Jim Johnson, Franklin Raines, and Tim Howard

Here is a quick look into 3 former Fannie Mae executives who have helped to bring down Wall Street: Don’t give credit entirely to these guys though. Deregulatory activity spawning all the way to Ronald Reagan allowed them the loopholes in which they operated.

Now the point of this email is to talk about the horrible things these men have done. Then surprise! Guess who they work for? But instead of having you wait for the surprise I’ll ruin it ahead of time. The email implies they all work for Obama’s campaign, however, with some limited research its obvious this isn’t the case

First of all the first source the Raines works for Obama comes from the completely sound and unbaised Sean Hannity (pretty sure he will be voting Blue this year) But apparently the generally reliable Hannity was found to befalsely claiming Raines works for Obama It turns out the Obama campaign made some phone calls to the CEO about his thoughts on the financial crisis. Even though he is obviously a morally shady man, he still might know a thing or two… Maybe this is the same logic that McCain using when he states we should ignore the leaders of Iran and Syria. After all if we open up dialogue and find out no one wants to fight – what war could the hawk of hawks McCain lead us into?

I was going to debunk the other two but thinking about this upcoming election, mindless mudslinging, and the fact the in the INFORMATION AGE no one bother to fact check has really gotten me to disgusted to continue.

Jim Johnson – Was a former exec at Lehman Brothers and later was forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO. Looking at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s May 2006 report on corruption and mismanagement inside Fannie Mae, and you will find interesting things about Johnson. Investigators found that Fannie Mae had hidden a substantial amount of Johnson’s 1998 compensation from the public, reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million when it fact it was $21 million.” Johnson is currently under investigation for taking illegal loans from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae.

Johnson’s Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.

Franklin Raines was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie Mae. At the time of his departure The Wall Street Journal noted, ” Raines, who long defended the company’s accounting despite mounting evidence that it wasn’t p roper, issued a statement late Tuesday conceding that “mistakes were made” and saying he would assume responsibility as he had earlier promised. News reports indicate the company was under growing pressure from regulators to shake up its management in the wake of findings that the company’s books ran afoul of generally accepted accounting principles for four years.” Fannie Mae had to reduce its surplus by $9 billion. Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae when auditing discovered severe irregulaties in Fannie Mae’s accounting activities.

Raines left with a “golden parachute valued at $240 Million in benefits. The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of the accounting scandal became clear. http://housingdoom.com/2006/12/18/fannie-charges/ . The Government noted, “The 101 charges reveal how the individuals improperly manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while knowingly neglecting accounting systems and internal controls, misapplying over twenty accounting principles and misleading the regulator and the public. The Notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate capital reports that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner.” These charges were made in 2006. The Court ordered Raines to return $50 Million Dollars he received in bonuses based on the miss-stated Fannie Mae profits.

Tim Howard – Was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard “was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that would ensure a “stable pattern of earnings” at Fannie. In everyday English – he was cooking the books. The Government Investigation determined that, “Chief Financial Officer, Tim Howard, failed to provide adequate oversight to key control and reporting functions within Fannie Mae,”

On June 16, 2006, Rep. Richard Ba ker, R-La., asked the Justice Department to investigate his allegations that two former Fannie Mae executives lied to Congress in October 2004 when they denied manipulating the mortgage-finance giant’s income statement to achieve management pay bonuses. Investigations by federal regulators and the company’s board of directors since concluded that management did manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard resigned under pressure in late 2004.

Howard’s Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

FRANKLIN RAINES? Raines works for the Obama Campaign as Chief Economic Advisor

TIM HOWARD ? Howard is also a Chief Economic Advisor to Obama

JIM JOHNSON? Johnson hired as a Senior Obama Finance Advisor and was selected to run Obama’s Vice Presidential Search Committee

IF OBAMA PLANS ON CLEANING UP THE MESS – HIS ADVISORS HAVE THE EXPERTISE – THEY MADE THE MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE. Would you trust the men who tore Wall Street down to build the New Wall Street ?

Tags: Franklin Raines, Jim Johnson, Tim Howard