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It's Sunday night again. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio programs. Listen Live Info

The WaMu bankruptcy just got a little more interesting. Washington Mutual, the bankruptcy holding company, is asking a court to compel the FDIC, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and several ratings agencies to turn over emails and other documents relating to JPMorgan's acquisition of the bank. Reuters (via The New York Times) has a report here. Zach Lowe of The Am Law Daily has a report, including a breakdown of the legal teams, here. Reuters: The company wants to investigate discussions between JPMorgan Chase, regulators, competitors and rating agencies it said led to the seizure of Washington Mutual, or WMI, according to...

The Puget Sound Business Journal for months has asked the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), the federal agency that regulated Washington Mutual, to release internal communications between WaMu's regulators. The newspaper made its requests under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, the decades-old law that requires federal agencies to disclose public documents. Of particular interest were internal emails, which could help explain why regulators seized the bank in September 2008 even though WaMu appeared to meet regulatory standards for operating banks, despite its burden of bad loans. (You can read the second installment of our six-month investigation about that decision...

Botton line:It was about "Obama's Favorite Banker," Jamie Dimon, wanting more of a West Coast banking presence, but Portfolio.com in an investigative piece has some of the details of how the government simply ripped WaMu from its shareholders and gave it to Jamie. Here are some excerpts about the gift to Jamie and what it means for banking overall: WaMu’s regulators said they based their decision to close the bank and sell it to JPMorgan Chase on lack of liquidity—its access to ready cash—and the mounting pile of failed mortgage loans that were expected to cripple the bank’s earnings for...

At a get-out-the-vote rally in Fairfax County, Moran said: “I mean, if the Republicans were running in Afghanistan, they’d be running on the Taliban ticket as far as I can see.” Moran was talking about Republicans Robert F. McDonnell for governor, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and state Sen. Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, who is running for attorney general. By some accounts, the three represent the most conservative Republican ticket to run in Virginia in many years. Moran’s comments clearly were aimed to motivate Democratic voters to turn out on Tuesday and vote blue. According to WAMU, McDonnell spokeswoman Crystal Cameron...

"Not even the guys at Washington Mutual know about this." Yet somehow CNBC found out. This video is a gem because it's probably the only existing report in mainstream press with any questions about the seizure of Washington Mutual. Once the FDIC formally announced the seizure the propaganda machine was turned on and the only thing that was repeated over and over was that JP Morgan had saved the day and that it was simply "Business as usual". The bank was likely seized on a Thursday to keep them from transferring 16+ billion dollars from WaMu fsb, a subsidiary which...

It's Sunday night again. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio programs. Listen Live Info

Did the Feds Just Gift JPM another $50 billion in Taxpayer Bailout Dollars! According to the Purchase and Assumption Agreement dated 25 Sept 2008, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation had until this past Monday to adjust to fair value, the selling price of the assets of Washington Mutual Bank. During the financial chaos of September 2008, the FDIC, in coordination with the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Treasury, deemed the 100 year old bank "unfit to conduct business", and sold the assets and deposits for a hastily arranged deal with JPMorgan Chase for a questionable $1.88b. Left behind...

It's Sunday night. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio programs. Listen Live Info

It's Sunday night. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio programs. Listen Live Info

Every Sunday for years I listen to the Big Broadcast 7 - 11pm est. Never thought to offer it to other Freepers. The Big Broadcast runs popular radio programs from the '30s, '40s and '50s. Listen Live Info

As consensus builds that the recession is over, some are crediting Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s stewardship and all but re-nominating him by acclamation. But others worry that declaring the recession over is a tad premature. “I would be hesitant to declare the recession over while unemployment remains so dire,” said George Selgin, professor of economics at the Terry College of Business at UGA and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Even if the recession were ending, Selgin thinks it would be a mistake to credit the Fed with the recovery. (It’s not a religious...

