Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
next payment goes out March 31st
It's nice to share the excitement. This one looked pretty interesting today! Look at that group of elite D.C. attorneys either in person or on the phone. What is the gov thinking?
That's the impression I get!!!
JOINT STATUS REPORT REGARDING MARCH 25 STATUS CONFERENCE
In accordance with this Court’s Order of August 13, 2014 (Doc. 85), the parties hereby notify the Court that they believe that it should hold a status conference to discuss Plaintiffs’ de- cision to move forward with depositions of Government witnesses before the Government has completed its production of documents. Plaintiffs’ counsel have scheduling conflicts and are un- available on March 25. Accordingly, the parties propose that a status conference be held, subject to the Court’s availability, during the afternoon of Thursday, March 26, or at 10am or at 2pm or later on Friday, March 27. The parties are also available for a status conference on Tuesday, March 31, but the Government would prefer that the status conference be held this week if the Court is available.
The parties hereby notify the Court that the following attorneys for the Fairholme Plain- tiffs plan to appear in person at the status conference:
? Charles J. Cooper, Cooper & Kirk, PLLC
? David H. Thompson, Cooper & Kirk, PLLC
? Vincent J. Colatriano, Cooper & Kirk, PLLC
The following attorney for the Fairholme Plaintiffs plans to appear by telephone: 1
?No. 13-465C
) (Judge Sweeney)
??
Case 1:13-cv-00465-MMS Document 139 Filed 03/23/15 Page 2 of 3
? Christine Cubias, General Counsel, Fairholme Funds, Inc.
The following attorneys for the United States plan to appear in person:
? Kenneth M. Dintzer
? Elizabeth M. Hosford
? Gregg M. Schwind
The following other attorneys plan to appear by telephone:
? Zac Hudson, Bancroft PLLC (representing Fannie Mae)
? Michael Ciatti, King & Spalding (representing Freddie Mac)
In accordance with the Court’s prior orders, counsel for the Fairholme Plaintiffs has con- tacted counsel for the plaintiffs in the related cases pending before this Court. The following at- torneys intend to listen to the status conference telephonically1:
? Hamish Hume, Boies, Schiller & Flexner (Cacciapelle v. United States, No. 13-466)
? Richard M. Zuckerman, Dentons (Arrowood Indemnity Corp. v. United States, No. 13-698)
? Noah Schubert, Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe (Fisher v. United States, No. 13-608, Reid v. United States, No. 14-152)
? Miranda Kolbe, Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe (Fisher v. United States, No. 13- 608, Reid v. United States, No. 14-152)
? Robert M. Roseman, Spector Roseman Kodroff & Willis (Washington Federal v. United States, No. 13-385)
? Louis C. Ludwig, Pomerantz LLP (American European Insurance Co. v. United States, No. 13-496)
1 Once the Court schedules the status conference, Plaintiffs will confer with the attorneys in the related cases and file a revised list if necessary.
2
?
Case 1:13-cv-00465-MMS
Document 139 Filed 03/23/15 Page 3 of 3
Date: March 23, 2015
BENJAMIN C. MIZER
Acting Assistant Attorney General
s/ Robert E. Kirschman, Jr. ROBERT E. KIRSCHMAN, JR. Director
s/ Kenneth M. Dintzer
KENNETH M. DINTZER
Deputy Director
Commercial Litigation Branch U.S. Department of Justice
P.O. Box 480 Ben Franklin Station Washington, D.C. 20044
(202) 616-0385
(202) 307-0972 fax KDintzer@CIV.USDOJ.GOV Attorneys for Defendant
Respectfully submitted,
s/ Charles J. Cooper
Charles J. Cooper
Counsel of Record for Plaintiffs COOPER & KIRK, PLLC
1523 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 220-9600
(202) 220-9601 (fax) ccooper@cooperkirk.com
Of counsel:
Vincent J. Colatriano
David H. Thompson
Peter A. Patterson
Brian W. Barnes
COOPER & KIRK, PLLC
1523 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 220-9600
(202) 220-9601 (fax)
???
139
03/23/2015 JOINT STATUS REPORT Regarding March 25 Status Conference, filed by All Plaintiffs. (Cooper, Charles)
Even better!! thanks H!
Ackman thought long run $23-47. :). I believe he conservatively said that within 7-10 years.
@SecretaryCastro: Joining @amprog to discuss @HUDgov's role in sparking #urbanprogress across the nation. Watch live at 10 am EST ? http://t.co/FWFt48m8yF
What's this? :)
@neeratanden: Looking forward to host @HillaryClinton & @SecretaryCastro, amongst many others at CAP tomorrow on how to make cities work for middle class
There was a great 60 minute interview with Bowen on this. I can't pull up the link now, but we talked about in on ihub. Great video to watch if anyone hasn't seen it!
