Mr Cooper Group Inc (COOP)

[Dragynn]

Al Scott chimes in on Kirsten Grind's story today!


http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2009/12/jpmorgans_advance_plan_for_wamu.html

JPMorgan's advance plan for WaMu
Friday, December 25, 2009, 11:15am PST

A subpoena appears to be shining a little sunlight where public disclosure laws could not. Recently, I blogged about the decision by federal regulators to black out or deny requests for documents related to their seizure and sale to JPMorgan Chase of Washington Mutual, formerly the nation's largest savings-and-loan.

While the government has provided little insight into its actions, documents released earlier this month under a subpoena in the WaMu bankruptcy case have begun to shed light on JPMorgan's role.

JPMorgan paid $1.88 billion for WaMu during the financial crisis of September 2008. At the time, WaMu’s huge portfolio of subprime mortgage loans seemed destined to rack up billions in losses, and JPMorgan’s bid reflected that risk. In the months since the acquisition, however, JPMorgan has booked billions in revenue from the purchase and appears likely to profit substantially in the months ahead — not just from the loans, but from the network of retail bank branches it acquired.

Documents released by JPMorgan in response to the subpoena now show that JPMorgan had a plan to acquire WaMu from regulators more than two months before the government signaled it planned to seize and sell the Seattle thrift.

The exhibits, along with interviews and documents uncovered in an ongoing investigation by the Puget Sound Business Journal, are laid out in the third installment of Staff Writer Kirsten Grind’s series about the toppling of WaMu. The regulators — the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Office of Thrift Supervision — have not released further information.
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DING! Time's up!