When the deal was struck in September, J.P. Morgan Chase’s purchase of most of the collapsed Washington Mutual Bank looked like a master stroke, a $1.88 billion purchase price for operations expected to boost annual earnings more than $2 billion. In the first quarter alone, revenue jumped 48%, in part reflecting the impact of the WaMu purchase. But at least part of the deal is getting a second look, as Delaware Judge Mary Walrath on Friday granted a motion from the thrift’s parent, Washington Mutual Inc., to examine J.P. Morgan’s books. [more]

IMPORTANT DEADLINE: for Washington Mutual Inc Shareholders July 6, 2009 SEATTLE, June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- All current shareholders of Washington Mutual should send letters to www.wamuequity.org to be received no later than July 6th 2009. These letters are very important to protect and/or enhance the future value of your Washington Mutual Stock. (WAMUQ WAHUQ WAMPQ WAMKQ). Do not delay in taking this important action on behalf of yourself and other Washington Mutual shareholders. Shareholders are urged to respond promptly via Toll Free FAX, e-mail or US Postal Mail, so that their signed letters arrive in our offices no later than...

You have to give credit to John Hempton, who continues to hammer away at Sheila Bair's seizure of Wamu and the giveaway to JPMorgan (JPM). Hempdon (who did lose money in the move) is convinced that the whole thing was a sham, purposely done to bail out JPMorgan at the expense of WaMu shareholders, and that it was the cardinal error of the government's handling of the crisis last fall. For what it's worth, this idea hasn't gotten much traction, except with angry Wamu shareholders. Now Hempton's got another interesting nugget in his arsenal following the release of the stress...

Washington Mutual's holding company is suing federal regulators for billions of dollars, saying the firesale of the bank's assets to JPMorgan Chase violated its rights

Washington Mutual's holding company is suing federal regulators for billions of dollars, saying the firesale of the bank's assets to JPMorgan Chase violated its rights. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which seized the Seattle-based savings and loan in September. It was the largest bank failure in U.S. history. Lawyers for the holding company, Washington Mutual Inc., argue that the bank was worth more than the $1.9 billion JPMorgan paid for it in a deal arranged by the FDIC. The lawsuit argues that if WaMu's assets had been liquidated prudently, they would...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Washington Mutual Inc, the failed U.S. savings and loan, has sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp for well over $13 billion in connection with the loss of its banking operations, which was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the thrift's former parent accused the FDIC of having on January 23 made a "cryptic disallowance" of its claims, prompting the lawsuit. It also accused the FDIC of agreeing to an unreasonably low price in arranging the a $1.9 billion sale of the banking...

JPMorgan sees home equity losses and 12,000 WaMu cuts 2 hrs 18 mins ago NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) warned that up to 41 percent of its more credit-worthy home equity borrowers will owe more than their homes are worth by the end of 2010, up from 27 percent at the end of 2008. At an investor presentation on Thursday, the second-largest U.S. bank said it expects losses of $1 billion to $1.4 billion in each quarter this year from such lower-risk home equity loans because house prices are falling. /snip The bank expects a total...

Tyler Cowen has a new argument against nationalization: Say that banks are in the red by $2 trillion for ever and all eternity. Taking over the banks simply means that the government picks up these losses as owner. Government ownership makes it less likely, not more likely, that bank creditors will "take a haircut." There's a certain amount of truth to this: nationalizing banks means nationalizing their net losses. But on the other hand, overpaying for their toxic assets means nationalizing their gross losses. The problem with Tyler's argument is that he's dealing in extremely small probabilities -- specifically, the...

China forex watchdog burnt by WaMu collapse Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:08am GMT By George Chen, Asia Private Equity Correspondent HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's foreign exchange watchdog, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, will cut back on overseas equity buys next year after suffering major losses on the collapse of U.S. lender Washington Mutual, according to sources. Earlier this year, SAFE, which controls around $2 trillion of China's foreign reserves, agreed to invest up to $2.5 billion in fund of U.S. private equity giant TPG TPG.UL -- its first foray into a foreign private equity fund, people close to...

... On a financial landscape littered with wreckage, WaMu, a Seattle-based bank that opened branches at a clip worthy of a fast-food chain, stands out as a singularly brazen case of lax lending. By the first half of this year, the value of its bad loans had reached $11.5 billion, nearly tripling from $4.2 billion a year earlier. ... WaMu’s boiler room culture flourished in Southern California, where housing prices rose so rapidly during the bubble that creative financing was needed to attract buyers. To that end, WaMu embraced so-called option ARMs, adjustable rate mortgages that enticed borrowers with a...

