As you may have heard, the FDIC has sued three former Washington Mutual execs, including CEO Kerry Killinger, COO Stephen Rotella, and home loans president David Schneider, whose “extreme and historically unprecedented risks with WaMu’s held-for-investment home loans portfolio” resulted in the bank’s collapse (according to filing, the bank’s chief risk officer told Killinger WaMu’s “DNA” was missing “the risk chromosome,” a few weeks before it went into receivership, to which Killinger likely scoffed and called the guy a pussy). The regulator wants $900 million from the trio and they’re not the only ones Sheila Bair says better start cutting checks- Killinger and Rotella’s special lady friends (Linda and Esther) have been named in the suit as well. Continue reading »
WaMu
Emails between the Office of Thrift Supervision and the FDIC over the issue of who can do what with regards to Washington Mutual in 2008 are particularly fierce. Carl Levin, chairman of the subcommittee investigating the collapse of WaMu, called it a “turf battle.”
At the Senate hearing today, John Reich, former director of OTS, explained it this way: “Rome was burning” and “Blood pressure was running high.” Levin said: “I don’t see your blood pressure getting up over a bank that was engaged in dangerous practices.” Continue reading »
When it comes down to it, there are two types of people in this world. Those who, when asked the question, what is Angelo Mozilo’s race, answer “African American,” and those who answer “Tanning bed-Orange.” Thanks to today’s hearing on the hill, and the the Senate’s 600+ page report on Wamu’s death, we now know that former CEO Kerry Killinger was proud to count himself among the latter. Continue reading »
WaMu “President’s Club” Sales Conference Wrote And Performed A Rap Inspired By Sir-Mix-A-Lot
By Bess LevinWhen Washington Mutual went down for the dirt nap, we didn’t just lose a savings bank holding company, we lost something so much bigger. We lost a group of people who were really good a changing the lyrics to well-known songs for sport and laughs. And not just any songs, but the classics, such as Sir-Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.” Thanks to the today’s hearing on the hill, this one is saved in perpetuity. It was first performed at WaMu’s annual “President’s Club Awards Dinner” in 2006, an event attended by Magic Johnson, who was lucky enough to count himself among the speakers that night.
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