Items by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
NYT > Business
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Fair Game: James Breyer, a Director With Irons in Many Fires
Posted: May 26th, 2012, 11:20pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The woes are multiplying for James W. Breyer, a venture capitalist who is on the board of four companies with high-profile problems: Facebook, Dell, News Corporation and Wal-Mart.
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Fair Game: Troubled Mortgage Unit Threatens Ally Financial
Posted: May 5th, 2012, 1:49pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Ally Financial, known as GMAC Financial when it was bailed out for $17 billion, could be harmed if its mortgage unit files for bankruptcy as expected.
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Fair Game: Employees, Too, Want a Say on the Boss’s Pay
Posted: April 21st, 2012, 9:00pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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As more shareholders speak up about executive compensation, one group could become an especially formidable force: workers who own stock in their own companies.
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Bank of America Settlement in Lawsuit Is Challenged
Posted: April 20th, 2012, 9:56pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Lawyers have agreed to settle a lawsuit against the company’s directors over its purchase of Merrill Lynch for $20 million, even though damages could reach $5 billion, according to plaintiffs of a parallel suit in Delaware.
NYT > Home Page
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Bank of America Settlement in Lawsuit Is Challenged
Posted: April 20th, 2012, 9:44pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Lawyers have agreed to settle a lawsuit against the company’s directors over its purchase of Merrill Lynch for $20 million, even though damages could reach $5 billion, according to plaintiffs of a parallel suit in Delaware.
NYT > Business
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Fair Game: Say-on-Pay Votes Make More Shareholder Voices Heard
Posted: April 8th, 2012, 12:50am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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This year, the people who actually own public companies are gaining some influence over corporate executive pay practices, via say-on-pay votes.
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Fair Game: How a Financial Products Agency Could Protect Investors
Posted: April 1st, 2012, 1:08am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Two professors propose a federal agency, in some ways like the F.D.A., that would test the social utility of financial products before they were allowed on the market.
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Fair Game: A Bailout by Another Name
Posted: March 25th, 2012, 1:39am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to write down principal on mortgages held by troubled borrowers would add to taxpayer losses — and result in a different form of a bailout for banks.
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Fair Game: W.T.O. and Barriers to Financial Change
Posted: March 18th, 2012, 1:25am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The battle to remake the financial markets faces new obstacles in — of all places — the World Trade Organization.
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Fair Game: Fairfax Financial’s $400 Million Tax Break, Revisited
Posted: March 11th, 2012, 12:11am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Fairfax Financial Holdings was able to reduce its taxes by $400 million, but a question has dogged the deal that allowed it to do so.
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Fair Game: Low Rates for Savers Are Reason for Complaint - Fair Game
Posted: March 3rd, 2012, 5:30pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Rock-bottom interest rates shore up big banks, but they punish savers — and look likely to keep doing so for quite some time.
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California Audit Finds Broad Irregularities in Foreclosures
Posted: February 16th, 2012, 1:32am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The findings of San Francisco county officials suggest how pervasive irregularities may be across the nation.
NYT > Home Page
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California Audit Finds Broad Irregularities in Foreclosures
Posted: February 16th, 2012, 1:32am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The findings of San Francisco county officials suggest how pervasive irregularities may be across the nation.
NYT > Business
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Fair Game: Mortgage Settlement Leaves Much to Be Desired - Fair Game
Posted: February 11th, 2012, 8:30pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The settlement reached last week over questionable mortgage practices by major American banks hardly cracks the iceberg that is the foreclosure mess.
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DocX Faces Foreclosure Fraud Charges in Missouri
Posted: February 7th, 2012, 8:00am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The charges against DocX, which provided home foreclosure services to lenders across the nation, are one of the few criminal actions to follow reports of widespread improprieties against homeowners.
NYT > Home Page
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DocX Faces Foreclosure Fraud Charges in Missouri
Posted: February 7th, 2012, 8:00am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The charges against DocX, which provided home foreclosure services to lenders across the nation, are one of the few criminal actions to follow reports of widespread improprieties against homeowners.
NYT > Business
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Fair Game: An Investment Wipeout That Didn’t Have to Happen
Posted: February 5th, 2012, 1:05am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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An investor won an arbitration case over money lost in a complex security. But he’s still angry at financial institutions.
NYT > Home Page
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Mortgage Tornado Warning, Unheeded
Posted: February 5th, 2012, 1:05am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Inspired by a personal experience, a businessman began delving into the practices of the mortgage industry, including Fannie Mae. His findings have been prescient.