Up to 19,000 employees of Washington Mutual face being laid off this weekend as JPMorgan Chase turns up the synergy on its recent acquisition. On Friday, JPMorgan Chase (nyse: JPM - news - people ) said it expects to retain the 22,000 employees who work at Washington Mutual branches and 2,000 workers in the mortgage and wealth management divisions in California, spokesman Tom Kelly told Forbes.com. The company has not yet determined the total numbers to be cut in other states, but it planning to inform all former WaMu employees of their job status by Monday. About 1,600 employees who...

Since the moment Washington Mutual became the nation's largest bank failure, blindsided executives and devastated investors have spun conspiracy theories about what did it in. The obvious answer is the implosion of a runaway mortgage market in which WaMu had been a dominant player. Bad loans caused its profits and stock price to crater, and regulators say an accelerating outflow of deposits led them to close the bank Sept. 25. Yet Oliver Stone-style sleuths are digging for something darker, like regulatory missteps or the federal government sacrificing WaMu to pressure Congress to approve a multibillion-dollar bailout for the financial industry....

Washington Mutual is under investigation by federal authorities looking into what caused its banking units to be seized by government regulators and sold to J.P. Morgan Chase last month. U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sullivan in Seattle said his office created a task force working with investigators from the FBI, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Internal Revenue Service to investigate what led regulators to close WaMu. "Due to the intense public interest in the failure of Washington Mutual, I want to assure our community that federal law enforcement is examining activities at the bank to...

Earnings inflated by inadequate reserves for loan losses. Appraisers pressured to deliver home values to justify making shaky loans. A loan portfolio stuffed with risky mortgages written mainly for the higher interest rate and fee income they could generate. Stock sales by a top executive ahead of bad news. Misleading and false disclosures to investors. A "toothless" risk-management operation.Federal investigators looking into the decline and fall of Washington Mutual Bank as an independent company won't have to go far for a wealth of allegations as to the causes, or source material on those accusations. Three class-action lawsuits -- each a...

With Americans reeling from a global financial crisis, dozens of former Washington Mutual insiders have come forward to expose what they claim were calamitous executive decisions that led to the biggest bank failure in U.S. history. These former WaMu employees, 89 of them who worked throughout the company and around the country, described a bank eager to profit from a housing boom and lending frenzy that seemed to have contributed to the credit crunch and housing bust now plaguing the economy. Some of them spoke to ABC News, all of them are confidential witnesses in a recently filed shareholder class...

.....a brazen family of fraudsters took advantage of sloppy subprime mortgage lenders to pull off a mindblowing scheme reeling in more than $200M - a devastating hit that contributed to the nation's financial crisis. Garri Zhigun was part of a Russian fraud ring using false documents, stolen ID's and "straw" buyers for over 1,000 subprime mortgages 2004-06. The 27-member gang worked out of a Brooklyn mortgage brokerage owned by Zhigun's mother........targets included fallen lenders Washington Mutual Bank, conned out of $842,500, Countrywide taken for $396,000.......and preyed on other banks and mortgage companies. Zhigun and accomplice Aleksander "Shorty" Lipkin bought condos...

Tradecraft Politicians Use Bailout to Grab More Power By Jonathan Hoenig |Jonathan Hoenig Archive |Published: October 2, 2008 There was a time I wrote extensively about promising sectors and stocks. I looked at companies' new products, analyzed earnings and tracked moving averages of securities big and small. I miss those days.In recent weeks, those fundamentals have all but ceased to matter now that politicians are pulling the economy's strings. From restricting trade, such as through the short-sale ban that was just extended, to outright seizure, as was the case with AIG (AIG: 4.02*, +0.09, +2.29%), we are witnessing the biggest...

