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The Central Intelligence Agency apparently didn’t trust its partners in the American intelligence and created a fake software update to steal their data. Part of an internal project called ExpressLane, the bogus update was installed by the CIA Office of Technical Service (OTS) agents purported to be upgrading the biometric collection system.This biometric system was installed at the “liaison services” that included National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Intelligence. The agency reportedly installed these at partner offices around the world to gain biometric data that was collected by the other agencies. The scathing revelation...

The Puget Sound Business Journal has done yeoman’s work investigating the storied history of WaMu. (See The Rise & Fall of WaMu and The Last Days of WAMU).I just found their most recent work, The fight for WaMu documents. It details some of the more absurd redactions that were made to the documents they requested of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding communications between WaMu’s regulators. The redactions were rather absurd:And my personal favorite:So much for more transparency under the new Adminsitration . . .

IndyMac died a year ago Saturday, the first major thrift to fail in the financial crisis. Its burial, marked by confusion, chaos, and a relatively sweet deal for a group of private equity titans, is unlikely to happen in the same manner today. The aftermath of IndyMac, since renamed OneWest Bank, is telling, and provides a stark illustration of how much things have changed in the course of a year.

Posted by Karl Denninger in Regulatory at 08:22 They're Still At It: Bank United And FDIC The Government never ceases to amaze me... BankUnited, a newly chartered federal savings bank, acquired the banking operations, including all of the nonbrokered deposits, of BankUnited, FSB, Coral Gables, Florida, in a transaction facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). As a result of this transaction, BankUnited, FSB, offices and branches will be operated as BankUnited offices and branches. For those who don't follow The Market Ticker closely (or who are new to it and the forum) Tickerforum and Market Ticker readers know...

While the nation's lenders ran amok during the boom, Andy Beal hoarded his money. Now he's cleaning up--with scant help from Uncle Sam. BY BERNARD CONDON & NATHAN VARDI Standing outside the glass-domed headquarters of his Plano, Texas, bank in March, D. Andrew Beal presses a cellphone to his ear. He's discussing a deal to buy mortgage securities. In just a few minutes, the deal's done: His Beal Bank will buy $15 million of face value for $5 million. A few hours earlier he reviewed details on a $500 million loan his bank is making to a company heading into...

<p>A top bank regulator has been placed on leave pending a Treasury Department investigation into regulators' approval of backdated cash infusions for troubled thrifts.</p> <p>The Office of Thrift Supervision said Thursday its acting director, Scott Polakoff, was placed on leave. He is being replaced by OTS Chief Counsel John Bowman.</p>

A private equity company led by former Goldman Sachs executives is the likely buyer of IndyMac Bank, according to a report published Friday. The winner of the bidding for the Pasadena-based thrift is New York-based Dune Capital Management, founded in 2004 by ex-Goldman partners Steven Mnuchin and Daniel Niedich, according to the report on the Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter Web site.

A senior bank regulator was removed from his job after being accused of helping mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp alter its records so it appeared to be in better shape -- weeks before it was seized by the government. The Office of Thrift Supervision has reassigned its top West Coast official, Darrel Dochow, who was also a controversial figure in the regulatory lapses surrounding the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s. In a letter sent Monday to Sen. Charles Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, the Treasury Department's inspector general wrote that the federal OTS allowed the bank...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators shut down two big savings and loans based in Southern California on Friday, saying they fell victim to the acute distress in the housing market in that state. The two companies were the Downey Savings and Loan Association, based in Newport Beach, and PFF Bank & Trust of Pomona. Their closings brought the number of bank failures this year to 22. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was appointed receiver of the two thrifts. U.S. Bank, based in Minneapolis, acquired all the deposits of both institutions. Downey had assets of $12.8 billion and deposits of $9.7...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Loganville, Ga.-based The Community Bank has been closed by regulators, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said late Friday, marking the 20th bank failure so far this year amid the ongoing financial crisis. All of The Community Bank's deposits have been transferred to Tappahannock, Va.-based Bank of Essex, the FDIC said, and all four of The Community Bank's branches will reopen Monday as Bank of Essex.

On November 21, 2008, the banking operations of Downey Savings and Loan Association, F.A. - Newport Beach, CA was sold in a transaction facilitated by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

On November 21, 2008, the banking operations of PFF Bank and Trust, Pomona, CA was sold in a transaction facilitated by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

WAMU: NO WAMPUM EXPERT SAYS BANK MAY COST TAXPAYERS $24B By TERI BUHL Posted: 4:31 am September 14, 2008 US taxpayers could be on the hook for as much as $24 billion to rescue embattled Washington Mutual, the country's No. 1 savings and loan, a top banking analyst is warning. The jaw-dropping tab would come in the form of federal mortgage loss guarantees needed to coax a buyer into purchasing WaMu, according to Landeburg Thalmann's Dick Bove, whose view on the need for a federal backstop is shared by an official with the Office of Thrift Supervision, WaMu's regulator. Bove,...

By John Poirier WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators took over two banks on Friday and sold them to Mutual of Omaha Bank, the sixth and seventh bank failures this year as financial institutions struggle with a housing bust and credit crunch. ADVERTISEMENT Two weeks after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp seized IndyMac Bancorp Inc (Other OTC:IDMC.PK - News), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it closed First National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank NA of California. First National had total assets of $3.4 billion and $3 billion in deposits while First Heritage had assets of...