Avi
Jedi Council Member
CONTINUED . . .
WAIT A MINUTE! What did that say? From 1999-2001 EG&G was WHOLLY OWNED by the Carlyle Group! OK, who is the Carlyle Group?
(many already know! but for continuity of the thread)
Carlyle Group
Type Private Partnership
Founded 1987
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Key people William E. Conway, Jr., Founder
Daniel A. D'Aniello, Founder
David M. Rubenstein, Founder
Industry Financial Services
Products Management buyouts
Real estate
Leveraged finance
and growth capital
Revenue Undisclosed to public
Employees 890
Website www.carlyle.com
The Carlyle Group is a global private equity investment firm, based in Washington, D.C., with more than $84.5 billion of equity capital under management, diversified over 64 different funds as of March 31, 2009.[1] The firm operates four fund families, focusing on leveraged buyouts, growth capital, real estate and leveraged finance investments. The firm employs more than 890 employees, including 495 investment professionals in 20 countries with several offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia; its portfolio companies employ more than 415,000 people worldwide. Carlyle has over 1300 investors in 71 countries.
The firm has employed political figures and notable investors. Some of these figures include former US President George H. W. Bush, former British Prime Minister John Major and former US Secretary of State James A. Baker III along with George Soros.
Carlyle was ranked as the largest private equity firm in the world, according to a ranking called the PEI 50 based on capital under management.
Contents
* 1 Investment focus
* 2 History
o 2.1 Current portfolio and major acquisitions
o 2.2 Carlyle Capital Corporation
o 2.3 Documentaries
* 3 Controversial Legislation
* 4 Notable current and former employees and advisors
o 4.1 Business
o 4.2 Political figures
+ 4.2.1 North America
+ 4.2.2 Europe
+ 4.2.3 Asia
o 4.3 Media
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 Further reading
* 8 External links
Investment focus
Carlyle invests primarily in the following industries: aerospace and defense, automotive, consumer and retail, energy and power, health care, real estate, technology and business services, telecommunications and media, and transportation. The Carlyle Group's investments are focused on East Asia, Europe and North America, with most investment money coming from the United States (65%), Europe (25%), Asia (6%), Latin America, and the Middle East.[citation needed] Defense investments represent about 1% of the group's current portfolio;[citation needed] for example, Carlyle owns 33.8% of QinetiQ,[citation needed] the recently privatized British defense contractor.
History
History of private equity
and venture capital
Objectivist.jpg
Early History
(Origins of modern private equity)
•
The 1980s
(LBO boom)
•
The 1990s
(LBO bust and the VC bubble)
•
The 2000s
(Dot-com bubble to the Credit crunch)
v • d • e
Carlyle was founded in 1987 by Stephen L. Norris and David M. Rubenstein.[2] As they wanted the firm to outlive them, Norris and Rubenstein named the firm after the Upper East Side area hotel in New York City, the Carlyle Hotel, where they first met to discuss the idea.
Norris and Rubenstein later hired Dan D'Aniello, William E. Conway, Jr. and Greg Rosenbaum.[3] Rosenbaum left in 1987[4]; Norris left in 1995[5]. The three remaining founders are reported to collectively own around a 50% interest in the group's general partnership. The rest of Carlyle is owned by a group of individuals, most of whom serve as managing directors, and by two institutional investors.
Carlyle Group Historical Logo
In 2001, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) acquired a 5.5% holding in Carlyle's management company for $175 million in 2001. The investment was valued at approximately $1 billion by 2007 at the height of the 2000s buyout boom.[6]
Lou Gerstner, former chairman and CEO of IBM and Nabisco, was appointed chairman of Carlyle in January 2003 and served in that position through October 2008. Gerstener remains with Carlyle as a senior advisor.