Alan Fishman, named CEO of Washington Mutual just 18 days before federal regulators seized it, will not accept a multimillion-dollar severance payment even if he is entitled to it, a spokesman representing him said Wednesday. "It is doubtful that Mr. Fishman would be entitled to severance payments under his contract because of FDIC regulations, but in any event, he would not accept severance under these circumstances," the spokesman said Wednesday in an interview. He would not comment on whether Fishman would keep a $7.5 million signing bonus or whether he is still employed at WaMu. Fishman's employment contract made him...

Creditors in Washington Mutual Inc.'s bankruptcy could go after a $16.5 million cash severance payment promised to ousted CEO Kerry Killinger, experts said. While federal regulators seized WaMu's banking operations last week and sold most of them to JPMorgan Chase, the WaMu holding company that previously owned the bank filed for bankruptcy protection and now will be scrutinized by creditors with more than $5 billion in claims. In trying to get back some of their money, they can challenge payments made to corporate insiders during the year before bankruptcy, several experts said. That includes Killinger's severance payment and a $7.5...

The CEO of failed Washington Mutual Inc., on the job only a few weeks before the largest U.S. thrift was seized by the government and sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co., is entitled to more than $13 million in severance and bonus pay.

At 9:40 a.m. on Friday, five buttoned-down bankers rolled their suitcases into the lobby of Washington Mutual's Seattle headquarters. They said they were from JPMorgan Chase & Co, but they didn't need to: nearly everyone else at the WaMu Center was in jeans. The night before, JPMorgan agreed to buy WaMu's branches and deposits for less than $2 billion as the federal government closed down an institution that survived the Great Depression of the 1930s only to be felled by the mortgage crisis of 2008. "We don't think we'll have our jobs in a couple of months," said Bryan Johnson,...

Millions of Washington Mutual customers woke up Friday morning fearing that their life savings, checking accounts and mortgages were in danger, after federal regulators seized the bank’s assets and sold them in a fire sale Thursday night. Despite assurances by the federal government that it guarantees deposits of up to $100,000, customers descended upon bank branches to yank out their money on Friday, hoping it was still there.

SEATTLE, WA (September 24, 2008) – Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE:WM), one of the nation’s leading banks for consumers and small businesses, has once again been recognized as a top employer by Hispanic Business magazine and the Human Rights Campaign. Hispanic Business magazine recently ranked WaMu sixth in its annual Diversity Elite list, which names the top 60 companies for Hispanics. The company was honored specifically for its efforts to recruit Hispanic employees, reach out to Hispanic consumers and support Hispanic communities and organizations. The Human Rights Campaign, the largest national gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) civil rights organization, also...

Alan Fishman could be eligible for a multi-million paycheck after only three weeks on the job ... if he decides to keep it. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Washington Mutual Chief Executive Alan Fishman could walk away with more than $18 million in salary, bonuses and severance after less than three weeks on the job, according to the terms of his employment agreement.

SEATTLE, WA (September 24, 2008) – Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE:WM), one of the nation’s leading banks for consumers and small businesses, has once again been recognized as a top employer by Hispanic Business magazine and the Human Rights Campaign. **snip** The Human Rights Campaign, the largest national gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) civil rights organization, also awarded WaMu its second consecutive 100 percent score in the organization’s 2009 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), which measures progress in attaining equal rights for GLBT employees and consumers. WaMu joins the ranks of 259 other major U.S. businesses that also received top marks...

Washington Mutual Inc.'s new CEO, Alan Fishman, will be eligible for at least $12.65 million or more in salary and bonuses next year, the company said Thursday in a securities filing. Fishman, who replaced Kerry Killinger as CEO on Monday, also received a $7.5 million signing bonus for joining the company, according to a regulatory filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under his employment agreement, Fishman will receive a base salary of $1 million, a target bonus of up to $3.65 million and a long-term incentive award starting in 2009 of at least $8 million. In addition, he...

Washington Mutual paid former CEO Kerry Killinger $14.4 million in 2007 and over $54 million from 2002-07, Forbes reports. In return, the nearly 120-year-old firm was led into the biggest bank failure in U.S. history.

I'm not putting a reference in becasue I want my freakin' title, I'm pissed. But search and you shall find ...

