CU FOLKS COMPLAINED IN 2012 WHEN THE LEGAL FEES WERE "JUST" $40 Million...
... now the fees exceed $1 billion -
what do you have to say about that - CUNA, NAFCU, NASCUS?
Do something significant and take a public stand!! What else is your value?
Really hate to even use the word "camel" in a post because it sends so many of our Credit Union Leaders into a fit of apoplexy! Relax Leadership, no need to put a bag over your head or to run for cover again. This time the usage arises only in the phrase: "The straw which broke the camel's back."And if the Wall Street Journal article: "Nice Payday for 'Toxic' Work " (Oct. 24, 2012) isn't "the final straw" in the glaringly obvious need for reform at NCUA, then it's time to fold up the tents and admit our "4-letter" adversaries are right - Credit unions are a sham.
Contingency legal fees paid by NCUA to politically connected law firms cost credit unions between $40 and $50 million... that's right cost you and your members millions.
Read the article and the follow-up coverage from CUTimes for yourself. But here are a few WSJ excerpts:
- "An executive order signed by President George W. Bush in 2007, titled "Protecting American Taxpayers from Payment of Contingency Fees," prohibits federal agencies from entering into these arrangements with outside attorneys. The order was left unchanged by President Barack Obama."
- "Critics of such contingency contracts say they distort the relationship between attorney and client..."
- "A Justice Department spokeswoman said that officials were unaware of any other federal agency that has outside firms on contingency fee contracts."
- "John Ianno, the NCUA's associate general counsel, said the Agency doesn't have to follow the [Presidential executive] order because it's an independent agency..."
- "NCUA's process of selecting the [law] firms wasn't public, Mr. Ianno said, and he doesn't think other firms were interviewed for the work."
- "The NCUA declined to provide details about the lawyers' contract, saying it would compromise litigation and negotiation strategy."
- House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) said: "Contingency fee arrangements impose exorbitant or unnecessary costs on taxpayers [ in this case the $50 million will actually be paid by your credit union] who have a right to expect the government to operate transparently and efficiently."
Folks this is the "SAME OLD STUFF", but this time it's a different kind of $1 BILLION animal....
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| .... WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO MAKE YOU MAD ENOUGH TO ACT ???? SHAM OR SHAME ??? It's your money, it's your reputation, it's your government, it's your call!!! |
... AND FOR THE CURRENT NCUA BOARD IS THE TYPE OF ACCOUNTABILITY, COMPETENCE, TRANSPARENCY YOU PERSONALLY REPRESENT?
IF NOT, THEN "ACT"!!!
2 comments:
The NCUA spent over $100 million on managing the NGN note program, an amount which does not include the interest paid on the notes. The audit did not disclose any contingency fee or recoveries-so is the audit independent or not?This fee is just the tip of the iceberg.
All true BUT you continue to leave out the bad tasting icing on the cake...
...one of the banks NCUA sued for their selling of toxic assets to the CCUs is THE bank that NCUA PAID to create and manage the NGN program.
That means we paid the company that misled us to help us out of it...while we sued that company.
Was there no other firm that could perform that advisory?
Think folks need to understand what that means and how it looks...and what it implies about us.
Clawback on Fenner pension would be one of many outcomes we should pursue, unless we condone this mess.
Do we?
Condone?
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