Who's Running TARP? You Might Not Wanna Know

[Joanne98]

Last week, Congress's oversight panel for the TARP funds confirmed in a report that the Treasury Department essentially has no idea what banks have done with the astronomical sums they've been handed.

Given this lack of information, we figured it might at least be helpful to know a bit about a few of the people at Treasury who are in charge of administering the massive program, and what their backgrounds might tell us about the way they've gone about it.

As the New York Times reported back in October, many of those people are former execs at Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street behemoth that used to be led by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Most prominent among those is Neel Kashkari, the 35-year old former Goldman VP who was appointed by Paulson in October as the interim head of the Office of Financial Stability (OFS), which is in charge of implementing the bailout. Kashkari's role is said by the Times to have "evolved" after Paulson changed the original bailout plan, so that Treasury would invest money directly in troubled banks.

But less attention has been paid to another Goldman alum, Kendrick Wilson, who was brought in -- after a personal call from his old Harvard Business School buddy, George W. Bush -- to advise Paulson on how to fix the financial markets.

Paulson brought Wilson to Goldman in 1998 from Lazard Freres. Before that, Wilson was president of Ranieri & Co., which was established by Lew Ranieri. While at Solomon Brothers in the 1970s, Ranieri pioneered mortgage-backed securities, the exotic financial instruments that helped stoke the mortgage bubble. In other words, the man brought in to fend off a financial crisis appears to be a protege of one of the men who helped cause it.

One Treasury official described Wilson to the Washington Post as "somebody who already knows everybody on Wall Street." The Wall Street Journal reported back in July:


Wilson's imprint has been on many major deals of the current crisis. As part of Goldman's team, he advised National City on its recent investment led by Corsair Capital. Wilson also advised Bank of America on its takeover of Countrywide Financial. He is advising Wachovia on its options for its loan portfolio.

Continued>>>
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/whos_running_tarp_you_might_not_wanna_know.php

:banghead: :hurts:

[liberal N proud]

1. It is the thieves running the banks

[biermeister]

2. thieves & banksters- isn't that redundant?

[DemReadingDU]

3. Banksters

:eyes:

[UpInArms]

4. I started puking when you put out - Lew Ranieri

Ranieri's Franklin Bank files Chapter 7 bankruptcy

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Franklin Bank Corp FBTX.PK, the lender founded by mortgage securities pioneer Lewis Ranieri, filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to liquidate, after federal regulators seized its banking unit.

The Houston-based lender late Wednesday filed for Chapter 7 protection from creditors with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

Franklin said it had "very limited remaining tangible assets" following the November 7 Federal Deposit Insurance Corp seizure of its banking unit.

The company said it has less than $500,000 of assets, and between $100 million and $500 million of liabilities, including some convertible notes and preferred securities.

Ranieri, who had been Franklin's chairman, and all other Franklin officers and directors apart from Chief Executive Alan Master have resigned their positions, the company said.

Formed by Ranieri in August 2001, Franklin is the third-largest U.S. lender to fail this year, after Washington Mutual Inc (WAMUQ.PK) and IndyMac Bancorp Inc (IDMCQ.PK), which both also filed for bankruptcy protection.

It struggled with a shortage of capital and an increase in loans to builders that went sour. Franklin was the first Texas bank to fail in more than six years.

Nineteen U.S. lenders have failed this year, up from three in 2007. Analysts expect dozens of additional failures as the nation's economic and housing struggles deepen.

Franklin had $5.1 billion of assets as of September 30. Its $3.7 billion of deposits and 46 branches were taken over by Houston-based Prosperity Bancshares Inc (PRSP.O).

Once a Wall Street mail clerk, Ranieri is sometimes called the "father of securitization" for popularizing mortgage-backed securities in the 1980s while he was at Salomon Brothers Inc.

Ranieri was also a key figure in Michael Lewis' 1989 best-selling book "Liar's Poker."

[Enthusiast]

5. CBS is asking Glenn Beck's opinion

on this issue this morning. Again, I will not tune in any TV channel that gives voice to fascist ideology. I sent them a complaint, as I did CNN, before. Of course in that split second I watched him said, "No way should they release the money to Obama."