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My jaw just dropped practically in my lap as I read your post.

Both of the Fastow's were at Continental-Illinois when it failed? That was one of the biggest banking failures in the history of the U.S.

And I'm not surprised about the S & L involvement of her family. As you say, lots of people were involved in that.

I've read about her family's grocery store chain, the scandal, and the investigation by the SEC but haven't found a link for it for Ready for Freddie. I read about it, I think on the net, but it could have been elseware.

I know they were all friends of the Bushes, especially Ken Lay so that still doesn't explain the special treatment that the Fastows received.

Maybe the feds wanted to have a couple of big scapegoats and Lea wasn't unlikeable enough. Who can figure.

They both happened to start at C-I the same year that the bank failed (1984), probably after the failure. The bank's failure was mainly due to bad energy sector lending (of their own, in addition to the Penn Square debacle) exacerbated by the downturn in the oil sector 1981-1983, and the LDC lending pooch screw, which started with Mexico's 1982 default on their foreign debt. All set in place long before the Fastows were even out of college.

Both of the Fastow's were at Continental-Illinois when it failed?