NYT > Business
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Mortgage Tornado Warning, Unheeded
Posted: February 4th, 2012, 3:00pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Inspired by a personal experience, a businessman began delving into the practices of the mortgage industry, including Fannie Mae. His findings have been prescient.
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Fair Game: Mortgage Task Force Has Fancy Name, but Will It Get Tough?
Posted: January 28th, 2012, 5:38pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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President Obama’s new task force has much to tackle in the mortgage mess — and soon, if it wants to allay suspicions that the authorities have given powerful institutions a pass.
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Fair Game: Hazard Insurance With Its Own Perils - Fair Game
Posted: January 21st, 2012, 4:41pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A costly type of coverage, imposed on home buyers who have let insurance lapse, is the subject of a widening investigation in New York State.
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Fair Game: In Citigroup Case, a Risk Rating Investors Didn’t See — Fair Game
Posted: January 15th, 2012, 1:06am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Citigroup didn’t succeed in a challenge of an arbitration panel’s decision in favor of two investors. But in the process, the bank laid bare some of its inner workings.
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Fair Game: Mortgage Servicing Horror Stories - Fair Game
Posted: January 7th, 2012, 7:53pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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There is still no nationwide settlement over practices at mortgage servicing companies. But a couple of state attorneys general have been taking matters into their own hands.
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Fair Game: 2011, a Year of Me-Firsts in Business — Fair Game
Posted: December 31st, 2011, 1:49pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Make taxpayers — or your investors — pay for your mistakes. Kick the deficit can down the road. The last year offered these and other examples of the world’s financial follies.
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Fair Game: Foreclosure Relief? Don’t Hold Your Breath — Fair Game
Posted: December 25th, 2011, 1:09am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A new Washington program, intended to help homeowners caught in the mortgage mess, has many moving parts. And foreclosure experts are seeing many flaws.
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Fair Game: A Fed Banker Wants to Break Up Some Banks
Posted: December 10th, 2011, 10:43pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Reducing the perils of gargantuan institutions — and the threat to taxpayers — is an idea that seems to be taking hold in Washington.
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Fair Game: Secrets of the Bailout, Now Revealed
Posted: December 4th, 2011, 1:42am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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After a new report detailing the dire situation of major banks during the financial crisis, investors can only ask: Why did it take so long to find out?
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Fair Game: Credit Default Swaps as a Scare Tactic in Greece
Posted: November 20th, 2011, 1:06am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Behind the scenes, there appears to be some arm-twisting to persuade holders of Greek bonds to accept a restructuring deal.
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Fair Game: In MF Global, Sad Proof of Europe’s Fallout
Posted: November 6th, 2011, 1:27am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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So who says that American financial institutions have little to no exposure to the problems across the Atlantic? The MF Global mess shows otherwise.
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Freddie Mac’s Loan Deal With Bank of America Is Called Flawed
Posted: September 27th, 2011, 6:41am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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As a result of faulty methodology, the probable losses by Freddie Mac on mortgage loans it bought from Bank of America have increased significantly.
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Nevada Accuses Bank of America of Breaching Mortgage Accord
Posted: August 31st, 2011, 1:25am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Nevada’s attorney general wants to end a broad mortgage agreement it struck with Bank of America in 2008.
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Fair Game: Conventional Fed Wisdom, Defied
Posted: August 14th, 2011, 4:58am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Thomas Hoenig, the soon-to-be former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, spoke early and often against banks that engage in risky business.
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Mortgage Settlement Challenged
Posted: August 5th, 2011, 12:53am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Bank of New York Mellon is accused of fraud in its role overseeing loan pools at the heart of an accord with Bank of America.
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Countrywide To Distribute Settlement To Its Clients
Posted: July 20th, 2011, 8:50pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Countrywide Home Loans agreed to pay borrowers $108 million for charging excessive fees when they fell behind on their mortgages.
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Fair Game: The Swindler and the Home Loans
Posted: July 3rd, 2011, 3:34am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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After a theft involving home loans, should lenders bear any blame? That’s at issue in a case now in a New York State court.
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Fair Game: Inciting a Revolution: The Investor Spring
Posted: June 5th, 2011, 2:55am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Disgruntled shareholders of Celgene Corporation have used the Web to rally holders of 2.7 million shares to vote against the company’s pay practices.
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Fair Game: Enriching a Few at the Expense of Many
Posted: April 9th, 2011, 10:55am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Albert Meyer, a money manager, sees some international companies as models of pay practices that show more respect for shareholders than similar American companies do.
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Fair Game: Waiting Seven Years for Two Answers
Posted: February 26th, 2011, 12:53pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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In a seemingly endless mortgage case, statements from bank employees contradicted one another, and three institutions claimed to hold the title to the house.