In September 2007, Mubadala Development Company, an investment vehicle for the government of Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates, purchased a 7.5% stake for $1.35 billion.[6]
In November 2008, The Carlyle Group was named Private Equity firm of the year in the U.S. at the Financial Times-Mergermarket 2008 M&A Awards. [7]
In 2000, Carlyle entered into a joint venture with Riverstone Holdings, an energy and power focused private equity firm founded by former Goldman Sachs investment bankers. In March 2009, New York State and federal authorities began an investigation into payments made by Carlyle and Riverstone to placement agents allegedly made in exchange for investments from the New York State Common Retirement System, the state's pension fund. It was alleged that these payments were in fact bribes or kickbacks, made to pension officials who have been under investigation by New York State Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo.[8] In May 2009, Carlyle agreed to pay $20 million in a settlement with Cuomo and accepted changes to its fundraising practices.[9]
Current portfolio and major acquisitions
Carlyle has investments spread out over several different industries, with about 22% of their investments in energy and power, 19% in real estate, 15% in technology and business services, 8% in consumer and retail, 8% in industrial, 6% in telecommunications and media, 6% in transportation, 6% in healthcare, 5% in aerospace, and 4% devoted to other industries, according to their 2008 annual report. Noted portfolio companies are Dex Media, the former directories business of Qwest Communications; Willcom, a Japanese wireless company; Casema, a Dutch cable company; and Insight Communications, the ninth largest cable company in the U.S. The Carlyle Group was once a major investor in US Investigations Services, which is the privatized arm of the United States Office of Personnel Management's Office of Federal Investigations, but has since divested itself, selling its stake to Providence Equity Partners in 2007.[citation needed]
Brand-name companies that Carlyle owns include: Dunkin' Brands, which owns Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, and oral hygiene company Water Pik. Carlyle, in a consortium of investors, recently acquired the Hertz, the world's largest rental car corporation.
In October 1997 Carlyle acquired United Defense Industries , bringing in over 60% of Carlyle's defense business. United Defense went public on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2001 with Carlyle retaining a stock ownership position. Carlyle completed the sale of all of its United Defense stock and exited the investment in April 2004.[10] (One major United Defense program was the XM2001 Crusader self-propelled howitzer which was canceled by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in early 2002 causing United Defense stock prices to fall 27 percent.[11]) Since then, The Carlyle Group has divested the majority of its interest from the defense industry.
On January 29, 2007, Carlyle announced that it would acquire Synagro Technologies, Inc, which according to Synagro's website is "the largest recycler of biosolids and other organic residuals in the United States". The total enterprise value of the transaction, including the assumption of debt, is $772 million.[12]
On June 28, 2007, Carlyle announced that it would partner with Onex Corporation to buy the Allison Transmission unit from General Motors for $5.6 billion.[13]
In June 2007, Carlyle agrees to acquire HD Supply for $10.3 billion, along with Bain Capital and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (with each agreeing to buy a one-third stake in the division). Home Depot sold their wholesale construction supply business to fund a stock repurchase estimated at $40 billion
On July 28, 2007, Carlyle announced the acquisition of Applus+ from its shareholders Agbar, Unión Fenosa and Caja Madrid for an enterprise value of €1,480 million.[14]
On December 18, 2007, David Rubenstein, representing the Carlyle Group, purchased the Magna Carta (one of seventeen copies) at Sotheby's Auction House in New York City. He paid the Perot Foundation $21.3 million. Mr. Rubenstein expressed his intent for it to be returned to the National Archives for display.
On May 16, 2008, Booz Allen Hamilton announced that it would sell a majority stake in the US government business to The Carlyle Group for $2.54 billion. The transaction was expected to be complete July 31, 2008.[15]
On August 2008, Carlyle Group bought IRIS Unified Ag through FRS Global.
