20,000 Vets and Military Personnel Lose Homes in Foreclosure Crisis
USA Today is reporting more than 20,000 veterans, active-duty troops and reservists who took out special government-backed mortgages lost their homes last year—the highest number since 2003. The housing crisis has hit military families particularly hard in part because of transfers and the loss of civilian jobs left behind by reservists. Late last year, JPMorgan Chase was forced by a lawsuit to admit that it has been overcharging thousands of military families for their mortgages and had improperly foreclosed on more than a dozen such families.
Internal Documents: JPMorgan Chase Hid Doubts about Madoff
Newly released internal bank documents show senior executives at JPMorgan Chase had serious doubts about the legitimacy of Bernard Madoff’s investment business more than 18 months before his Ponzi scheme collapsed. Despite repeated suspicions, the bank allowed Madoff to move billions of dollars of investors’ cash in and out of his Chase bank accounts right until the day of his arrest in December 2008. In one email, a high-level risk management officer for Chase’s investment bank wrote, “There is a well-known cloud over the head of Madoff” and “his returns are speculated to be part of a Ponzi scheme.” Lawyers have accused the bank of overlooking the warning signs in order to pursue profitable credit and derivatives deals with Madoff and his investors.
Corporate America Sends GOP Lawmakers a Wish List
Corporate America has sent Republican lawmakers a wish list of more than 150 government rules and regulations that they want to see rolled back or preempted. Rep. Darrell Issa of California had asked the oil industry, drug manufacturers, healthcare providers and telecom firms to tell him which government regulations he should target this year as the new chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. According to the Washington Post, the Business Roundtable voiced concern over executive pay disclosures. The coal mining company Murray Energy said that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas and clean air rules “must be stopped immediately.” At least 13 industry groups targeted the EPA’s proposed attempt to regulate coal ash. Also under scrutiny is a Federal Aviation Administration plan to combat pilot fatigue by mandating more rest time between shifts.
Wife of Justice Thomas Forms Tea Party-linked Lobbying Firm
The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has started a lobbying firm in an effort to become the “ambassador to the Tea Party movement.” Virginia Thomas has promised to use her “experience and connections” to help clients of her new firm Liberty Consulting raise money and increase their political impact. Legal experts say the news could raise a number of ethical questions for Justice Thomas.
George W. Bush Cancels Europe Trip as Human Rights Lawyers Threaten Legal Action over Torture
Former President George W. Bush has been forced to cancel a planned trip to Switzerland after human rights attorneys threatened to take legal action against him for sanctioning the use of torture. The Center for Constitutional Rights said they had planned to bring a complaint on behalf of two men who were tortured by U.S. interrogators and held at the military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. “It was disappointing that we’re not able to actually prosecute him,” says CCR legal director Bill Quigley. “But I think it has shown worldwide that even though he was the president of the United States, if you engage in torture… there are consequences.”