A lot of observers have been complaining that federal bailouts of failed financial institutions have been too generous.
Now the Washington Mutual's holding company is making exact opposite claim, suing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The company claims that the fire sale to JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) violated its rights, arguing that a more orderly liquidation would have provided greater value to the company's constituents.
The irony of Washington Mutual bagholders suing the FDIC over unfair treatment is that the company is, in the same breath, also battling the IRS over its $12.5 billion tax bill. The Treasury seems unlikely to see much of that money because remember kids, Wamu is bankrupt.
Given that, Wamu's creditors should probably just let bygones be bygones and go back to fighting over what's left of the company's corpse. Given how much help people who made bad investments have gotten from the federal government, they really have no moral right to be complaining.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-22-2009 @ 12:42PM
BHarrison said...
I would imagine a lot of highly paid corporate attorneys and the upper management are behind this lawsuit . . . hey, the longer all of this is palyed out, the more that they make a lot of money.
Yeah, in retrospect, even the WAMU management is agreeing that Chapter 11 bankruptcy for reorganization would probably have been better for everyone. That is probably TRUE for all of the corporations . . . if they can't survive Chapter 11 regorganization, then they should go through Chapter 7 liquidation . . . that is the most cost effective way to handle these matters.
(Yeah, initially the government needed to vert massive runs on the banks; but that is over for the most part. Now these corporations sould either survive on their own or go into banruptcy . . . either 11 reorganization or 11 liquidation . . . . that would be best for the American people as a whole.
Meanwhile the CEOs, upper management, and the ultra wealthy are still "gaming the "recovery programs". this needs to be stopped.
3-22-2009 @ 2:39PM
DanHobson said...
This is not a first. It is just somewhat rare.
The actions of the FDIC were very questionable back in September. I view it as a regulatory organization acting to protect itself as a regulatory organization at the expense of the public good it was put in place to serve.
And it was also the event that kicked off the market panic back in September, drawing the public attention away from the governments efforts to resolve the crisis at September levels. And perhaps harming that effort to a great extent.
The FDIC actions were pre-emptive. That is to say the bank did not actually fail but simply looked like it was going to. The FDIC published that it was a bank failure and the press went into a wild riot at their word.
There is a corporate entity that is very much alive and fighting back in Chapter 11. That company has stated it plans to exit Chapter 11 by the third quarter of 2009. That company still carries the Washington Mutual name but the brand has been fairly well destroyed by hype journalism and shoddy reporting.
4-04-2009 @ 1:25PM
Chas2002 said...
It’s my understanding that the WMI lawyers have requested a Jury Trial. I hope that they (Weil, Gotshal & Manges) get it and examine (under oath); Paulson, Bair, OTS Officials & Dimon. I expect them to go for triple damages when it’s proven that the FDIC knowingly (or out of negligence, doesn’t matter) gifted more than the “whole bank” to JPM(c) (Providian for example). I’m not a lawyer but it’s obvious to me that JPMC’s recent Proof of Claim was a joke and a mockery of Judge Walrath’s order.
Abraham Lincoln (attributed): “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
It’s that simple folks – FDIC/JPM wants you to believe all was well with the fire-sale of WAMU but the truth is: The FDIC has no idea what they conveyed to JPM and as a result has recently resorted to claims of mismanagement and underfunding in an attempt to “thump their chest in public” even though their own sister agency (OTS) was in the WAMU books for months and said WAMU was well capitalized. And JPM while on one hand says (in public mind you) they paid fair value for the assets of WAMU and their purchase of WAMU brought great relief to JPM and its shareholders (you’d have to read JPM’s Shareholders PR), JPM contradicts itself in its own pleadings to the court saying that if there is a reversal of sorts – JPM stands to lose Billions (with an s) not 1.9 Billion…
I hope and hope for a jury trial – the good thing about Bankruptcy court is that they follow the the letter of the law to a “T”. We may not get triple damages but Paulson, Bair and Dimon will be severely damaged by their own words and actions – God Bless America.
5-13-2009 @ 8:00PM
kylekrol1 said...
Jamie Dimon planted "moles" in Wamu;
http://www.kccllc.net/documents/0812229/0812229090501000000000002.pdf
Wamu TRUTH...
http://www.wamutruth.com/
http://wamuqd.com/