Black was a central figure in exposing Congressional corruption during the Savings and Loan Crisis. He took the notes during the Keating Five meeting that were later published in the press, and brought the event to national attention and a congressional investigation. According to Bill Moyers, "The former Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention now teaches Economics and Law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. During the savings and loan crisis, it was Black who accused then-house speaker Jim Wright and five US Senators, including John Glenn and John McCain, of doing favors for the S&L;'s in exchange for contributions and other perks. The senators got off with a slap on the wrist, but so enraged was one of those bankers, Charles Keating — after whom the senate's so-called "Keating Five" were named — he sent a memo that read, in part, 'get Black — kill him dead.' Metaphorically, of course. Of course." On April 3, 2009 Black appeared on Bill Moyers Journal on PBS and provided critical commentary on the U.S. banking crisis.[6] In the interview with Bill Moyers,[7] Black asserted that the banking crisis in the United States that started in late 2008 is essentially a big Ponzi scheme; that the "liar loans" and other financial tricks were essentially illegal frauds; and that the triple-A ratings given to these loans was part of a criminal cover-up. He said that the "Prompt Corrective Action Law" passed after the Savings and loan crisis mandated that ailing banks should be put into receivership. Black also stated that trying to hide how bad the situation is will simply prolong the problem, as happened in Japan and resulted in Japan's lost decade. Black stated that Timothy Geithner was engaged in a cover-up, and that the administration did not want people to understand what went wrong or how bad the banking situation was. On April 20, 2010, Black testified before the House Financial Services Committee in a hearing titled "Public Policy Issues Raised by the Report of the Lehman Bankruptcy Examiner." He testified about the role that Alt-A mortgages, what he called "liars' loans," on residential real estate played in the downfall of Lehman Brothers. His testimony was that "Lehman’s failure is a story in large part of fraud. And it is fraud that begins at the absolute latest in 2001, and that is with their subprime and liars’ loan operations."[8] As explained in his prepared statement, his reference was to Aurora Loan Services, Inc., which was a subsidiary of Lehman: "Lehman’s principal source of (fictional) income and real losses was making (and selling) what the trade accurately called 'liar’s loans' through its subsidiary, Aurora. (The bland euphemism for liar’s loans was 'Alt-A.') Liar’s loans are 'criminogenic' (they create epidemics of mortgage fraud) because they create strong incentives to provide false information on loan applications." Black is the author of, among others, The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L; Industry, 2005, University of Texas Press, ISBN 0-292-72139-0. Bill Black wrote many articles for the Huffington Post from 2009 to date, focusing on financial and political fraud and chicanery and (legal and illegal) corruption. Selected works[edit] The U.S. Banking Industry in Transition in Real World Banking, eds. Dan Fireside & Amy Gluckman (Dollars & Sense 2008) When Fragile Become Friable: Endemic Control Fraud as a Cause of Economic Stagnation and Collapse, in White Collar Crimes: a Debate, K. Naga Srivalli, ed., Hyderabad, India, The Icfai University Press (2007: 162-178) Corruption Kills, International Handbook of White-Collar Crime, Henry Pontell & G. Geis eds. (Springer 2007) Control fraud v. the protocols, Crime, Law & Social Change, Volume 45, No. 3 (April 2006: 241-258) The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L; Industry, University of Texas at Austin Press (April 2005) “Control frauds” as financial super-predators: How “pathogens” make financial markets inefficient, Journal of Socio-Economics, Vol. 34. No.6 (December 2005: 734-755) Control Fraud as an Explanation for White-Collar Crime Waves: The Case of the Savings & Loan Debacle, Crime, Law and Social Change, Vol. 43, No. 1 (February 2005: 1-29) The Dango Tango: Why Corruption Blocks Real Reform in Japan, Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 14, Issue 4 (October 2004: 602-623) The Imperium Strikes Back: The Need to Teach Socioeconomics to Law Students, San Diego Law Review, No. 1 (Winter 2004: 231-256) Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts: Enron Uses Its High Tech Information System to Defraud, CISIC 2003 Conference Symposium edition (McGraw-Hill 2003) Re-examining the Law & Economics Theory of Corporate Governance, Challenge Vol. 46, No. 2 (March/April 2003: 22-40) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_K._Black

• published: 26 Dec 2015
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