The House Ethics Committee on Thursday cleared Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach) in her dealings with a bank that cancelled the sale of a foreclosed home she owns in Sacramento.
The bipartisan panel unanimously found that Richardson “did not receive an improper gift or other benefit'' when Washington Mutual placed a hold on the sale.
But the committee's 87-page report brought new attention, in an election year, to the financial affairs of the congresswoman with a history of problems making her house payments, defaulting on three different houses, including the Sacramento house that had become rundown.
The committee found that Richardson was “a victim of mortgage fraud.'' Although her mortgage application for the Sacramento home said she was receiving rental income from properties she owns in Long Beach and San Pedro, it wasn't so. Her mortgage broker, “without her knowledge, fraudulently submitted false rental income information,” the committee said. The committee referred the mortgage broker to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.
But the report noted that the congresswoman “admitted that she did not review the mortgage application as closely as she should have.'' She also told committee investigators that she was unaware her home was sold at foreclosure until she received a phone call from a reporter.
The panel, formally known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, concluded that Washington Mutual treated Richardson the same as it would treat “any other similarly situated customer.''
The committee found that the bank had “mistakenly” allowed the foreclosure sale after informing Richardson that it had placed a 60-day hold on the foreclosure proceedings.
Richardson bought the Sacramento house for $535,000 in early 2007 after her election to the state Assembly. The house went into foreclosure in early 2008, after her election to Congress.
It was bought by a real estate investor for $388,000. But then Washington Mutual took back the house and returned it to Richardson. The bank settled a lawsuit filed by the buyer by refunding the foreclosure sale amount and paying the buyer an additional $100,000, the report says.
-- Richard Simon
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