On October 16, 2009, Carlyle Group bought Metaldyne - a global automotive components supplier. http://www.metaldyne.com/metaldyne/sections/newsroom/documents/2009-10-16-Metaldyne-Press-Release.pdf
[edit] Carlyle Capital Corporation
In March 2008, Carlyle Capital Corporation, established in August 2006[16] for the purpose of making investments in U.S. mortgage-backed securities, defaulted on about US$ 16.6 billion of debt as the global credit crunch brought about by the subprime mortgage crisis worsened for leveraged investors. The Guernsey-based affiliate of Carlyle was very heavily leveraged , up to 32 times by some accounts, and it expects its creditors to seize its remaining assets.[17] Tremors in the mortgage markets induced several of Carlyle's 13 lenders to make margin calls or to declare Carlyle in default on its loans.[18] In response to the forced liquidation of mortgage-backed assets caused by the Carlyle margin calls and other similar developments in credit markets, on March 11, 2008, the Federal Reserve gave Wall Street's primary dealers the right to post mortgaged-back securities as collateral for loans of up to $200 billion in higher-grade, U.S. government-backed securities. [19] On March 12, 2008, BBC News Online reported that "instead of underpinning the mortgage-backed securities market, it seems to have had the opposite effect, giving lenders an opportunity to dump the risky asset" and that Carlyle Capital Corp. "will collapse if, as expected, its lenders seize its remaining assets."[20] On March 16, 2008, Carlyle Capital announced that its Class A Shareholders had voted unanimously in favor of the Corporation filing a petition under Part XVI, Sec. 96, of the Companies Law (1994) of Guernsey[21] for a "compulsory winding up proceeding" to permit all its remaining assets to be liquidated by a court appointed liquidator.[22]
The losses to the Carlyle Group due to the collapse of Carlyle Capital is reported to be "minimal from a financial standpoint".[23]
Documentaries
Carlyle has been profiled in two notable documentaries, Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 and William Karel's The World According to Bush.
In the documentary film Fahrenheit 911, Michael Moore makes nine allegations concerning the Carlyle Group, including: That the Bin Laden and Bush families were both connected to the Group; that following the attacks on September 11, the bin Laden family’s investments in the Carlyle Group became an embarrassment to the Carlyle Group and the family was forced to liquidate their assets with the firm; that the Carlyle group was, in essence, the 11th largest defense contractor in the United States.[24] Moore focused on Carlyle's connections with George H. W. Bush and his Secretary of State James A. Baker III, both of whom had at times served as advisors to the firm.
A Carlyle spokesman noted in 2003 that its 7% interest in defense industries was far less than several other Private equity firms.[25] Carlyle also has provided detail on its links with the Bin Laden family, specifically the relatively minor investments by an estranged half brother.[26]
In his documentary The World According to Bush (May 2004), William Karel interviewed Frank Carlucci to discuss the presence of Shafiq bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's estranged brother, at Carlyle's annual investor conference while the September 11 attacks were occurring.[26][27]
Zeitgeist The Movie makes similar claims that The Carlyle Group may have played a part in 9/11.
Controversial Legislation
In February 2008, a US Senate bill was introduced that would increase the regulation of nursing homes such as those run by HCR Manor Care which Carlyle purchased in December 2007.[28]
Furthermore in February 2008, a bill was introduced in California that would have barred CalPERS from investing money "with private-equity firms that are partly owned by countries with poor records on human rights," which would include Carlyle because Mubadala Development is owned by part of the United Arab Emirates. The California bill was later withdrawn.[29]
Notable current and former employees and advisors
Business
* G. Allen Andreas - Chairman of the Archer Daniels Midland Company, Carlyle European Advisory Board
* Daniel Akerson -Board member at 7 companies, Managing director at Carlyle
* Joaquin Avila - former managing director at Lehman Brothers, Managing director at Carlyle
* Laurent Beaudoin - CEO of Bombardier (1979-), former member of Carlyle’s Canadian Advisory board
* Peter Cornelius - Managing Director of Nielsen Australia.
* Paul Desmarais - Chairman of the Power Corporation of Canada, former member of Carlyle’s Canadian Advisory board
* David M. Moffett - CEO of Freddie Mac, Former Senior advisor to the Carlyle
* Karl Otto Pöhl - former President of the Bundesbank, Former Senior advisor to the Carlyle Group
* Olivier Sarkozy (half-brother of Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France) - co-head and managing director of its recently launched global financial services division, since March 2008 [30].
Political figures
North America
* James Baker III, former United States Secretary of State under George H. W. Bush, Staff member under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, Carlyle Senior Counselor, served in this capacity from 1993 to 2005.
