With a $33.5 million judgment outstanding against him, O.J. Simpson would seem like a really, really dumb person to lend money to.But during the boom years of mortgage malfeasance, it seems, there was a really, really dumb lender ready and waiting to serve every really, really dumb borrower.
The Seattle Times takes a long look at the collapse of Washington Mutual, and the greed, lack of internal controls, and reckless, short-term growth and stock price-obsessed corporate culture that led to its demise. Midway through the piece, Fay Chapman, WaMu's chief legal officer from 1997 to 2007, dropped this bombshell:
"Someone in Florida had made a second-mortgage loan to O.J. Simpson, and I just about blew my top, because there was this huge judgment against him from his wife's parents," she recalled. Simpson had been acquitted of killing his wife Nicole and her friend but was later found liable for their deaths in a civil lawsuit; that judgment took precedence over other debts, such as if Simpson defaulted on his WaMu loan.
Well that's pretty bad. But here's the kicker:
"When I asked how we could possibly foreclose on it, they said there was a letter in the file from O.J. Simpson saying 'the judgment is no good, because I didn't do it.' "
Wow.
That pretty much sums up the subprime debacle in a nutshell: giving a loan to O.J. Simpson because he said he was innocent.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-26-2009 @ 9:47PM
JD said...
It pretty much sums up our credit-crazy populace, too. Everyone wants everything NOW. Nevermind working to earn and save, just go to a bank and get a loan. With facilitators like WaMu, it is not a surprise that the US is in deep do-do.