Edwards to Pull Out of Fund for Lenders(Katrina victims)

[cal04]

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, who has called homeownership ''the foundation of the American dream,'' said Friday he will get rid of personal assets tied to lenders who have foreclosed on Hurricane Katrina victims.

''I will not have my family's money involved in these firms that are foreclosing on people in New Orleans,'' he told The Associated Press.

Edwards has reported $29.5 million in assets, more than half of which are invested in the hedge fund Fortress Investment Group., a company that paid him nearly half a million dollars last year for consulting advice.

Fortress has investments in lenders that offer subprime mortgages, higher priced loans for borrowers considered greater risks. The Wall Street Journal on Friday identified 34 New Orleans homeowners who face foreclosure actions from lenders connected to Fortress.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Edwards-Foreclosure.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[KittyWampus]

1. Fortress Employees Donated Large Sums To Edward & AT 1 Point Were His Largest Group of Contributors

Fortress employess donated large sums to Edwards campaign. At one point they were the largest group of contributors. Fortress being the group that owns these other funds in question. And it's the group Edwards worked for to make millions and "learn" how hedge funds operate.

"But his ties to Fortress were suggested by the first round of campaign finance reports released last week. They showed that Edwards raised $167,460 in donations from Fortress employees for his 2008 presidential campaign, his largest source of support from a single company.

Nearly 100 Fortress employees or their family members donated to Edwards around the time of a fundraiser his campaign held at the firm in mid-March. Senior executives, individual fund managers, lawyers and a secretary gave the maximum $2,300 donation. Three administrative or executive assistants gave smaller amounts."

[Cameron27]

2. Yep and he also

got a six figure paycheck from them.

[trayted]

7. First of all, this is old news. Secondly, tell me everything that your employer does. I'm waiting.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3456247&mesg_id=3456933

[rinsd]

9. Edwards knew in May that Fortress was involved in Katrina foreclosures

Hattip to WesDem

Subprime loans have been particularly prevalent in New Orleans, which Edwards has made a focal point of his campaign. He formally announced his bid in a Katrina-ravaged neighborhood there and returned for a visit last week.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported in December 2005 on the problem of subprime loan foreclosures after Katrina, citing as an example Green Tree's effort to hold a 67-year-old hurricane victim in default on her subprime loan for a home two months after it was flooded out. Green Tree general counsel Brian Corey said that case was not representative of the company's practices in New Orleans.

Edwards said he asked Fortress this week to find Katrina victims foreclosed on by Green Tree and to help them. "I said, 'This is not okay that this is happening,' " he said. "I don't know how many cases there are . . . but the right thing is to go back and fix this."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3456247&mesg_id=3456790

[Adelante]

10. Welcome to DU, by the way

You got that "old news" "non-story" thing down quick :hi:

[KittyWampus]

11. I'm self employed and these are the heads of Fortress AND Fortress employees

are you suggesting it was just a meaningless coincidence?

That out of all the hedge funds in the world, it just randomly happened that Fortress was the nexus of large infusions of cash into Edwards' campaign?

[rinsd]

3. This could be a major problem for Edwards even with divestment (nt)

[rjones2818]

4. Did they do any of the foreclosures

while he was working for them?

[rinsd]

6. I would think so given the time frame he worked for them but no evidence yet (nt)

[Deep13]

5. When's Cheney pulling out of Halliburton? nt

[rudeboy666]

8. Never.... For Republicans, this is not a problem!

[Colobo]

12. He knew about this in May. Why do this now?

Desperation?

[Adelante]

13. He's doing it now because of the Wall Street Journal story

Today

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118728685546999884.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

He would have been smart to divest in May.