FBI investigating sub-prime fraud | Vancouver Condo Info

Looks like the FBI is checking up on the whole sub-prime debacle:

America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating senior banking executives for insider dealing and fraud as part of a criminal inquiry into the sub-prime crisis, the agent leading the inquiry said yesterday.
Neil Power, the head of the FBI’s economic crimes unit, is heading the most far-reaching criminal investigation into the practices of the mortgage industry since it began to melt down last year, after years of increasingly lax lending finally fed through into an increase in defaults on home loans.
The FBI is investigating every level of the conspiracy that it believes perpetuated the housing boom and ultimately resulted in millions of Americans losing their houses, investment banks losing billions of dollars and the chief executives of Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and UBS resigning.

Some pretty strong language there: ‘economic crimes’, ‘conspiracy’, etc. How much responsibility do lenders have for the housing bubble and crash in the US? How much more conservative are lenders in BC?

Hat-tip to scullboy for the link.

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Anonymous

15 years ago

D.H.,

There are two way to act in the financial market either you lend the bank money or you borrow the money.

when the bank lend you money you invest in your style.

when you lend them they invest in their style.

BTW.What's wrong with you?where do you deposit your salary?and why?.

The great jurist Sir Edward Coke, who lived from 1552 to 1634, has explained why the term mortgage comes from the Old French words mort, “dead,” and gage, “pledge.” It seemed to him that it had to do with the doubtfulness of whether or not the mortgagor will pay the debt. If the mortgagor does not, then the land pledged to the mortgagee as security for the debt “is taken from him for ever, and so dead to him upon condition, &c. And if he doth pay the money, then the pledge is dead as to the [mortgagee].” This etymology, as understood by 17th-century attorneys, of the Old French term morgage, which we adopted, may well be correct. The term has been in English much longer than the 17th century, being first recorded in Middle English with the form morgage… Read more »

anonymaker

krrrish – You seem to be very well versed in the processes. Have you been checking above your belt in the navel area (or naval, as the case might be) for possible options in your dilemna for registering your fire sale with a fire arm that you have mistakenly adjoined through the universe with you Fine Big Ideas under the FBI long skirrrt and thigh length leather boots in your banking hours? I only wondered because maybe when you logged in you got the log in your eye and you can see no way toward what you promised to be your own. I that case I cannot help you anymore because you only listened to your deaf ear telling you that wisdom will come before it is too late to pay your renting at the banking table. And that means… Read more »

krrish2

that was me above but yeah login option has been fixed so I am here to say Sofia.

Hat tip to Sofia, FBI investigating sub-prime fraud ahan fbi is hunting for fbi may be not clear ok lets go this way… Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) is hunting for Fuc#ing Big Idiots(FBI)seem like sounds correct?checking all over USA may be not clear ok checking under skirts area (USA). well while the area is under investigation I won't comment farther otherwise they are going to yell at me by calling me FBI. what ever the decision will be, every one must take care of type of problems. we have similar type of provision over mortgage default but on just around 1% expensive than the regular rate or preety much similar to the ongoing rate. 1.First of all if buyer do not pay 20% down payment your interest rate to your mortgage will be high ratio little bit differant than the… Read more »

ex-vancouverite

If it was a conspiracy, it was a really big conspiracy…

Oh, for the love of Pete, it's not a conspiracy. It's simply an agenda. A handful of oligarchs got together and formulated a plan that works really well for them. Everything else falls into place. Everybody follows the agenda for self-preservation and, to greater and lesser degrees, self-advancement.

A 'conspiracy' suggests a covert, secret scheme. There's nothing secret going on; especially when these egregious financial manipulations are being done right in front of your face, everyday.

Not much of a conspiracy.

paulb

Looks like another month of rising prices in Greater Van…Although very small.

Breif analysis here:
http://paul-northvancouverhomes.blogspot.com/

Clarke

If it was a conspiracy, it was a really big conspiracy, and it would be really hard to prove there was that much collusion between all the players in the industry. I think many targets of this investigation could reasonably rely on a defense of poor judgement vs. criminal intent. While there was likely no shortage of unethical behaviour, this mess was more a case of regulatory failure.

Bizznitch

I'll be posting some numbers from Northern BC in a few days on my northernaffairs.blogspot.com blog. Interesting to see what the market is doing up there. How do you get the average prices without going through every darn listing?

The FBI is investigating every level of the conspiracy that it believes perpetuated the housing boom…

I'm sorry, but, that's just flat-ass funny.

But people will actually take it seriously, and that isn't funny.

Strataman

"The FBI is investigating every level of the conspiracy " I have to admit I have a fair amount of skepticism when it comes to this. My feeling is that in a lot of cases the FBI (or the RCMP) like to find a mid to upper level fall guy (Enron?) so the heat is off the REALLY top dogs. I think with no proof (other then knowing the nature of people) that the people that profit the most thru fraudulent white collar dealings, are rarely actually caught up. Your opinions?

Prices still up yoy though.

Must be a shock for some that prices could fall in January?

Fraser Valley January Stats

http://tinyurl.com/2dddgz

Prices down from December

mohican

I posted a full analysis of the Fraser Valley numbers over at my place http://langley-financial-planning.blogspot.com/

The numbers are the most bearish yet.

Fraser Valley

There were 956 MLS® sales processed in January, a decrease of 4 per cent compared to the 1,001 sales processed the same month in 2007. However, there was an 18 per cent increase in new listings in January 2008 compared to the number received in January last year – 2,850 news listings compared to 2,425. January’s total active inventory at 7,554 listings finished 24 per cent higher than the 6,099 active listings during January 2007.

Bubble? What Bubble?