Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: koan who wrote (95719)	6/29/2011 4:49:28 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

Tejek, how many times do I have to say: "fines mean nothing"! -lol. I have said over and over fines are nothing. They don't mean shit!! They are the easy what out for the banks and Obama. NO one gets hurt and the public gets fooled into thinking Obama did something and the banks get off scott free with the illusion they got their punishment. Punishment without pain. On the contrary, money talks. The banks have cleaned up their acts. In fact, they have gone the other way........they are barely lending. They are making job through major hoops to get a refi. You want drama and silliness. That gives liberals a bad name. I want a reformed banking system.....not a dead one.

To: koan who wrote (95719)	6/30/2011 9:43:57 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 149317

Mortgage exec gets 30 years for $3 billion fraud By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press (AP:ALEXANDRIA, Va.) An executive convicted of orchestrating a nearly $3 billion fraud as chairman of one of America's largest private mortgage companies was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison by a judge who accused him of lacking remorse. The case against Lee B. Farkas, former chairman of Florida-based Taylor Bean & Whitaker, is one of the most significant prosecutions arising from the nation's financial crisis. The fraud spanned more than seven years, put thousands of employees out of work and contributed to the collapse of Colonial Bank _ the sixth-largest bank failure in U.S. history. "He deserves to be punished severely in light of the enormity of his crimes. The losses from this case are, in fact, off the charts," Patrick Stokes, a federal fraud prosecutor, said in urging a judge to send Farkas, 58, to prison for the rest of his life. Farkas, who denied any wrongdoing when he testified at his trial, was convicted in April of all 14 counts, including securities fraud and conspiracy. On Thursday, he acknowledged taking risks and making errors in judgment to keep his company afloat and his employees earning paychecks. But he did not directly apologize for any fraud. "When faced with the prospect of Taylor Bean & Whitaker sinking, I had to take risks," said Farkas, who has been in custody since the verdict. "I let Taylor Bean & Whitaker get out of control by letting it grow too fast." U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema told Farkas she detected no remorse as she sentenced him to 30 years _ twice the 15-year sentence requested by his attorneys. The fraud began in 2002 and took multiple forms until Taylor Bean collapsed two years ago and the scheme unraveled, prosecutors said. The company shut its doors after a federal raid in August 2009. Taylor Bean would routinely overdraw its main account with Alabama-based Colonial Bank by a few million dollars, with mid-level executives at Colonial agreeing to transfer money into Taylor Bean's accounts at the end of each day to avoid generating overdraft notices. Taylor Bean eventually double- and triple-pledged mortgages it held to a variety of investors, and sold more than $1 billion in worthless mortgages to Colonial. The bank listed the mortgages on its books and on its quarterly reports as legitimate assets, prosecutors alleged. Farkas appeared in court in a green prison jumpsuit, a far cry from a lavish lifestyle he once enjoyed with classic cars, a private jet, sea plane and expensive East Coast real estate _ including a Key West home. The government is seeking to have him forfeit $38.5 million. Farkas, of Ocala, Fla., is the last of seven employees and executives from Taylor Bean and from Colonial to be sentenced. The other six cooperated with the government and agreed to testify against him in hopes of securing lighter sentences for themselves. All received prison sentences ranging from three months to eight years. Colonial, which had been one of the country's 25 largest banks, was cheated out of more than $500 million. Two other banks _ Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas _ lost nearly $2 billion. Prosecutors say Farkas and his co-defendants also tried to fraudulently obtain more than $500 million in taxpayer-funded relief from the government's bank bailout program, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, also called TARP. Ultimately, neither Taylor Bean nor Colonial ever received any TARP money, even though TARP at one point gave conditional approval to a payment of roughly $550 million, investigators say. Farkas' lawyer. Bruce Rogow, argued Thursday that prosecutors had magnified Farkas' role in the fraud and said that while his client may have made naive, foolish and even delusional decisions, he was not a calculating criminal deserving of a life sentence. He said each of Farkas' co-defendants deserved blame for allowing the fraud to continue for years. "He is not the ogre that the government makes him out" to be, Rogow said. Neil MacBride, United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said after the sentencing hearing that he found Farkas' apparent lack of remorse astounding. Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

To: koan who wrote (95719)	7/1/2011 12:26:29 PM
From: ILCUL8R	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

I know that you have been critical of Obama's handling of our financial emergency, and for having the wrong people to advise him (such as Geithner). I know you have been criticized here by others for being too naively progressive or not seeing reality for what it is. I want you to know that I have long been in agreement with your position on Obama's presidency. The latest opinion piece by Krugman makes a powerful statement about what the Rs are doing to progressive Ds. The behavior of the Rs borders on the criminal and we wish Obama could/would get tougher with them. It is very telling to read the comments to Krugman's NYT opinion piece: community.nytimes.com "As much we as disagree with the direction Obama and his Administration has taken our economy over the last 2 years, we hate to see him being beaten relentlessly by the media and the Right. Nobody, but nobody, deserves the harassment and slings he takes daily just because the Republicans want him to fail miserably. In doing so, they are willing to put our great nation at risk for power and ideology. They are ones that should be demagogued, demonized and called un-American for even bringing us to this point. If our nation titters on the brink of calamity, I hope Obama goes down fighting. Finally earn your respect with the American people. Don’t let the other side frame/bully you anymore with their lies, propaganda and ineptness. Daily, tell the American people who brought us to this point and then pushed us over the edge. When push comes-to-shove, this is your moment to shine. Obama needs to step-up and finally take control of the debate – your Presidency and legacy rests on your actions. Recommend Recommended by 502 Readers" I fear for the future of our democracy unless the voting public gets smarter and better informed. TEA party propaganda is dangerous stuff. My opinion, for what it is worth . . . . Dick