* George H. W. Bush, former U.S. President, Senior Advisor to the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board from April 1998 to October 2003.
* George W. Bush, former U.S. President. Was appointed in 1990 to the Board of Directors of one of Carlyle's first acquisitions, an airline food business called Caterair, which Carlyle eventually sold at a loss. Bush left the board in 1992 to run for Governor of Texas.
* Frank C. Carlucci, former United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989; Carlyle Chairman and Chairman Emeritus from 1989 to 2005.
* Arthur Levitt, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under President Bill Clinton, Carlyle Senior Advisor from 2001 to the present
* Luis Téllez Kuenzler, Mexican economist, former Secretary of Communications and Transportation under the Felipe Calderón administration and former Secretary of Energy under the Zedillo administration.
* Frank McKenna, former Premier of New Brunswick, Canadian Ambassador to the United States between 2005 and 2006 and current Deputee Chairman of Toronto-Dominion Bank; werved on Carlyle's Canadian advisory board.
* Mack McLarty, Carlyle Group Senior Advisor (from 2003), White House Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1994.
* Randal K. Quarles, former Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury under President George W. Bush, now a Carlyle managing director
Europe
* John Major, former British Prime Minister, Chairman, Carlyle Europe from 2002 until 2005
Asia
* Anand Panyarachun, former Prime Minister of Thailand (twice), former member of the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board until the board was disbanded in 2004
* Fidel V. Ramos, former president of the Philippines, Carlyle Asia Advisor Board Member until the board was disbanded in 2004
* Peter Chung, former associate at Carlyle Group Korea, who resigned in 2001 after 2 weeks on the job after his infamous email scandal
* Thaksin Shinawatra, former Prime Minister of Thailand (twice), former member of the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board until 2001 when he resigned upon being elected Prime Minister. [31]
Media
* Norman Pearlstine - editor-in-chief of Time magazine from (1995-2005), senior advisor telecommunications and media group 2006-
See also
* Carlyle Group companies (category)
References
1. ^ Carlyle Group website http://www.carlyle.com/Media%20Room/item10143.html
2. ^ Briody, Dan. The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2003. ISBN 0-471-28108-5
3. ^ David A. Vise, "Area Merchant Banking Firm Formed," Washington Post, Oct. 5, 1987, F33
4. ^ Paul Farhi, "Chi-Chi's Bid Won D.C. Investment Firm Wall Street's Attention," Washington Post, June 6, 1988, F1
5. ^ John Mintz, "Founder Going Beyond the Carlyle Group," Washington Post, Jan. 9, 1995, F9
6. ^ a b Heath, Thomas. "Government of Abu Dhabi Buys Stake in Carlyle." Washington Post, September 21, 2007, page D01.
7. ^ [1]
8. ^ "NY Cuomo: Tainted deals included Carlyle Group" Reuters, March 19, 2009
9. ^ Carlyle Pays $20 Million to Resolve Inquiry. New York Times, May 20, 2009
10. ^ United Defense Industries. GlobalSecurity.org, July 31, 2005. Retrieved October 22, 2008.
11. ^ Peterson, Laura. Windfalls of War. United Defense Industries, L.P. Center for Public Integrity, October 31, 2003.
12. ^ "The Carlyle Group to Acquire Synagro Technologies for $5.76 Per Share" 2007-01-29
13. ^ Reuters/Yahoo! News: "GM selling Allison for $5.6 billion," 2007-06-28
14. ^ "Carlyle Group acquires Applus," 2007-07-28
15. ^ http://www.boozallen.com/news/39856120?o9002123=&lpid=66005
16. ^ Carlyle Capital Corporation Intends to File for Compulsory Winding up in Guernsey
17. ^ Carlyle Capital in default, on brink of collapse - Reuters
18. ^ Washington Post "Carlyle Group Holding 'Crisis' Talks in N.Y.," 03-10-08
19. ^ 'Fed Hopes to Ease Strain on Economic Activity' 03-11-08
20. ^ "Hedge fund on verge of collapse". BBC News Online. 13 March 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7293663.stm.
