The Huffington Post Investigative Fund should be embarrassed

[swag]

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/01/article-on-sheila-bair-by-the-huffington-post-investigative-fund/

January 22, 2010

Dear Colleagues:

Several people have asked me about an article published by the Huffington Post Investigative Fund (HPIF) alleging wrong doing by FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair with respect to a mortgage she obtained from Bank of America. I have reviewed the article by Keith Epstein and David Heath of the HPIF and frankly I am appalled. This article is, in my view, a hideous piece of garbage that lacks any thread of truth. There is no story, no smoking gun, just a lot of innuendo and malicious speculation about one of the finest people I know in American public life.

I call upon the authors and the HPIF, and Ariana Huffington, to retract this story immediately and to apologize to Chairman Bair for this outrageous hatchet job. More, I believe that the directors of the HPIF, which is a 501(c) non-profit corporation, need to immediately initiate an investigation into this article and the authors to discover just how such a weak and clearly malicious story could be published. This article suggests to me that there is a complete breakdown in the internal systems and controls at HPIF. Were it not for the fact that Chairman Bair was a public official, in my view the HPIF would surely be facing a liable litigation for this malicious and unwarranted attack.

I am including the statement by Andrew Gray of the FDIC below. If you have any questions about the HPIF article, please contact Andrew at [e-mail]

Yours truly,

Christopher Whalen

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http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/01/article-on-sheila-bair-by-the-huffington-post-investigative-fund/