Acorn Filmmaker Made Tapes at U.S. Government Offices, Too

[spotbird]

Source: Wired

....

ate last year, O’Keefe and fellow activist Joe Basel went into the Detroit and Chicago offices of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with a hidden camera. They pretended to be scam artists, asking employees there to participate in a complex kickback scheme involving federal incentives for first-time home buyers. In the excerpted footage shown to me by O’Keefe, the staffers seemed only to happy to comply.

The law says that the tax credit maxes out at $8,000 for an $80,000 home. On the tape, O’Keefe asked a staffer, “What if I bought a place for $50,000, but the seller and I agreed to write down $80,000 as the purchase price?”

“Flip it any way you want,” the staffer replied.

What if the place is worth much less — like only $6,000?

“Yup, you can do that.”


Read more: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/03/acorn-filmmaker-new-tapes/

[meegbear]

1. Until I see the heavily edited video of this happening, I can't believe it

[Newsjock]

2. From the story

"I wish I could provide more details — like the names of the staffers, or the exact dates of the recordings. But O’Keefe showed me the tapes just once, and quickly."

Not credible.

[WCGreen]

3. All this is is heresay and when Journalism actualy meant something...

That wouldn't even see the light of day without viewing the origianl source.

[nxylas]

4. "In the excerpted footage shown to me by O'Keefe..."

Some people are so gullible.

[CatWoman]

5. It appears O'keefe only targeted places that tried to HELP people

mainly minorities.......

[xchrom]

6. +1 and I'd have to see the edited bits before I believe any of this. Nt

[EFerrari]

11. Maybe they were shooting a film festival for the Klan. n/t

[joeybee12]

12. Oh yeah...let's see him make some tapes of the activites at Goldman Sachs! n/t

[CatWoman]

13. or Blackwater

:grr:

[lame54]

7. and they weren't released why?

[bpj62]

8. First time homebuyers Credit.

First of all HUD does not hand out $8000.00 to first time homebuyers. You have to claim it on your taxes so it is a IRS issue. As for "flipping" a property it is perfectly legal to buy a property and them turn around and sell it immediately. The problem arrises when the seller/bank/appraiser collude to artifically drive up the sales price on the flip. Currently HUD does not allow "flip" transactions on HUD owned or HUD financed properties. That guideline is up for review and may me changed later this year.

Waht is striking about all this is that it is clear that O'Keefer tries to find the least informed person that he can and then he attempts to manipulate their answers to fit his agenda. That is not "journalism".

[wilt the stilt]

9. I rarely say this

but some people need a good punch in the face.

[Wizard777]

10. More illegal wiretaps.

[ljm2002]

14. Shame on Wired for promoting this!

"He only showed me once" "I can't say who it was" "I only saw the edited tapes"

and yet they are happy to spew the lies -- even after O'Keefe's ACORN videos have been discredited by all but the True Believers, and even after O'Keefe has been charged with criminal tampering in the case at Mary Landrieu's office.

Shame on them.