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Fair Game: A Bank Crisis Whodunit, With Laughs and Tears
Posted: January 30th, 2011, 1:08am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A new government report on the financial crisis makes for compelling reading, since so little has changed as a result of the debacle.
NYT > Home Page
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Mortgage Giants Leave Legal Bills to the Taxpayers
Posted: January 24th, 2011, 2:13am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Since the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending their former top executives in fraud lawsuits.
NYT > Business
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Mortgage Giants Leave Legal Bills to the Taxpayers
Posted: January 24th, 2011, 12:09am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Since the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending their former top executives in fraud lawsuits.
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Fair Game: Static on the Citadel Radio Dial
Posted: January 22nd, 2011, 1:15pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The nation’s third-largest broadcaster, which emerged from bankruptcy last June, baffled and angered big shareholders when it refused two offers from a rival, Cumulus Media.
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Fair Game: Arbitration, Litigation, Aggravation
Posted: January 16th, 2011, 1:04am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The trust of Helen Cohen, who lost $700,000 on a real estate investment, was already in arbitration with its former broker when the company opened a court case as well.
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Fair Game: $2.6 Billion to Cover Bad Loans: It’s a Start
Posted: January 8th, 2011, 12:44pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A deal won’t recoup much for taxpayers, but it may open the door to a reckoning of liabilities created by banks’ questionable mortgage practices.
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Fair Game: Opening the Bag of Mortgage Tricks
Posted: December 19th, 2010, 1:19am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A federal court case in Nevada shines a light on loan servicing methods.
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Fair Game: The Nerve to Say No
Posted: December 12th, 2010, 1:11am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Joseph A. Smith Jr., the nominee to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, faces the huge job of figuring how to protect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as taxpayers.
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Fair Game: Don’t Just Tell Us. Show Us That You Can Foreclose.
Posted: November 28th, 2010, 1:07am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A unit of the Justice Department is increasing its scrutiny of banks that are seeking to foreclose, and asking them to prove they own the properties.
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Fair Game: Trying to Put a Price on Bank Errors
Posted: November 20th, 2010, 12:40pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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In its report on the mortgage documentation mess, the Congressional Oversight Panel sees a possible threat to the financial system’s stability.
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Fair Game: He Saw Trouble Coming. Now He Sees It Going.
Posted: November 7th, 2010, 1:10am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics warned in 2005 that real estate would crash and a recession would ensue. Today he sees reasons for hope.
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Fair Game: For-Profit Schools, Tested Again
Posted: October 30th, 2010, 12:39pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The Securities and Exchange Commission has requested information about stock sales made by some top officials of the Apollo Group, which owns the University of Phoenix.
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Fair Game: One Mess That Can’t Be Papered Over
Posted: October 23rd, 2010, 4:49pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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It is possible, but difficult, to clean up the paperwork mess affecting mortgages. But for mortgage-backed securities, the complications are far trickier.
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Lending Magnate Settles Fraud Case
Posted: October 16th, 2010, 3:00am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide Financial, agreed to settle a civil fraud case against him.
NYT > Home Page
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Lending Magnate Settles Fraud Case
Posted: October 16th, 2010, 3:00am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide Financial, agreed to settle a civil fraud case against him.
NYT > Business
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Flawed Paperwork Aggravates a Foreclosure Crisis
Posted: October 4th, 2010, 2:20am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Procedural problems at some large lenders are so prevalent that additional lenders and loan servicers are likely to halt foreclosure proceedings, experts say.
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Fair Game: Count on Sequels to TARP
Posted: October 2nd, 2010, 5:04pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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For all the talk of the success of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, be wary of claims that financial reform fixed the notion of too-big-to-fail.
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Fair Game: Questions, and Directors, Lost in the Ether
Posted: September 26th, 2010, 1:04am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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With online annual meetings, companies may have an easier time dismissing shareholder concerns.
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Fair Game: When Mortgage Mediation Is a Gamble
Posted: September 19th, 2010, 3:27am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Nevada’s foreclosure mediation program completed 4,212 cases in its first year. But some mediators who have participated in it, as well as some lawyers for borrowers, say it has flaws.
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Fair Game: Housing Doesn’t Need a Crash. It Needs Bold Ideas.
Posted: September 11th, 2010, 11:10pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Unfortunately, it has taken the ugly specter of a free fall or deep freeze in many real estate markets to get people talking about bolder alternatives.
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Fair Game: BB? AAA? Disclosure Tells Us More
Posted: September 4th, 2010, 4:39pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Through a proposed rule change, the S.E.C. wants to reduce investors’ reliance on ratings of mortgage pools.
