Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Senior Member AirborneSapper7's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    South West Florida (Behind friendly lines but still in Occupied Territory)
    Posts
    117,696

    WikiLeaks' Wall Street Bombshell

    WikiLeaks' Wall Street Bombshell

    With Assange's next release apparently targeting Bank of America, traders fear a subprime lending scandal will be exposed. Charlie Gasparino talks with someone who has read the leaked files.

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has declared Bank of America his next target, and despite official statements declaring they have "no indication" of an imminent attack, the bank is taking this threat very seriously, and has responded, according to several insiders, by convening a "legal SWAT team," ready to respond the very minute documents are made public.

    So what makes Bank of America so worried? While Bank of America is telling reporters that it has investigated a possible document leak and hasn't found any, one source who claims to have read some of the documents held by WikiLeaks confirms that they do in fact involve Bank of America. Adding to the mystery, however, this source says that they found it difficult to determine just what they mean. Given that Wall Street's straightforward business—buying and selling, borrowing and lending—now requires a math Ph.D. to understand, this shouldn't be too shocking. (The bank itself is so big and convoluted, insiders there admit, that a leak could have easily slipped by corporate security, despite the official denials.)

    Still, while it appears virtually impossible for Assange to have the kind of dirt on Bank of America that caused such tumult for the diplomatic world—what kind of revelations, short of murder, would shock the world about Wall Street anymore?—speculation about it is still causing billions of dollars in damage.

    Last week, when news of the possible WikiLeak attack first broke, shares of Bank of America fell more than 10 percent. It recovered later in the week, first after I reported on the Fox Business Network that BofA didn't have an "indication" of a WikiLeaks attack, and then after Goldman Sachs made positive comments about the performance of the entire banking sector.

    But Wall Street traders understood that one potential "unknown" is very well known. Specifically, BofA's relationship with Countrywide Financial, the troubled "subprime" lender BofA purchased in early 2008. At the time, it looked like such a good deal: The financial crisis had yet to peak, Countrywide remained a major player in the mortgage lending market, and was expected to recover along with the economy.

    But the economy, as we're all aware, didn't recover, and many of Countrywide's mortgages, focused on the least creditworthy borrowers, have fallen into default. And here's the problem for Bank of America: Its mortgage origination business, like the rest of that industry, probably witnessed rampant fraud during the bubble years. Banks made loans to borrowers without proper documentation of employment and other pertinent information. Since Countrywide focused on the low end of the market, the so-called subprime market where people who borrowed money have lousy credit histories, it's only logical to assume many of those loans were at least risky, if not made fraudulently.

    When the WikiLeaks issue emerged, BofA's shares began to tank.


    A Bank of America billboard dominates a street corner in Times Square on Apr. 21, 2009 in New York City. (Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

    • Philip Shenon: U.S. Embassy Shakeup Planned http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and- ... personnel/

    • Dayo Olopade: Guarding the State Dept.’s Secrets http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and- ... ks-crisis/

    • Full Coverage of WikiLeaks http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsmaker/wikileaks

    This is just an educated guess: I have no evidence whether Countrywide's lending practices were so lax (and some would say corrupt) that loans were made to people who either lied about their finances or had mortgage brokers lie about that information. But it's the same educated guess made by many sophisticated traders last week when the WikiLeaks issue emerged, and BofA's shares began to tank.

    Keep in mind, the reason Countrywide could make loans to anyone with a heartbeat and possibly no job is because those loans could be sold off its books and then packaged into mortgage-backed securities. But if those loans were fraudulent, they could be "put" or sold back to Bank of America. A group of large investors in mortgage bonds holding Countrywide loans are already threatening such action. This group includes both companies like money management powerhouse Blackrock and the New York Fed, which holds the toxic mortgage bonds of bailed-out banks like Bear Stearns.

    This, at the end of the day, may well explain why Julian Assange spooks BofA so.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and- ... bombshell/
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  2. #2
    Senior Member AirborneSapper7's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    South West Florida (Behind friendly lines but still in Occupied Territory)
    Posts
    117,696
    WikiLeaks Keep Rolling

    This Case Must Not Obscure What WikiLeaks Has Told Us http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 54109.html

    WikiLeaks' Wall Street Bombshell http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and- ... bombshell/

    Wikileaks Has A Deal With Israel http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/1 ... 665978.php

    McKinnon Or Assange - Who Is The Is REAL Threat To US? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic ... erica.html

    Assange Could Face Espionage Trial In US http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 54107.html

    Assange Arrest Must Not Obscure What WikiLeaks Told Us http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 54109.html

    Syria Stunned By Hezbollah Assassination http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/de ... assination

    WH Starts Revenge Op On WikiLeaks http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/de ... washington