21. ^ Companies Law of Guernsey (1994)
22. ^ "Carlyle Capital Corporation Intends To File For Compulsory Winding Up In Guernsey" Carlyle Capital Corporation New Release, March 16, 2008
23. ^ Jessica Hall, Dane Hamilton (March 14, 2008). "CCC's Woes Seen as Small Blemish for Carlyle Group". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/bankingFinancial/idUSN1361636620080314?sp=true.
24. ^ Moore, Michael "Factual Back-Up for Fahrenheit 9/11: Section Four" michaelmoore.com
25. ^ Doward, Jamie (2003-05-23). "'Ex-presidents club' gets fat on conflict". The Observer.
26. ^ a b Glassman, James K. "Big Deals. David Rubenstein and His Partners Have Made Billions With the Carlyle Group, the World’s Hottest Private Equity Firm. How Have They Made All That Money? Why Are They in Washington?"Washingtonian, June 2006.
27. ^ The Carlyle Group. Economist, Jun 26th 2003
28. ^ Heath, Thomas. "Pair of Proposals Take Aim at Carlyle Group." Washington Post, February 15, 2008.
29. ^ Kasler, Dale. "Bill limiting CalPERS, CalSTRS investments withdrawn." Sacramento Bee, April 9, 2008.
30. ^ Nick Clarck, Carlyle poaches Olivier Sarkozy, The Independent, 4 March 2008 (English)
31. ^ [2]
Further reading
* James K. Glassman, "Big Deals," Washingtonian Magazine, June 2006
* Geoffrey Colvin & Ram Charan, "Private Lives," Fortune Magazine, November 27, 2006
* Emily Thornton, "Carlyle Changes Its Stripes," BusinessWeek, February 12, 2007
* Dan Briody, The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group, John Wiley & Sons, 2003, ISBN 0-471-28108-5.
* Bin Laden Family Liquidates Holdings With Carlyle Group. New York Times
Now the same could be pasted for Washington Group or KBR, etc, etc, with interesting bits that pop up but I am trying to get somewhere in the DIA thread.
To tie together the Carlyle Group (owned EG&G during the "planning" time of 9/11?) with URS (who acquired EG&G, from Carlyle own would presume, only as a working hypothesis for we cannot assume!) and whom (URS) also was the "lead contractor" for DIA. URS is also major FEMA contractor, the farcical emulating militia agency, or feeble-effort-mindless administration as it is AKA and what that means is that in terms of access, these MIC contractors can go places where many others cannot (referring to 9/11) but FEMA (hence contractors) played a significant role in the disinformation process immediately following the event, were pre-staged, etc, etc.
Perhaps this will spark something in someone else who will have another piece of the puzzle? One thing for certain though is that when it comes to MIC and contractors, etc, it truly is an incestuous relationship as they all will partner together the one minute and then stab each other in the back the next, all for a lousy contract. Speaking of which:
_http://www.fema.gov/pdf/business/activecontracts.pdf
The above link lists official active contracts with FEMA and gives some insight into spending. Of course it is not entirely transparent, as it should be.
Two extracts from the document to illustrate this:
Number of Contracts: 248
Total Obligated: $4,162,842,922.17 (yeah, right, that is not even close to the actual dollars even if it is what is reported)
Contract Number: HSFEHQ06D0162
Contract Value: $77,015,720.50
ContSpec: CTW
Completion Date: 04-28-2011
Contractor's Name: URS GROUP, INC
Item: HMTAP Contract (Hazard Mitigation Technical Assistance Program)
ProgOff: ARFA
HMTAP is/was the main contract for FEMA to support its Hazard Mitigation Programs, which funds alot of the so-called "mitigation" of disaster effects. E.G. Elevation of flood-prone houses. Yet what is not mentioned here is how URS has been the sole contract owner since the programs inception, some 15-years now.
However, there are always subs placed on the contract, so though URS is said to "hold" the contract, which they do, the work/$$$ can be spread out to some 20 or more different firms. I am mentioning this to demonstrate the incestuous nature of the "disaster management" industry and its support of MIC for after all the corporations all but run government AND military these days, after all it is PROFIT that matters most, right?
