CONGRESS
Senate office tied to Countrywide deals
A Republican lawmaker says documents show the former Countrywide Financial Corp. may have targeted Senate employees for sweetheart mortgage deals.
Rep. Darrell Issa of California said a dozen loans processed by Countrywide’s VIP unit went to borrowers who identified their workplace as the office of Sen. Robert F. Bennett, Utah Republican.
Mr. Issa also said 18 VIP loans went to borrowers who identified “U.S. senator” or “U.S. Senate” as their place of employment.
Mr. Issa is the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He wrote the Senate ethics committee about his findings, but did not name any senators other than the reference to Mr. Bennett’s office.
Countrywide was acquired by Bank of America. The bank has produced the records under a subpoena by the House committee.
NEW YORK
Ex-fundraiser for Democrats sentenced
NEW YORK | A wealthy Manhattan investment banker who was once a top fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton and other big-name Democrats was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for bank fraud.
Hassan Nemazee reached a plea deal in March, admitting to three counts of bank fraud and one count of wire fraud. Judge Sidney Stein said he’ll get out of prison in about a decade.
Nemazee was the national finance chairman of Mrs. Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. He also raised money for Barack Obama and a long list of other prominent Democrats. He was Sen. John Kerry’s New York finance chairman during Massachusetts Democrat’s failed 2004 presidential run.
Prosecutors said Nemazee used fake collateral to obtain more than $290 million in loans from major banks.
An indictment said he forged signatures, concocted bogus account statements and established “virtual offices” to conceal a scam. It said he used proceeds from new loans to pay off older ones - a maneuver prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme.
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