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Fair Game: It’s Not Over Until It’s in the Rules
Posted: August 28th, 2010, 8:00pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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During the rules-writing process for the financial overhaul, regulators will have to withstand pressure from big banks that want to keep control over the derivatives market.
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Fair Game: Debt’s Deadly Grip
Posted: August 21st, 2010, 10:20pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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In this climate, how can consumers dig their way out of credit problems?
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Fair Game: In the Mortgage Drama, One Role Is Enough
Posted: August 14th, 2010, 11:10pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A congressman wants to eliminate the dual roles played by big mortgage servicers.
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Fair Game: Freddie, Fannie and the Third Rail of Housing Policy
Posted: August 8th, 2010, 2:45am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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What we may hear about fixing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the elections is a lot of sound and fury. But intelligent discussion is needed.
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Payback Time: For Denver Schools, a Financing Deal Takes a Bad Turn
Posted: August 6th, 2010, 2:40am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Senator Michael F. Bennet of Colorado, above, who as superintendent of schools in 2008 recommended the financing, said no one could have predicted the financial crisis that caused it to go sour.Denver is now confronted with budgetary woes made worse by esoteric deals peddled before the credit crisis.
NYT > Home Page
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Payback Time: For Denver Schools, a Financing Deal Takes a Bad Turn
Posted: August 6th, 2010, 2:40am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Senator Michael F. Bennet of Colorado, above, who as superintendent of schools in 2008 recommended the financing, said no one could have predicted the financial crisis that caused it to go sour.Denver is now confronted with budgetary woes made worse by esoteric deals peddled before the credit crisis.
NYT > Business
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Fair Game: What Happened to JPMorgan’s Friendship With Cablevision?
Posted: August 1st, 2010, 2:10am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A case involving JPMorgan is another example of the drumbeat of disconcerting revelations about banks.
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Fair Game: Federal Housing Beat Now Has a Tough Cop
Posted: July 17th, 2010, 6:03pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The regulator who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is moving aggressively to try to recover money from institutions that sold troubled loans to the two mortgage giants.
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Fair Game: Mortgage Investors Turn to State Courts for Relief
Posted: July 10th, 2010, 4:14pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Aiming to recover losses in the housing crisis, buyers of soured mortgage-backed securities are using state law to sue big banks.
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Fair Game: Is the Dodd-Frank Bill Strong Enough?
Posted: June 26th, 2010, 2:08pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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When it comes to cutting huge financial institutions down to size, the Dodd-Frank bill fails completely. But it fares better on other counts.
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Fair Game: The Inflatable Loan Pool
Posted: June 19th, 2010, 11:00pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Amid the legal battles between investors who lost money in mortgage securities and the investment banks that sold the stuff, the investment banks appear to be winning many of the early skirmishes.
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No Charges From S.E.C. for an A.I.G. Executive
Posted: June 16th, 2010, 7:18pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The S.E.C. will not sue Joseph J. Cassano, the former head of the Financial Products unit, over upbeat statements before the company’s near collapse.
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Fair Game: Finally, Mortgage Borrowers Score Points
Posted: June 13th, 2010, 1:18am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The new scrutiny of mortgage foreclosure practices, like a $108 million fine extracted from Bank of America last week, is long overdue.
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Fair Game: Banks Say No to Freddie and Fannie, but Taxpayers Can’t
Posted: June 5th, 2010, 11:30pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Taxpayers could be left holding the bag when institutions try to avoid losses by refusing to buy back problem loans they have sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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Fair Game: 3,000 Pages of Financial Reform, but Still Not Enough
Posted: May 29th, 2010, 3:19pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Flaws in both financial reform bills would allow Wall Street to continue trading derivatives with little transparency.
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Fair Game: Principal-Protected Notes Aren’t as Safe as They Sound
Posted: May 23rd, 2010, 2:56am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A lawyer representing investors said the risks of principal protected notes were not “honestly disclosed.”
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Fair Game: Why Can’t Reform Apply to the Biggest Banks?
Posted: April 25th, 2010, 8:47pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Financial reform is gaining traction in Congress, but the leading proposals would create a system with big advantages for the largest banks.
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Fair Game: The Bank Bailout Is a Bargain? Think Again
Posted: April 17th, 2010, 4:22pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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There is talk that the price tag on Wall Street’s bailout will be relatively inexpensive. Too bad that leaves out many of the real costs.
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Fair Game: At CVB Financial, Praise and Questions
Posted: April 3rd, 2010, 3:12pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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How immune is an admired bank from the real estate crisis?