Contract Number: HSFEHQ06D0489
Contract Value: $293,056,543.64
ContSpec: FMC
Completion Date: 05-31-2011
Contractor's Name: NISTAC D
Item: PA TAC - mod to increase maximum funding
ProgOff: RRRE
This program, PA TAC, which stands for Public Assistance Technical Assistance Contract, is the vehicle with which FEMA gets money on the streets for "Public Assistance" which really means into contractors hands, or private assistance, not public assistance. It is as the name implies, the infrastructure dollars for roads, bridges, pays some labor amounts for the local level responders and Public Works departments, etc. Whereas HMTAP is supposedly to MITIGATE and therefore protect/make things better or more "disaster resistant" PA is simply to put back what was damaged from disaster as-is. Anyways, NISTAC is a consortium of contractors, including URS. So though the FEMA site lists these contracts and some contractors names, there are lots of teaming arrangements, one firm "sleeping" with another firm and as mentioned, completely incestuous in their devouring orgy of tax-payer dollars. And what is so ridiculous about the whole thing is how top "officials" feed the bandwagon of propaganda in that "Well, we need these programs and agencies and initiatives to protect citizens from disaster" or some other bull, when all the while completely ignoring and remaining silent as to the possibilities behind the CAUSE of so-called disaster! The fat cats!
And if you think I am "picking on" URS, I am not. They just happen to be, well, intricate in some of this. More so, if you view the lists at ENR you will see the same players over and over, most of whom are active players in one way or another of the same fields.
http://enr.construction.com/toplists/DesignFirms/001-100.asp
http://enr.construction.com/people/topLists/topEnvDesign/topEnv_1-50.asp
http://enr.construction.com/people/topLists/topCmFee/topcmfee_1-50.asp
Anyways back to DIA:
The C's said in the original transmission:
A: Scandal - Scandal - Denver Airport.
Q: (L) What about the Denver airport?
A: Scandal.
Now what else is known as scandal? Well, how about the Savings and Loans SCANDAL of the 1980's?
A brief introduction:
Savings and Loan Scandal
Here are some facts on the infamous S&L scandal of the eighties which we are still paying for.
* The Savings and Loan scandal is the largest theft in the history of the world.
* Deregulation eased restrictions so much that S&L owners could lend themselves money.
* The Garn Institute of Finance, named after Senator Jake Garn, co-authored the deregulation of the industry and received $2.2 million from industry execs.
* Neil Bush, George Bush's son, never servered time in jail for his part in running an S&L into the ground.
* Represenative Fernard St. Germain, who was head of the House of Representatives banking, co-authored the deregulation and was voted out of office after other questionable dealings and was sent back to D.C. as an S&L lobbiest.
* Charles Keating, when asked if massive lobbying efforts had influenced the government officials, he replies "I certainly hope so."
* The rip-off began in 1980 when the government raised the federal insurance on S&L's from $40,000 to $100,000 even though the typical savings account was only around $6000.
* Some of the seized assets were a buffalo sperm bank, a racehorse with syphilis, and a kitty litter mine.
* James Fail invested $1000 of his own money to purchase 15 failing S&L's. The government reimbursed him $1.85 billion in federal subsidies.
* It sometimes took over 7 years to close failing S&L's by the government.
* When S&L owners who stole millions went to jail, their sentances were typically one-fifth that of the average bank robber.
* The goverment bail out will cost the taxpayers around $1.4 trillion dollars when it is over.
* If the White House had stepped in and bailed out the S&L's in 1986 instead of delaying until after the 1988 elections, the cost might have been only $20 billion.
* With the money lost from the S&L scandals, the government could have provided prenatal care for every American child for the next 2,300 years.
* With the money lost from the S&L scandals, the government could have purchased 5 million average homes.
* The authors of "Inside Job", a book about the S&L scandal, found criminal activity at every S&L they investigated.
Facts were taken from"Inside Job" and "It's a Conspiracy! by the National Insecurity Council.