    Saudi Princes Throw Parties - Drink, Drugs & Sex http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/de ... es-parties

    Saudis Proposed Arab Force To Invade Lebanon http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/de ... on-lebanon

    Julian Assange - The Truth Will Always Win http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/ ... s/julian1/

    Assange Now Faces Extradition To Sweden For 'Rape' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... eties.html

    Assange Accuser Linked to CIA http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/assa ... -cia-ties/

    Assange Refused Bail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... eties.html

    WikiLeaks Founder Assange Arrested In Britain http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE6B522Z20101207

    More at the link... http://www.rense.com/Datapages/wikileakdat.htm

    Wikileaks

    Assange 'Rape' Accuser Worked With CIA-Tied Group

    Paul Craig Roberts - Wikileaks & US Govt Mendacity

    Paypal Cuts Off Donations To WikiLeaks

    WikiLeaks Cables Blame China For Google Hacking

    Using Leaks To Rearrange The World

    Sequel To Wikileaks

    'Aggressive' China Losing Friends

    Clinton - How Can We Stand Up To Beijing?

    Julian Assange Answers Questions

    Wikileaks Loses PayPal Account

    Is Wikileaks An Internet 9-11?

    Chomsky - Leaks Show 'Profound Hate Of Democracy' By Politicians - Vid

    Wikileaks - A Tool Of Psy Warfare

    WikiLeaks - New Cables Have UFO Details Says Assange

    US Blocks Access To WikiLeaks For Federal Workers

    Lieberman Introduces Anti-WikiLeaks Legislation

    WikiLeaks Cables On Aafia Siddiqui

    WikiLeaks Back After Moving To Swiss Servers

    Wikileaks - US Hits Back At Israel

    Foreign Contractors Hired Afghan 'Dancing Boys'

    Germany Accuses US Over 'Missing' Afghan Funds

    Berlusconi To Hold 'Unscheduled Meeting' With Putin

    Putin Gave Berlusconi Cut From Energy Deals?

    US Concerned Over Falklands Military Action

    WikiLeaks And Espionage, Israeli Style

    Swedish Court Refuses Assange Sex Crime Appeal

    Why Haven't British Cops Nabbed Assange?

    US Allowed To Keep Cluster Bombs In Britain

    Cables Show Cozy US Ties With IAEA Chief

    US Special Forces In Northern Pakistan

    Putin Warns US To Stay Out Of Russian Affairs

    WikiLeaks Suspect Manning 'Designed Facebook' As A Kid



    BoA Stocks Down On Fears Of WikiLeaks Revelations

    Julian Assange Should Be Assassinated - Canada PM Aide

    WikiLeaks Assange Should Be Executed - Huckabee

    Wikileaks Claims 200 US Nukes Hidden In Europe

    Pakistan Privately Approved Drone Strikes

    UK 'Protected US interests' In Iraq War inquiry

    Mervyn King Urged To Quit Over WikiLeaks Disclosures

    How Wikileaks Is Copying 16th Century Amsterdam

    WikiLeaks Site Downed By 'Powerful China Cyber Hit' '

    Is Bank Of America WikiLeaks Next Target?

    Palin - Hunt WikiLeaks Assange Like A Terrorist

    Interpol Puts WikiLeaks Boss On Top Wanted List

    The Fugitive - Assange Needs New Safe Haven

    WikiLeaks Â* More Israeli Game Theory Warfare?

    Wikileaks Exposes Zionist Treachery - Vid

    Gilad Atzmon - A Surge Of Truth - Vid

    WikiLeaks To Release A US Bank's Documents

    Ahmadinejad - WikiLeaks US 'Psychological Warfare'

    US Denied McKinnon Plea From Gordon Brown

    Clinton Takes WikiLeaks Flak At Summit

    WikiLeaks - Revolution Begins, Will Be Digitized

    World Risk Of US Impotence At Heart Of WikiLeaks

    US Denied McKinnon Plea From Gordon Brown

    China 'Ready To Abandon North Korea'

    WikiLeaks - China Wants Korean Reunification

    UN Seeks Answers From Washington

    Wikileaks Â* The Tel Aviv Connection

    Iran - Wikileaks Documents Engineered By US Govt

    Is Wikileaks A Front For The CIA Or Mossad?

    Iran - Wikileaks Documents Engineered By US Govt

    Is Wikileaks A Front For The CIA Or Mossad?

    Israel Satisfied With Portrayal Of Iran Position

    Iran Nuke Tech 'Less Advanced Than Some Think'

    US Senators Call For WikiLeaks To Face Criminal Charges

    Wikileaks Shows Up MSM Complicity With Authority

    Deceits, Plots, Insults - America Laid Bare (?)

    Wikileaks 'Secrets' And Internet Conspiracy Activists
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •