Quick Picks: Bond Advisers and Bank’s Loans Face Scrutiny — ProPublica

Quick Picks: Bond Advisers and Bank’s Loans Face Scrutiny

by Alexandra Andrews

Feb. 17, 2009, 11:57 a.m. EST

Quick Picks focuses on a select few of the day's stories from "Breaking on the Web."

The New York Times reports that municipal-bond advisers like CDR Financial Products, the firm reportedly at the heart of a pay-to-play investigation in New Mexico, are "virtually unregulated" and have spawned dozens of IRS inquiries after local governments were left saddled with debt. CDR said that "while its advice to its clients has been creative and inventive, it has always taken care to follow the rules."
A former employee at World Savings Bank, tells "60 Minutes" that he warned his superiors in 2005 about potential loan fraud, telling them, "You're granting too many people loans who simply can't qualify." Herb Sandler, who, along with his wife Marion, ran World Savings Bank, told "60 Minutes" that hundreds of former employees would "dispute Mr. Bishopâs claims and speak to the companyâs focus on quality lending." (Disclosure: The Sandler Foundation is ProPublicaâs chief funder.)

Check out more of our roundup of the best investigative stories around the Web.

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