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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (589803)	10/13/2010 5:44:07 PM
From: Bill	4 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1573539

If you need a link, you haven't been paying attention.

To: tejek who wrote (589803)	10/13/2010 7:05:35 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573539

Hard to Believe That Alexi Giannoulias ‘Didn’t Know’ Of Mobster’s Crimes His family owned bank loaned $20M to mobsters who had prison records. (Read WP posts from Warner Todd Huston) \| (Read MT posts from Warner Todd Huston) \| rssAlexi Giannoulias is well known as the "Mob Banker" for the fact that his family bank lent $20 million to two mobsters while Alexi was an officer of the bank. The Illinois Democrat's Senate candidate has finally answered to this loan a bit more directly than he has in the past and his answer is simply a bit hard to take. On NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday, October 10, Giannoulias uttered the laughable claim that he "didn't know the extent" of the criminal activities of his mobster borrowers at the Broadway Bank. This is a bit hard to take. Giannoulias seemed to act as if the two mobster's activities were not as well known in 2005 as they really were at the time his bank gave these ne’er-do-wells multiple loans. Both Michael "Jaws" Giorango and his pal Demitri Stavropoulos were well known criminals by the time they were being served at Broadway Bank. The Chicago Tribune is just as incredulous at Giannoulias's claim as I am, too. As the Trib says: It's probably true that Giannoulias was not fully briefed on their illegal activity, which is the sort of thing felons rarely publicize even to their financial enablers. But he and his colleagues did know — or should have known — enough to show these clients the door. Not only had Giorango served prison time in the 1990s for his involvement in illegal bookmaking, but he and Stavropoulos had been convicted, in 2004, of new felonies for which they later served prison time. How is it that men looking for official, normal loans from a bank didn't have their criminal activity flagged as problematic when the bank did its due diligence on back ground checks? It really is impossible to believe that all these facts just slipped right past the officials at Broadway Bank and Alexi Giannoulias. Surely the criminal background of these mobsters was well known by the bank and its officers. Yet these loans were made anyway. The question is, why were these loans made? Why, Alexi? Why did you loan up to $20 million to known mobsters? Obviously, the Democrat's candidate for Senate in Illinois is just another leftist Democrat liar. rightwingnews.com

To: tejek who wrote (589803)	10/13/2010 7:26:28 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573539

Other Giannoulias bank customers - Rezko & Obama It’s the place where Obama parked his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign funds. And it’s the same place where a mutual friend of Obama and Giannoulias — convicted Obama fundraiser/slum lord Tony Rezko — used to bounce nearly $500,000 in bad checks written to Las Vegas casinos. This week, the Chicago Sun-Times revealed an additional $22.75 million Broadway Bank loan to a Rezko-owned business in 2006. ..... hotair.com More about the $27M loaned to mobsters: According to the Chicago Tribune, during Giannoulias’ tenure, some $27 million of Broadway Bank’s funny money went to mob crooks Michael “Jaws” Giorango and Demitri Stavropoulos. Giorango is a hustler who fronted a nationwide prostitution ring and was sentenced to six months in prison; Stavropoulos is behind bars for operating a multistate bookmaking ring. Giorango ran the $400-an-hour call girl operation out of high-rise luxury apartments in Chicago with the infamous “Gold Coast Madam,” Rose Laws. Giorango and Stavropoulos used their Broadway Bank loans to start their own risky lending business for nontraditional borrowers unable to secure traditional bank financing. Despite Giorango’s criminal record exposed by the Tribune in 2004, Broadway Bank approved massive mortgages for him. Giannoulias’ brother, Demetris, explained that as a “relationship bank,” Broadway wouldn’t just throw someone under the bus because of a “bad article.” ...... In January 2010, the bank entered a consent decree with federal and Illinois state regulators. It required Broadway Bank “to raise tens of millions in capital, stop paying dividends to the family without regulatory approval, and hire an outside party to evaluate the bank’s senior management.” The city’s former inspector general blasted Giannoulias and his family for tapping $70 million worth of dividends in 2007 and 2008 as the real estate crash loomed. Broadway Bank was sitting on an estimated $250 million in bad loans. hotair.com Yes, the mobsters criminal record had been in the Chicago papers and Giannoulias' bank loaned them money anyway. And the Giannoulias family paid themselves $70M in dividends prior to the bank failing.