Largest Bank Failure in US history. $188 billion in deposits. FDIC couldn't fund seizure...FDIC next GSE bailout. This is getting iffy.

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington Mutual Inc was closed by the U.S. government in by far the largest failure of a U.S. bank, and its banking assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co for $1.9 billion. Thursday's seizure and sale is the latest historic step in U.S. government attempts to clean up a banking industry littered with toxic mortgage debt. Negotiations over a $700 billion bailout of the entire financial system stalled in Washington on Thursday. Washington Mutual, the largest U.S. savings and loan, has been one of the lenders hardest hit by the nation's housing bust and credit...

Washington Mutual, the nation's largest thrift, was seized by federal regulators last night and sold immediately to J.P. Morgan Chase for $1.9 billion, avoiding the need for a government bailout of depositors in the troubled company.The deal was facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which said there would be no payment from its insurance fund. Washington Mutual, based in Seattle, made thousands of mortgage loans that its borrowers cannot repay. That has left it saddled with billions of dollars in bad debts. It has been unable to raise the money it needs to survive. Last week, the company placed...

JPMorgan Chase acquired the banking operations of Washington Mutual Bank in a transaction facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. All depositors are fully protected and there will be no cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund. "For all depositors and other customers of Washington Mutual Bank, this is simply a combination of two banks," said FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair. "For bank customers, it will be a seamless transition. There will be no interruption in services and bank customers should expect business as usual come Friday morning." JPMorgan Chase acquired the assets, assumed the qualified financial contracts and made a...

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. was expected to announce as early as Thursday night a deal to acquire the bulk of Washington Mutual Inc.'s operations in a deal that would mark the end of independence for what once was the largest U.S. thrift. Federal regulators have been heavily involved in orchestrating the transaction, which comes as WaMu was besieged by a mountain of bad mortgage loans. Seattle-based WaMu has been scrambling to find a solution and put itself on the auction block last week. A number of interested parties have been poring over WaMu's books, but the bank didn't receive...

Washington Mutual bank explores takeover possibilities: report Thu Sep 25, 10:00 AM ET The troubled US bank Washington Mutual has approached certain private equity firms as possible candidates to take it over, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The private investment groups approached include Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group, which may team up with Texas billionaire Gerald Ford, the daily said, citing sources familiar with the matter. Questions have arisen over Washington Mutual's future since last week's dramatic collapse of investment giant Lehman Brothers and the government rescue of insurance group AIG.

Just heard live. JP Morgan investor call tonight 9:30

Washington Mutual CEO Kerry Killinger stood before a Wall Street investors' conference last September and declared that his company — the company he had led since 1990 and built into the nation's sixth-largest bank and one of its biggest home lenders — not only would survive the collapse of the mortgage bubble but would prosper. Despite what Killinger called "a near-perfect storm" in the U.S. housing market, he said, "We have appropriate capital and sources of liquidity (i.e., cash) to weather the storm." Killinger declared that WaMu would add billions in new mortgages to its books, in a bid to...

Washington Mutual, the struggling savings and loan, has been working on several efforts to save itself, including a potential sale, people briefed on the matter said Wednesday. The unsurprising announcement comes as the bank, which has suffered badly from losses on mortgages it had made, continues to stumble. Shares in Washington Mutual fell nearly 10 percent on Wednesday to $2.09; they have plunged 94 percent over the last 12 months. This week alone, investors have been frightened by Standard & Poor’s cutting of the bank’s debt rating to junk. Goldman Sachs, which Washington Mutual has hired, started the auction several...

Washington Mutual, the struggling savings and loan, has been working on several efforts to save itself, including a potential sale, people briefed on the matter said Wednesday. The unsurprising announcement comes as the bank, which has suffered badly from losses on mortgages it had made, continues to stumble. Shares in Washington Mutual fell nearly 10 percent on Wednesday to $2.09; they have plunged 94 percent over the last 12 months. This week alone, investors have been frightened by Standard & Poor’s cutting of the bank’s debt rating to junk. Goldman Sachs, which Washington Mutual has hired, started the auction several...