Change: Obama’s 1st Appointment Part of Subprime Scandal
Candidate Barack Obama promised to bring change to Washington, but President Elect Obama’s first appointment shows just how ethereal “change” can be. Obama’s first appointment was former Clinton Aide Rahm Emanual.
Emanual served on the board of directors of troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac, at a time when the Freddie Mac executives misreported profits.
President-elect Barack Obama’s newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac at a time when scandal was brewing at the troubled agency and the board failed to spot “red flags,” according to government reports reviewed by ABCNews.com.
According to a complaint later filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Freddie Mac, known formally as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, misreported profits by billions of dollars in order to deceive investors between the years 2000 and 2002.
According to reporting by ABC News, Emanual was not named in the SEC complaint, but later the entire board was accused of negligence by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.
Given how much this crisis has hurt the Economy, and will cost the American people, Rahm Emanual seems like a grossly inappropriate choice for White House Chief of Staff.
http://abcnews.go.com/images/Blotter/specialreport122003.pdf