You are correct Lumpina. That one in the article is different than the one we've been talking about on the board. The one in the article is shareholders against AIG. The one the board has been talking about is Starr ( Greenberg) vs USA, but we all keep saying AIG for simplicity. :)
Sogo,
Sorry about my last post to you! I don't know who wrote the second sentence. :) Hope it didn't sound flippant. My 2 cents was going to be that, since the swap was for 15 million shares, and Ackman is in it for the long run, I'm not sure that Pershing Square would do anything to artificially raise the price just for that. As I understand he has to pay that price anyway in April, and again he's in it for the long run. $23-$47. It looks like the price will rise to that anyway by the end of April.
Having said all that, since he is the largest common shareholder by far, I'm sure there are things that could be done to manipulate the price, if they really wanted to. You had a good question about what method they might use to do that. I'm sure someone here has an answer on what techniques are used! :)
Why This Billionaire Added to His Stake in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
By Patrick Morris
April 5, 2014 | Comments (3)
"Multiple billionaire investors have put both their wallets and their words behind Fannie Mae (NASDAQOTCBB: FNMA ) and Freddie Mac (NASDAQOTCBB: FMCC ) and this week one announced he was upping his ownership to more than 11% of each.
Source: Insider Monkey.
The investment boost
Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management had two separate SEC filings placed this week which announced he has boosted his position in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by 13%, now owning 11.3% and 11.1%, respectively, of the publicly traded stock for the government sponsored entities.
Curiously, Ackman did not do this through the actual purchase of common stock, but instead entered into a total return swap agreement with UBS. In short, this is an agreement where UBS bought the additional stake in Fannie and Freddie on behalf of Ackman and Pershing Square. Pershing Square then pays UBS interest for the total cost of the stock purchase.
UBS will then pay Pershing Square for any positive performance in the shares of Fannie and Freddie, and conversely, Ackman would have to pay UBS for the negative performance.
The agreement is essentially a loan where Pershing will receive the possible rewards and risks of owning the common stock of Fannie and Freddie, except it doesn't have to tie up its own capital to do so."
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/05/why-this-billionaire-added-to-his-stake-in-fannie.aspx
That is 15 million shares. He doesn't need to do any stunts, part of the whole picture for anyone that is following.
H R 1036 Capuano, To provide for the repayment of amounts borrowed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the Treasury of the United States, together with interest, over a 30-year period, and for other purposes.
Latest Actions
Feb 24, 2015 Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
S. 495 Isakson, Mortgage Finance Act of 2015
Latest Actions
Feb 24, 2015 Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
H R 1491 Delaney, Himes, Carney To reform the housing system of the United States, and for other purposes
Latest Major Action: 3/19/2015 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
This is a pretty informative board, you seem to trade a lot. What is your opinion?
What are your thoughts alchemytrader?
Why would Rahman Emanuel as chief of staff in 2008-09 have opened up the top in Fannie, Freddie accepting subprime junk? No one cares to look at the real events alchemytrader :)
Front page Boston, which part are you talking about?
That is the crux of it there as cfljmljfl described. There may be reasons as to why they orchestrated it that way. Ackman seems familiar with the swap deal at appropriate times.
C'mon Stockman lets go back and clean up the last post. I get your point, Sweeney does have the kahunas, she denied the stay, that takes @Kahunas!"
"congress passed"?
Been around for so long it's kind of embarrassing, IMO. Just look at Hensarling's campaign donor list. Sometimes that explains the motivation.
Congress? The Treasury, FHFA, etc are the defendants. And she's been questioning their answers quite a bit so far.
Actually that would be a great question to ask the reps, email them and state our side, and then tell them to let you know when the next major action is. Maybe that will get them involved and let them know we are serious!
Yes, here is the latest on
H R 1036 Capuano, To provide for the repayment of amounts borrowed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the Treasury of the United States, together with interest, over a 30-year period, and for other purposes.
Latest Actions
Feb 24, 2015 Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
S. 495 Isakson, Mortgage Finance Act of 2015
Latest Actions
Feb 24, 2015 Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
H R 1491 Delaney, Himes, Carney To reform the housing system of the United States, and for other purposes
Latest Major Action: 3/19/2015 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
I'm just saying I think they're not even at a vote with the committee yet. Ihub will light up like a firestorm when it's time for actual vote.
This should be good!
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Full Committee Hearing: Financial Stability Oversight Counsel Accountability and Transparency
Time and Location: 10:00 a.m. in room 538 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building
Boston, the new bills have only just been presented and read, they have a long way to go, most die before getting very far.
Looks interesting, thanks 10bambam. Wallach's book looks like it should be a good read also!
