This might be buried somewhere in this forum, but I didn't see it, so posting it. If it's here somewhere, link the story and just delete this.

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Countrywide Financial was one of the subprime lenders at the heart of the financial crisis; its predatory lending practices resulted in disgustingly large payouts for executives while sticking low-income borrowers with explosive mortgages they hadn’t a hope of paying back. The New York Times‘ Gretchen Morgenson called Countrywide, “Exhibit A for the lax and, until recently, highly lucrative lending that has turned a once-hot business ice cold and has touched off a housing crisis of historic proportions.”

Eileen Foster was an investigator in charge of Fraud Risk Management at Countrywide when the ticking time bomb of its bad loans detonated. The practices she discovered shocked her and have also shocked those who’ve heard her story—including the producers of “60 Minutes,” who asked her on the program last December to discuss the lack of prosecutions of any of the bankers responsible for the crisis. But instead of cleaning house and admitting guilt, Bank of America—which purchased Countrywide as the financial crisis grew, in what the Wall Street Journal calls “one of the worst deals ever struck in corporate America”–drove Foster out and tried to discredit her findings.

In 2011, the Department of Labor ruled that Foster had been illegally fired. It said that her firing was retaliation for her whistle-blowing and ordered that she be reinstated and paid compensation. There have still been no prosecutions, and no officials have asked to hear Foster’s story—so she’s taking it public. Earlier this year, she was honored with a Ridenhour prize for truth-telling from the Nation Institute and the Fertel Foundation, and this week she spoke with AlterNet in an exclusive interview discussing what she saw at Countrywide—and what happened to her as a result.


“Rampant Fraud”

“This is a mountain that people think is a molehill,” Foster told AlterNet. “As far as this type of financial crime, things are far worse than I would have ever imagined. In my furthest imagination I would have been challenged to come up with the things I have seen play out.”

Foster applied for the job as the head of the internal investigations department after 18 months at Countrywide’s corporate office. When she got in, in March 2007 she found a department in disarray, with multiple divisions responsible for investigation and little oversight—or worse, investigators reporting to the salespeople they were investigating. “That created quite a conflict, a general inability to do an effective job,” she said.

Cont at link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/21/co....

Absolute corruption corrupts absolutely. I'm not surprised to hear that it was worse than she thought. It's deplorable that the regulators have not taken action on this type of information. They've had people literally hand them cases on a silver platter, but turned a blind eye to them. It disgusts me.

They stood by and in some cases helped them take the loot. They all thought they were stealing some poor saps money. Wink Wink.

Starting to look even to them. Like they helped rob their own house.

Imagine My shock when I got to school the first day and found out my middle name was not godamit.

$500 million.

The tan man is some sort of local hero in corrupt DC circles.

In Simi people still do not talk ill of CW, because everyone made a fortune, bought houses, cars and vacations with the ill-gotten loot.

People in any organisation never speak ill of it.

Etz wrote..

The tan man is some sort of local hero in corrupt DC circles

Two hallmark phrases from that era: "Friends of Angelo," and "Fund 'em," one his personal favorite directives.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it's been sold: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/01/....

The ranch went up for sale last fall and looks like it hasn't been lived in for over a year. Word going back to 2010 is that tan man now lives in Italy. More recent word is that he has taken on Italian citizenship to make extradition more difficult, if not impossible.