That Hilarious Alexi Giannoulias

You know, Giannoulias is pretty hilarious. Just one laugh after another. Reckless Alexi. In his talk with the Sun Times he defends the family bank loans by first claiming they're just another community bank, just another victim of a real estate boom and bust (which of course his huge loan growth (see below) did nothing to encourage). Then he defends the bank's lending out of state by saying they were only trying to diversify their portfolio. How many reputable banks do you know who diversify their risk by lending to mobsters? And go out of their way, out of state to do it? One of the loans Alexi made was to a crime figure in prison--his wife signed the papers. Yet Alexi claims ignorance. And a lot of this came out before he was elected Illinois state Treasurer--yet our President Barack Obama backed him. Now Alexi wants Barack's old Senate seat. That's criminal.

From Kirk for Senate:

***FACT CHECK***

Giannoulias Misleads Chicago Sun-Times on Risky Investments, Loans to Organized Crime

False Giannoulias Claim: “I would vehemently disagree that these are reckless or risky loans,” he said. The only reason Broadway Bank appears ready to collapse is because the bottom fell out of the real estate market, he said. (Chicago Sun-Times, “Giannoulias 'clears air,' denies risky loan-making, 3/3/10)

Get The Facts:

• On January 26, 2010, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and the FDIC ordered Broadway Bank to “cease and desist from engaging in unsafe and unsound banking practices.” (www.idfpr.com)

• From 2002 to 2006, Alexi Giannoulias increased Construction & Development loans from $80 million to $356 million – expanding such risky investments from 25 percent to 46 percent of the bank’s total loan portfolio. (Chicago Reader, Alexi’s Albatross, 12/3/09)

• From 2002 to 2006, Alexi Giannoulias increased the bank’s brokered deposits (also known as “hot money”) fourfold to $640 million. The typical bank at this point was growing brokered deposits at about 9 percent a year. (“As Lender, Senate Candidate Impacted Bank Woes,” New York Times, 1/30/10)

• When Alexi Giannoulias left the bank, the ratio of brokered deposits to total assets at Broadway was 68 percent, according to FDIC records. The average for all federally insured banks nationwide was 4.5 percent. (Chicago Reader, Alexi’s Albatross, 12/3/09)

False Giannoulias Claim: “The bank has always been well-capitalized.” (Chicago Sun-Times, “Giannoulias 'clears air,' denies risky loan-making, 3/3/10)

Get the Facts:

• From 2006 through 2009, the Giannoulias family took over $100 million in dividend payments out of the bank – money that could have been used to shore up capital reserves. (Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income for A Bank with Domestic Offices Only)

• In 2006, the bank set aside $2.2 million as a provision against loan losses, a safety measure that federal regulators require banks to take. Despite its large increase in risky loans, Broadway only doubled its bad-loan reserve in the time Mr. Giannoulias was there. (“As Lender, Senate Candidate Impacted Bank Woes,” New York Times, 1/30/10)

False Giannoulias Claim: But, Giannoulias said, he did his due diligence on those loans and never knowingly gave loans to people linked to organized crime. (Chicago Sun-Times, “Giannoulias 'clears air,' denies risky loan-making, 3/3/10)

Get the Facts:

• In 2005, Alexi Giannoulias authorized $15.4 million in loans to a convicted mob bookmaker and pimp named Michael “Jaws” Giorango. (“Boulis kin, 2 felons own Martha's site,” Miami Herald, June 18, 2006; “Loans cast pall over candidate; Treasurer nominee oversees mortgages to crime figures,” Chicago Tribune, April 9, 2006)

• Alexi told the Chicago Tribune he once discussed Giorango’s criminal past with him. (David Jackson, “Giannoulias Speaks Up On Loans,” Chicago Tribune, 4/27/06)

• Alexi Giannoulias said he traveled to Miami to inspect property the bank had financed for Giorango and met with him there. Giannoulias declined to provide details of that meeting. (“Giannoulias ‘Embarrassed’ By Remarks About Convicted Felon,” Chicago Tribune, 4/27/06)

• In 2005, Alexi Giannoulias authorized a $3.6 million loan for Demitri Stavropoulos of Oak Brook, who was convicted in 2004 for his role as ringleader of a multistate sports bookmaking operation that grossed about $1 million a year. (David Jackson, “Loans Cast Pall Over Candidate,” Chicago Tribune, 4/9/06)

• Stavropoulos was in federal prison in June 2005 when the $3.6 million Myrtle Beach loan was made. The inmate’s wife signed the loan papers as his ‘attorney in fact,’ land records show. (David Jackson, “Loans Cast Pall Over Candidate,” Chicago Tribune, 4/9/06)

More. Tribune interview here.

More. Crain's Chicago Business interview here. (Scroll down, some good comments)

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