On Oct. 23 last year, William Frey, the president of a company that puts together mortgage-backed securities, told the New York Times that he had been contacting banks and threatening to sue them if they renegotiated mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure.
Providing better terms for homeowners, Frey explained, would mean reducing the value of the mortgage-backed securities held by investors like himself.
"Any investor in mortgage-backed securities has the right to insist that their contract be enforced," Frey, president of Greenwich Financial Services, told the Times.
Before the day was out, Frey received a letter from six members of the House Financial Services Committee who said they were "outraged" by what he'd said.
"Your decision is a serious threat to our efforts to respond to the current economic crisis," wrote Democrats Barney Frank of Massachusetts, Maxine Waters of California, Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, Carolyn Maloney of New York, and Melvin Watt of North Carolina.
Then they demanded that Frey testify before Congress in three weeks. And to make sure he got the point, they added:
"If this cannot be arranged on a voluntary basis, then we will pursue further steps." - FOX News Story
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