Then there is this!
http://rationalrevolution.net/war/bush_family_and_the_s.htm
The Bush family and the S&L Scandal
Neil, George Jr., George Sr., and Jeb Bush
The Savings and Loan industry had been experiencing major problems through the late 60s and 70s due to rising inflation and rising interest rates. Because of this there was a move in the 1970s to replace the role of S&L institutions with banks.
In the early 1980s, under Reagan, regulatory changes took place that gave the S&L industry new powers and for the first time in history measures were taken to increase the profitability of S&Ls at the expense of promoting home ownership.
A history of the S&L situation can be found here:
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/s&l/
What is important to note about the S&L scandal is that it was the largest theft in the history of the world and US tax payers are who was robbed.
The problems occurred in the Savings and Loan industry as they relate to theft because the industry was deregulated under the Reagan/Bush administration and restrictions were eased on the industry so much that abuse and misuse of funds became easy, rampant, and went unchecked.
Additional facts on the Savings and Loan Scandal can be found here:
http://www.inthe80s.com/sandl.shtml
There are several ways in which the Bush family plays into the Savings and Loan scandal, which involves not only many members of the Bush family but also many other politicians that are still in office and still part of the Bush Jr. administration today. Jeb Bush, George Bush Sr., and his son Neil Bush have all been implicated in the Savings and Loan Scandal, which cost American tax payers over $1.4 TRILLION dollars (note that this is about one quarter of our national debt).
Between 1981 and 1989, when George Bush finally announced that there was a Savings and Loan Crisis to the world, the Reagan/Bush administration worked to cover up Savings and Loan problems by reducing the number and depth of examinations required of S&Ls as well as attacking political opponents who were sounding early alarms about the S&L industry. Industry insiders were aware of significant S&L problems as early 1986 that they felt would require a bailout. This information was kept from the media until after Bush had won the 1988 elections.
Jeb Bush defaulted on a $4.56 million loan from Broward Federal Savings in Sunrise, Florida. After federal regulators closed the S&L, the office building that Jeb used the $4.56 million to finance was reappraised by the regulators at $500,000, which Bush and his partners paid. The taxpayers had to pay back the remaining 4 million plus dollars.
Neil Bush was the most widely targeted member of the Bush family by the press in the S&L scandal. Neil became director of Silverado Savings and Loan at the age of 30 in 1985. Three years later the institution was belly up at a cost of $1.6 billion to tax payers to bail out.
The basic actions of Neil Bush in the S&L scandal are as follows:
Neil received a $100,000 "loan" from Ken Good, of Good International, with no obligation to pay any of the money back.
Good was a large shareholder in JNB Explorations, Neil Bush's oil-exploration company.
Neil failed to disclose this conflict-of-interest when loans were given to Good from Silverado, because the money was to be used in joint venture with his own JNB. This was in essence giving himself a loan from Silverado through a third party.
Neil then helped Silverado S&L approve Good International for a $900,000 line of credit.
Good defaulted on a total $32 million in loans from Silverado.
During this time Neil Bush did not disclose that $3 million of the $32 million that Good was defaulting on was actually for investment in JNB, his own company.
Good subsequently raised Bush's JNB salary from $75,000 to $125,000 and granted him a $22,500 bonus.
Neil Bush maintained that he did not see how this constituted a conflict of interest.
Neil approved $106 million in Silverado loans to another JNB investor, Bill Walters.
Neil also never formally disclosed his relationship with Walters and Walters also defaulted on his loans, all $106 million of them.
Neil Bush was charged with criminal wrongdoing in the case and ended up paying $50,000 to settle out of court. The chief of Silverado S&L was sentenced to 3.5 years in jail for pleading guilty to $8.7 million in theft. (Keep in mind that you can get more jail time for holding up a gas station for $50.)
Today Neil Bush is working on closing a deal in Florida, where his brother Jeb is governor, to sell a software package to schools with his startup company Ignite.
