My late Mother a devout Irish catholic who attended mass daily thought the world of Charles Keating. He was a very public supporter of Mother Teresa and catholic charities here in Phoenix. She assumed as did many of the elderly that since her banker said the bonds were government insured and he worked for that nice Mr Keating her money would be safe.
According to one of the regulator in charge of the investigation into the collapse of the savings and loan industry, Senator John S McCain was the single individual who most used the power of his office to influence and shield his close friend from the scrutiny of regulators attempting to investigate what became a scandal that eventually cost my Mom tens of thousands of dollars.
The historical facts are indisputable. Keating made contributions of $1.3 million to various U.S. Senators, and he called on those Senators to help him resist regulators. It worked the regulators backed off while Keating attempted in vain to cook the books and prevent the toppling of his corrupt financial empire.
Between 1982 and 1987, John S McCain received $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and associates in addition, McCain’s wife Cindy and her late father a reputed associate of the late Kemper Marley . invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators.
John McCain and family, nanny included often made weekend trips to Keatings Bahama retreat aboard Chucks Learjet. A fact John failed to disclose despite a law that required him to report trips and gifts he received. Only after the scandal broke was an embarrassed John McCain forced to amend prior disclosure statements to include at least nine trips and more then ten grand in travel expense his friend Keating covered.
To John’s thinking he was completing exonerated by the Senate investigation into the scandal because a deal was made behind closed doors that limited his official punishment. But facts which are a matter of public record, color John McCain as a Senator eager to use his office to protect a crook. A crook who saw to it that hundreds of thousands of dollars ended up in the McCain family bank account.
Which I speculate is the reason Cindy McCain refuses to release tax returns or disclose financial information when every other candidate and spouse has already done so.
1 user commented in " John McCain faces ghost of Keating Five scandal "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThank you for telling your story. I was a resident of Phoenix Arizona and was directly affected by the financial diaster caused by the Keating 5 fiasco. At that time, I was naive about politics and economics. Later I investigated the dynamics of what had occurred. Even today, I am amazed that we are living the same financial meltdown with bank closures and the stock market down to the levels that we had in the late 80s. In the 80s John McCain was a major player in the game with Charles Keating. John McCain is still playing the game. Check his record. Study him. You will see for yourself. Can we afford to trust John McCain with our future? I hope we wake up to our senses. John McCain cannot be trusted to handle our future. Look what he did to our past. Keating 5 is a real, good example. If John McCain was an honest, real ethical guy, he could have blown the whistle and did the right thing. He could have, but why didn’t he do it? He had that opportunity to make a difference that would have made a difference for the good of society. But remember that he did not do anything. He remained silent. Phoenix experienced a huge, financial meltdown that ruined many people, including my own.
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