The Bailout As Farce

Why does this not surprise me?:

A veteran Sacramento mortgage banker who has been lobbying Congress to pass the $700 billion bailout has been accused of defrauding 11 of his former branch managers and embezzling $879,000 from them in the collapse of his Folsom mortgage brokerage in 2007.

The allegations against John A. Courson, owner of the defunct Folsom-based Central Pacific Mortgage Co., are described in a civil lawsuit filed last year by eight of Central Pacific's former branch managers in California, two in Maryland and one in Florida.

Courson, 66, is chief operating officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America in Washington, D.C. The industry group's members include 2,400 companies and 370,000 people from the real estate finance world: mortgage companies and brokers, banks, thrifts and insurance companies.

As chief operating officer, Courson is the leader – and public voice – for the association, which spent $2.2 million and employed nine lobbyists in Washington during the first six months of 2008, federal lobbying filings show.

Last week, Courson sent letters to House and Senate members urging them to support quick passage of legislation that would enable the Treasury to purchase billions in distressed mortgage-related assets from companies in the mortgage finance world.

Courson also issued a widely quoted statement urging legislators to stop bickering.

"We would encourage both parties and both chambers to set aside the issues that will only bog down the process and pass a clean bill that will stabilize the markets and help keep families in their homes without permanently damaging the real estate finance system."

...Through a spokeswoman, he declined a request to be interviewed about the embezzlement and fraud allegations.

"John has decided we're not doing interviews on this particular topic," MBA spokeswoman Cheryl Crispen said.

...Last year, Courson also was accused of a $1.6 million civil fraud by Lehman Brothers Bank of New York, the giant Wall Street investment bank that filed for bankruptcy protection two weeks ago.