.

Then multiply that by foriegn banks selling derivitives of this fraudulent debt at 50-1, or 60-1, and you can see why the banks have collapsed as these schemes come apart.

The actual FAMILIES being reposessed hasn’t changed much. What changed was that the tide of these pyramid-style schemes collapsing has turned into a complete flood.


174 posted on 10/05/2008 9:40:30 PM PDT by tcrlaf (SARAH PALIN-The American Everywoman (Yes, You Really CAN!))
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To: God luvs America
so in essence he’s no more guilty then defeatocrat murtha’s involvement in abscam???

Kindly save it for 5 November.

175 posted on 10/05/2008 9:41:26 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: Chet 99

The Obama campaigning knows they are doomed and are obviously desperate. This only proves it. No doubt their internal polls don’t mirror the biased MSM polls that have Hussein ahead. I suspect Hussein’s polls have him down a few points in the important states.


176 posted on 10/05/2008 9:47:33 PM PDT by cw35
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To: tcrlaf
LIE: “Bill Ayers is an unrepentant terrorist.” TRUTH: Bill Ayers is not, and apparently never was, a terrorist. The conventional definition of a terrorist is someone who tries to kill innocent people for political purposes. As Factcheck.org noted, In fact, nobody died as a result of bombings in which Ayers said he participated as part of the Weather Underground. (Factcheck.org, http://www.factcheck.org/...

These guys at "FactCheck" are huge liars. Does "FactCheck" tell us what Ayers was doing with the Weather Underground? Was Ayers selling girl scout cookies?

177 posted on 10/05/2008 9:52:36 PM PDT by Red Steel
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To: Jenny217
It's old news, resolved to everyone's satisfaction years ago and if it was worthy of damaging McCain's career, which is wasn't, it would have already been an issue.

Obama, on the other hand, has never been held accountable for the very frightening skeletons in his closet. The free ride stops here. The American people need to know the facts about who this "Messiah" really is: Namely, a charlatan and a fraud.
178 posted on 10/05/2008 9:52:42 PM PDT by beagleone
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To: tsmith130
I believe Robert Bennett, a Washington lawyer and big dem, was the special prosecute for the Keating scandal. He has many times that John McCain should never have been included in the Keating 5. And...he’s said this repeatedly within the past year. (He’s also Bill Bennett’s brother)

And he also represented Billy Jeff in the unpleasantness about the fat intern.

179 posted on 10/05/2008 9:55:30 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: Busywhiskers

Obama’s campaigners in the MSM will make sure this works against McCain.


180 posted on 10/05/2008 9:57:38 PM PDT by Def Conservative (McCain 08)
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