Frank Retirement Followed By Federal Investigation?
The retirement of Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has grabbed numerous headlines in the last week; what has not is a possible investigation into his role in several serious financial and banking scandals and collapses.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is being investigated for her role in the One United Bank TARP (bailout) scandal. Waters, using her Congressional influence, pressured the Feds into releasing 50 million in TARP money for the L.A. and Boston based minority owned bank, of which she owned considerable shares. Rep. Frank also intervened on her behalf, and One United received the money. While Waters is facing trial, Frank's inappropriate intervention has gone unnoticed. Most people will, however, recall his less than truthful statements about the financial health of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the quasi Federal mortgage firms. According to information obtained by Judicial Watch, and stories in the Boston Globe, Frank was well aware as early as 2003 about the pending collapse of the two years before they were seized and bailed out after 2008. Frank claims he was "blindsided" like everyone else; but emails, documents and investigative leads show he was aware Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were playing fast and loose with the rules, and overextending themselves to the point where their collapse was imminent. Nearly all of the major networks, in talking of his impending retirement, and doing retrospectives on his 16 term career, have virtually ignored his role in the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.