William K. Black

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William K. Black
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Personal details
Born
William Kurt Black

(1951-09-06) September 6, 1951 (age 72)
Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.
Alma mater University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
University of California, Irvine

William Kurt Black (born September 6, 1951) is an American lawyer, academic, author, and a former bank regulator. [1] Black's expertise is in white-collar crime, public finance, regulation, and other topics in law and economics. He developed the concept of "control fraud", in which a business or national executive uses the entity he or she controls as a "weapon" to commit fraud. [2]

Contents

Background

Black earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine. Black is currently an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the Department of Economics and the School of Law. He was the executive director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention from 2005 to 2007 and previously taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and at Santa Clara University. [3]

Black was litigation director for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) from 1984 to 1986, deputy director of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) in 1987, and Senior VP and the General Counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco from 1987 to 1989, which regulated some of the largest thrift banks in the U.S. [4] [5]

Savings and loan scandal

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. [6]

Financial crisis of 2007–2008

Bill Moyers Journal appearances

On April 3, 2009 Black appeared on Bill Moyers Journal on PBS and provided critical commentary on the U.S. banking crisis. Black asserted that the banking crisis in the US 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. [6] On April 23, 2010, Black was again interviewed by Moyers to update the public's understanding of the financial crisis. [7]

Testimony before Congress on the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers

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." [8] 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." [9] [8] :73 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." [10] [8] :122–148

On the same page in his prepared testimony Black referenced an article from the Denver Post dated September 16, 2008, the day after Lehman filed for bankruptcy. The article reported on the uncertain fate of Aurora Loan Services, which was based nearby, and quoted Lehman's chief financial officer as saying the previous week that, "The majority of our write-downs were in Alt-A driven by an increase in.. . delinquencies and loss expectations." The article also said that Lehman was "among the first of its peers to originate home loans and securitize them for sale across the globe, and it fueled the growth of the Alt-A loan." [11] [8] :126

Testimony before Irish Banking Inquiry

Black was invited to testify before the Irish parliament's banking inquiry in February 2015. In his testimony, he described the broad September 2008 Irish bank guarantee, as "the most destructive own goal in history". [12]

Works

Related Research Articles

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Control fraud occurs when a trusted person in a high position of responsibility in a company, corporation, or state subverts the organization and engages in extensive fraud for personal gain. The term "control fraud" was coined by William K. Black to refer both to the acts of fraud and to the individuals who commit them.

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References

  1. "University of Missouri - Kansas City" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-04-19. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
  2. Smith, Lars Christian. "Control Fraud". Conservation Finance. Archived from the original on 23 April 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  3. "WILLIAM K. BLACK" (PDF). School of Law. UMKC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  4. "William K. Black: Faculty Directory". UMKC School of Law. 2017. Archived from the original on March 2, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  5. also see Norma M. Riccucci (1995). Unsung Heroes: Federal Execucrats Making a Difference; Georgetown University Press.[ not specific enough to verify ]
  6. 1 2 "Transcript, April 3, 2009: William K. Black". Bill Moyers Journal. PBS. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  7. "Transcript, April 23, 2010: William K. Black". Bill Moyers Journal. PBS. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Serial No. 111-124 (House Hearing) - Public Policy Issues Raised by the Report of the Lehman Bankruptcy Examiner". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. 20 April 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  9. Hamsher, Jane (April 20, 2010). "Transcript & Video: Bill Black Testimony on Lehman Bankruptcy". FireDogLake. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  10. "Prepared Testimony of William K. Black" (PDF). Committee Hearing: Public Policy Issues Raised by the Report of the Lehman Bankruptcy Examiner. United States House of Representatives. April 20, 2010. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2014.
  11. Griffin, Greg (September 16, 2008). "Local Lehman arm led in Alt-A loans". Denver Post . Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  12. O'Connell, Hugh (February 5, 2015). "The bank guarantee 'was the most destructive own goal in history that sunk an entire nation'". TheJournal.ie . Retrieved August 17, 2016.