Latest In

News

New Subprime Hall of Shamer: McCain’s Son

Jul 31, 20209.3K Shares300.1K Views
One certainty of the mortgage crisis is that it’s ensnared more than a few prominent names, people who’ve never taken out a subprime loan but now have become associated with the whole mess. First there was Phil Gramm, the former economic advisor to Sen. John McCain who, as it turns out, also servedas a executive with the U.S. arm of Swiss investment bank UBS, which profited from subprime lending. Back in June, there was former Fannie Mae CEO and Democratic presidential campaign vetter James Johnson, and then Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, the friendsof Angelo Mozilo, Countywide Financial Corp.’s previous CEO.
Now it’s McCain’s son, Andrew, who steps up to the Subprime Hall of Shame. The Wall Street Journal saystoday that Andrew McCain served until just last month on the board audit committee of Silver State Bancorp in Nevada. Silver State lost $73.2 million in the second quarter, and said in a recent filing it was uncertain about its ability to continue. For McCain, this could mean his son would be associated with a failed bank in the midst of the housing crisis, according to the Journal:
There is no evidence that the younger Mr. McCain committed any wrongdoing, or that Sen. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate from Arizona, had any knowledge or involvement in the bank’s woes, which partly stemmed from troubled construction and land-development loans. But with banks across the country struggling amid the credit crunch and the economic slowdown, the Republican presidential candidate’s family ties could emerge as an issue on the campaign trail. The younger Mr. McCain’s associates had urged him to step down from the board of Silver State, saying it could become a liability in his father’s White House bid, according to a person in the local banking industry familiar with the matter.>
The younger McCain joined the board and audit committee of Silver State in February 2008 and resigned on July 25 for personal reasons, the Journal said.
Paula M. Graham

Paula M. Graham

Reviewer
Latest Articles
Popular Articles