John Edwards is a Total Fraud
Posted by The Asian Badger on August 17, 2007
John Edwards professes to be the “candidate for the poor.” Too bad for them.
Check out the front page of the 8/17/07 Wall Street Journal.
“As a presidential candidate, Democrat John Edwards has regularly attacked subprime lenders, particularly those that have filed foreclosure suits against victims of Hurricane Katrina. But as an investor, Mr. Edwards has ties to lenders foreclosing on Katrina victims.
The Wall Street Journal has identified 34 New Orleans homes whose owners have faced foreclosure suits from subprime-lending units of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Edwards has about $16 million invested in Fortress funds, according to a campaign aide who confirmed a more general Federal Election Commission report. Mr. Edwards worked for Fortress, a publicly held private-equity fund, from late 2005 through 2006.”[...]
[...]“After leaving the firm, he kept about half of his net worth in Fortress funds. And Fortress employees have collectively made up the largest class of political contributors to Mr. Edwards. Workers there put up more than $150,000 toward his presidential run in the first six months of the year.“[...]
Notice that Edwards still has about $16 million with Fortress. OK…good for him. Now, here’s an Edwards quote from the same article.
[...]“The candidate has said he had no involvement in Fortress units’ subprime lending when he worked for the private-equity firm and wasn’t aware of it at the time. He has said his job at Fortress was to provide information about what he saw happening economically in the U.S. and overseas. He has also said he was there “primarily to learn” about finance.
In the interview yesterday, Mr. Edwards said that when he first joined Fortress, “I made clear that I didn’t want to have anything I was investing in to be antilabor or involved in predatory lending practices.” But he added that he didn’t fully understand the firm’s complex operations, saying: “They’re diverse. They’re very diverse.“[...]
In plain English, this is known as “THE BIG LIE”.
Does The Breck Girl really expect us to believe that he was there to learn about finance when he was acting, in essence, as an economist?
Fortress must really be a shitty place to work if they were using The Breck Girl as an economist. On the other hand, maybe they were just trying to buy a politician. Note to Fortress…Jim “Pol Pot” Doyle would have been cheaper.
Furthermore, does The Breck Girl think that we are so stupid that we will believe he wasn’t aware that Fortress had investments in the sub-prime markets? (Well, given the average IQ of a Breck Girl supporter, he probably does.)
In firms like Fortress everyone knows what the primary investments of the firm are. All you have to do is read the report to the investors or attend meetings. It’s not that hard. For The Breck Girl to offer the excuse “that he didn’t fully understand the firm’s complex operations, saying: “They’re diverse. They’re very diverse.” is just pure bullshit.
Of course, the only finance topic The Breck Girl understands is “Raise Taxes” (but wait until I move my money offshore).
More in this article in The Washington Post.
The WSJ article and others show that The Breck Girl is nothing more than a liar and a fraud. But you knew that, didn’t you?
Captain Ed and Michelle Malkin weigh in with some good thoughts as well.
BTW, can you imagine the uproar if Cheney had direct investments with Fortress?
criminyjicket said
“oh, I only have $16 million invested. No need to know what the company does.”
yeah right
good story
The Asian Badger said
It’s not the fact he had $16mm in the firm. It’s that he claims he didn’t know what was going on (in the sub-prime markets) WHEN HE WORKED THERE!!! What a sack of shit.
Thanks for dropping by.
Some Lazy Sunday Afternoon Essential Reading » An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings said
[...] John Edwards is a Total Fraud – The Asian Badger [...]
The Asian Badger said
Boca…I don’t care if The Breck Girl made or lost money. I don’t care if Romney made or lost money.
My point was, if you read the post, is that Edwards denied that he knew what was going on. If Edwards lost money what so what? That’s called risk. If he was too stupid to know what was going on, then he deserves to lose whatever he had in there.
Your third post makes no sense at all.
The Asian Badger said
Boca…please get back to your regular dosing schedule. Your lunatic rants are getting annoying. So is your overall ignorance.
Since you asked, I’m here in the U.S. for the time being, running a hedge fund with three partners that does indices, FX, and distressed debt in Asia. We are now looking at distressed debt in the U.S. since there’s so much of it.
A Waukesha Carnival 8/27/2007 « Musings of a Thoughtful Conservative said
[...] Asian Blogger made the MSM forums with this look at Edwards and the sub-prime [...]