Update 11/28/2003: Some of Neil Bush's business deals have been exposed in his recent divorce case. For more on this see:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/112703A.shtml
http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/01/26/neil_bush/index.html
It should also be noted that shortly after news of Neil Bush’s involvement in the S&L scandal hit the press his father, George Bush Sr., announced the Desert Storm campaign in Iraq, which subsequently had the result of making Neil’s name quickly fade from the headlines. In addition, while Neil Bush's divorce proceeding were exposing more backroom Bush dealings, America was once again bombarded with war propaganda for Operation Iraq Freedom.
The S&L scandal is by no means the only incident of questionable, and actually illegal, financial activity that the Bush family has been involved in. The line of questionable, illegal, and unethical businesses practices goes back at least to Prescott Bush Sr., George Bush Sr.’s father. Prescott Bush was a Senator from 1952 – 1963. Previous to his time as a Senator Prescott was a banker and businessman. Prior to the American entry into WWII Prescott Bush was director of Union Banking Corporation. Union Banking Corporation helped to finance Hitler’s regime. The Concentration Camps of Nazi Germany were labor camps that the Nazis used to make products for their regime as well as for sale to raise money. Prescott profited directly from the Auschwitz labor camp.
In 1942, after Hitler declared war on America the United States government seized the Union Banking Corporation under the Trading with the Enemy Act as a front operation that was supporting the Nazis. Much of the profits from the operation were already pocketed by Prescott however, and $1.5 million was put in a trust fund for George Bush Sr.
For more on Prescott Bush's ties to the Nazis see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html
http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi_2
The issues of WWII will be revisited again later.
This is actually just the tip of the iceberg as far as the Bush family and business dealings are concerned, the topic is a book in itself. In the interest of brevity I invite you to research the Bush family business ties yourself, including those in Saudi Arabia, where George Bush made millions as an oil well developer, and George Bush’s $14 million deal when he sold the Texas Rangers, while leaving tax payers footing the bill.
Which makes one wonder, huh? I mean you have these Bushes, with the obvious signs above in their involvement of the financial crisis of the S & L scandal, then you have the Bush involvement in Carlyle Group which owned EG&G during time of 9/11 and then you have URS again, DIA and FEMA contractor. But what about this?
http://salonesoterica.wordpress.com/2007/10/05/the-denver-airport-conspiracy/
Which says:
One fact not mentioned about the Denver International Airport is that it was conceived of and funded by Silverado Savings and Loan (yes, the one with the scandal and taxpayer bailout.) By the way, the head of Silverado Savings and Loan was Neil Bush, son of then president George H.W. Bush (who ushered in the New World Order) and brother of George W. Bush. Neil Bush chose the land, design and the contractors that built DIA.
However, just cuz some internet blog says it is so does not always mean it is so! I would prefer documentation on this and am still digging for articles, etc, rather than an undocumented blog, though the blog looks good and actually links to SOTT! But if it IS true this means Bushie chose URS and company for a reason. Perhaps he did not really "choose" at all but was just in the "'position" to "help" those who do not take no for an answer?! In other words, a puppet, as always.
Here is something that attests to the nature of the likes of Neil Bush, BTW:
Neil Bush was unceremoniously dumped from a Denver amateur tennis tournament for cheating this year after he and his doubles partner signed up to play opponents ranked much below their skill level. The president's son, rated 5.5 on a 10-point U.S. Tennis Association scale, entered to compete in the 4.5 category. Their opponents, after getting slaughtered, protested and Bush was disqualified.
Yet, in summation, what I find interesting in all this is we have Neil Bush in a position (allegedly) to "choose the land, design and contractors that built DIA" - as part of the S & L scandal in Denver in the 80's. That contractor was URS who "In September 2007 they were selected from an international field of eleven firms to design and construct the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport, Spaceport America, in the desert of New Mexico, US." URS currently owns EG&G which has a long list of clients from NASA to NOAA to DOD, etc, etc, (as does URS, prime contractor with FEMA, FAA, USPS, EPA, DOD, Army, etc) and EG&G was owned by Carlyle Group, entirely, for two years terminating in 2001. Carlyle Group loops back to the Bushes and their involvement with that firm and the whole thing stinks to high heaven!
Scandal in-deed!