Bear Sterns

Firm in GRIPgate probe involved in scandals in other states

Gov. Bill Richardson isn’t the only one who probably regrets ever hearing the letters CDR. CDR Financial Products Inc. is the Beverly Hills-based financial service firm that is the subject of the federal investigation that derailed Richardson’s nomination as Secretary of Commerce. Twenty municipalities are now suing CDR on the ground that it advised them to make deals with banks that paid kickbacks to the firm, and elected officials from Philly to Birmingham have been arrested in connection with sketchy bond deals.

Who’s getting cash from companies in financial crisis?

With all the news about financial meltdown and government bailouts of companies, I thought it might be interesting to know how much money members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation had taken from some of the companies at the center of the crisis.
So I went to OpenSecrets.org to see what I could find. The bottom line: [...]