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Fair Game: U.S. Closing a Tax Loophole on Overseas Accounts
Posted: March 27th, 2010, 11:16pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Congress has taken aim at financial institutions that hide information about offshore accounts.
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Fair Game: Loan Pools That Need Some Sun
Posted: March 20th, 2010, 6:15pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A lawsuit accuses a group of Wall Street companies of misrepresenting the mortgages underlying $5.4 billion in securities that they sold.
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Fair Game: Private Equity and Wind Hellas: A Tale of Debt
Posted: March 13th, 2010, 4:08pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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In the Wind Hellas deal in Greece, the Texas Pacific Group and Apax Partners came out on top. Some who bought the company’s debt have not.
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Fair Game: The Swaps That Swallowed Your Town
Posted: March 6th, 2010, 8:04pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Across the country, cities, towns and school districts are dealing with the mess wrought by financial derivatives.
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Fair Game: The Swaps That Swallowed Your Town
Posted: March 6th, 2010, 8:04pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Across the country, cities, towns and school districts are dealing with the mess wrought by financial derivatives.
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Fair Game: Future Bailouts of America
Posted: February 13th, 2010, 7:14pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Lawmakers don’t want to acknowledge the costs of implicit federal guarantees, but that doesn’t make the costs disappear.
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Fair Game: This Crisis Won’t Stop Moving
Posted: February 6th, 2010, 10:21pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Investors should prepare for more market gyrations as painful deleveraging continues around the globe.
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Fair Game: Why All Earnings Are Not Equal
Posted: January 9th, 2010, 2:02pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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When the market is roaring and the economy isn’t, smart investors should scrutinize how company profits are figured to make sure results justify higher valuations.
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Fair Game: What Iceberg? Just Glide to the Next Boardroom
Posted: December 26th, 2009, 5:35pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Some ex-directors of financial firms that imploded during the credit crisis seemed to skate away from those boardrooms to serve on boards of other public companies.
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Fair Game: Mercer’s Little Alaska Problem
Posted: December 20th, 2009, 12:05am EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A suit seeking $2.8 billion in damages from Mercer, the human resources consultant, could have longer consequences for actuarial firms.
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Fair Game: Get Ready, Get Set, Point Fingers
Posted: December 12th, 2009, 1:52pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Now that Wall Street’s mortgage machinery is pretty much shuttered, details are emerging about how it actually operated. The revelations aren’t pretty.
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Fair Game: Why Treasury Needs a Plan B for Mortgages
Posted: December 5th, 2009, 10:17pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The Treasury’s mortgage-modification program relies on interest-rate reductions rather than principal cuts, which could cause a problem.
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Fair Game: Get Ready for Half a Recovery
Posted: November 28th, 2009, 1:49pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Until the debt clouds disappear in the economy, small business can’t lead a rebound.
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Fair Game: Home Builders (You Heard That Right) Get a Gift
Posted: November 14th, 2009, 2:01pm EST by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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Analysts say home builders will be among the biggest beneficiaries of a new tax break.
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Fair Game: The Cost of Saving These Whales
Posted: October 3rd, 2009, 7:27pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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How the “too big to fail” policy for banks goes awry and hurts smaller, perhaps more responsible competitors.
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Fair Game: The Mortgage Machine Backfires
Posted: September 26th, 2009, 10:29pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A ruling last month against the Mortgage Electronic Registration System has significant implications for both the mortgage industry and troubled borrowers.
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Fair Game: Too Many ‘No’ Votes to Be Ignored
Posted: September 20th, 2009, 2:30am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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It seems that the financial fiasco of the last few years and the lax oversight at major banks are encouraging investors to vote against board members.
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Fair Game: But Who Is Watching Regulators?
Posted: September 12th, 2009, 4:00pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The financial arena still operates the same and is supervised the same one year after the crisis.
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Fair Game: They Left Fannie Mae, but We Got the Legal Bills
Posted: September 5th, 2009, 10:29pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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As a result of the Fannie takeover, taxpayers are paying millions in legal defense bills for three top former executives.
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Fair Game: What the Stress Tests Didn’t Predict
Posted: August 22nd, 2009, 2:33pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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An analysis shows that the number of financially sound banks is declining and that the ranks of troubled institutions are growing.
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Countrywide Loses Ruling in Loan Suit
Posted: August 20th, 2009, 1:41am EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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The ruling was a win for holders of mortgage-backed securities who sued Countrywide after it agreed to modify thousands of loans.
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Fair Game: The Quick Buck Just Got Quicker
Posted: August 15th, 2009, 2:46pm EDT by By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
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A study finds that short-term incentive pay has become a bigger part of the compensation pie.