Rolling Stone got some documents from Bain via FOIA. And of course, Romney's story of how he saved Bain & Company (the parent of Bain Capital) was a lie. Romney saved Bain & Company by screwing the US taxpayers.
With his rescue plan a bust, Romney was forced to slink back to the banks to negotiate a new round of debt relief. There was only one catch: Even though Bain & Company was deep in debt and sinking fast, the firm was actually flush with cash ... SNIP ...
Under normal circumstances, such ample reserves would have made liquidating Bain an attractive option ... SNIP ... But Bain had inserted a poison pill in its loan agreement with the banks: Instead of being required to use its cash to pay back the firm's creditors, the money could be pocketed by Bain executives in the form of fat bonuses ... SNIP .... "The company can deplete its cash balances by making officer-bonus payments," the FDIC lamented, "and still be in compliance with the loan documents."
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In March 1992, according to the FDIC documents, Romney approached the banks and played the bonus card. Allow Bain to pay off its debt at a deep discount, he demanded – just 35 cents on the dollar. Otherwise, the "majority" of the firm's "excess cash" would "be available for the bonus pool to its officers at a vice president level and above."
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In the end, the government surrendered. At the time, The Boston Globe cited bankers dismissing the bailout as "relatively routine" – but the federal documents reveal it was anything but. The FDIC agreed to accept nearly $5 million in cash to retire $15 million in Bain's debt – an immediate government bailout of $10 million. All told, the FDIC estimated it would recoup just $14 million of the $30 million that Romney's firm owed the government.
It was a raw deal – but Romney's threat to loot his own firm had left the government with no other choice. If the FDIC had pushed Bain into bankruptcy, the records reveal, the agency would have recouped just $3.56 million from the firm.
Rolling Stone
It takes real nerve to go to the FDIC and your banks, including Goldman Sachs, and tell them you have enough money to pay them, but you're going to give it to executives instead.
The taxpayers saved Bain and Company. Willard M. Romney committed a form of legal extortion resulting in a $15M charge to the taxpayers of the United States. Oh, and Bain Capital received $4M in fees for lending Romney to Bain and Company ... and since Willard M. Romney was the sole owner of Bain Capital, guess who got that money?
Mitt Romney is a moocher and grifter with a nice suit.
Shawn Russell has more in his diary