I was, do you have any inside scoop?
What if there is a positive reaction to Greenberg/AIG responses Monday, what will happen then?
Budget Hearing - Housing and Urban Development Programs
Tuesday, March 24, 2015 10:00 AM in 2358-A Rayburn
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Witness
The Honorable Julian Castro
Secretary
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Thanks Letgo! I was aware of some but not all of that. Yikes! I'm sure glad discovery is continuing, then depositions. Lew needs to be brought before congress and grilled on all these items.
AIG responses due Monday.
At 8:30 AM EDT, Secretary Lew will participate in a moderated conversation on the state of the U.S. and global economy with WLRN’s Tom Hudson. The event is open press and hosted by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and Miami Dade College.
Did anyone tune in to this today?
Agreed, it didn't gain any traction before, and I don't think any of these repeat bills will now, especially with the court cases this far along.
Delaney last year....
Rep. John Delaney Defends Fannie and Freddie Profit "Sweep"
DAN FREED
Follow
Apr 4, 2014 6:30 AM EDT
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A controversial amendment to the government conservatorship of Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) should be allowed to stand because it is "consistent with the agreement the government negotiated," according to U.S. Rep. John Delaney (D., Md.) a former financial services CEO who is crafting legislation to wind down the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs).
Delaney, former CEO and Chairman of CapitalSource (CSE), has emerged as one of the most outspoken defenders of the Treasury Department's 2012 third amendment to the conservatorship agreement governing Fannie and Freddie, which is the subject of extensive litigation. Among those suing the government are the hedge fund Perry Capital and Fairholme Funds, led by Bruce Berkowitz, a Morningstar fund manager of the decade in 2010.
"The government negotiated and had the company sign an agreement as a condition to the government doing two things. One, guarantee explicitly for a trillion dollars of debt and the second thing they did is injected a hundred eighty seven billion dollars. So as a part of that agreement, the government negotiated a certain set of rights and included in that set of rights was their ability to do things like the third amendment," Delaney said.
Following their March dividend payments, Fannie and Freddie will have paid total dividends of $199 billion on $189.4 billion in senior preferred shares held by the Treasury. Factoring in warrants that were handed to the government to acquire up to 79.9% of the GSEs common shares, Rafferty Capital Markets analyst Richard Bove on last week estimated the government's return on its investment in Fannie and Freddie was $238 billion.
But those figures don't tell the whole story, Delaney contends.
"People keep talking about the hundred eighty seven billion dollars that's kind of been paid back but they're ignoring the fact that the government explicitly guaranteed four trillion dollars of liability which is without question the largest guarantee of debt that was ever done in the history of the world. So I think if you were to value what that guarantee is it's staggering particularly at that moment in time. So whatever the government negotiated seems reasonable to me."
I asked Delaney about a point emphasized regularly by GSE shareholders, notably the consumer advocate and occasional presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who say that the Treasury used and abused them. They say the government structured its takeover in such a way as to give shareholders false hope that their investments still had value, while the real purpose was merely to avoid taking over the GSEs' liabilities and increasing the size of the federal deficit. By taking warrants to buy up to 79.9% of the common shares of Fannie and Freddie, while allowing the outstanding shares to continue to trade freely on public markets, the Treasury could keep the GSEs' obligations off its balance sheet.
Delaney argues the same thing goes on regularly in the private markets.
"I'm sure you can find examples of private companies whose equity securities stay outstanding after they fail and people like mezzanine lenders and distressed investors put in strips of capital and basically take all the rights and the equity becomes 'a hope certificate' as people like to say."
The example he cited was Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI), which Liberty Media saved from a potential bankruptcy in 2009 by lending it $530 million. Liberty now owns a 53% stake and was set to acquire the rest of the company over the vocal objections of several minority shareholders. Among the 47% who said they were being lowballed? You guessed it: Ralph Nader.
But Sirius is just one of many such examples, Delaney contends, and it seems unlikely Nader would argue that point.
"You go down the list," Delaney says. "Everybody had moments of stress and someone stepped in and negotiated a deal that gives them all the economic and control rights."
In other words, as Delaney sees it, the Treasury Department is acting just like any other swashbuckling capitalist.
Follow @dan_freed
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12622392/2/rep-john-delaney-defends-fannie-and-freddie-profit-sweep.html
Temporary bs reason for pps until next court news :)
They try and bring it up every year. What a waste of taxpayer dollars paying their salaries and lifetime benefits.
Hearing entitled “Oversight of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement”
Thursday, March 19, 2015 9:00 AM in 2167 Rayburn HOB
Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises
Click here for the Committee Memorandum.
Witness List
Mr. Andrew J. Ceresney, Director, Division of Enforcement, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
http://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=398785