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Edwards Linked to Katrina Foreclosures

Populist candidate has $16M invested in subprime lender

By Heather McPherson,  Newser User

Posted Aug 17, 2007 7:21 AM CDT
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(Newser) – John Edwards, who has railed against "shameful" subprime lenders on the campaign trail, has $16 million invested in a fund that has foreclosed on Katrina victims. A Wall Street Journal investigation has identified 34 New Orleans homeowners facing foreclosure suits from an arm of Fortress Investment Group, which Edwards worked for in 2005-6 and still holds shares in.

Edwards told a WSJ reporter who surprised him with the paper's findings that he would divest from Fortress and would ofter financial assistance to threatened homeowners from his personal fortune. This is not the first challenge to Edwards' populist rhetoric: last May the Washington Post discovered his links to another company, Green Tree, foreclosing on hurricane victims.

Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., speaks to supporters before kicking off a bus tour in the parking lot of his Iowa campaign headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday, Aug. 13, 2007. (AP Photo/Kevin Sanders)
Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., speaks to supporters before kicking off a bus tour in the parking lot of his Iowa campaign headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday,...   (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., waves to supporters as his campaign bus leaves his Iowa campaign headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday, Aug. 13, 2007. (AP Photo/Kevin Sanders)
Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., waves to supporters as his campaign bus leaves his Iowa campaign headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday, Aug. 13, 2007. (AP Photo/Kevin...   (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential hopeful former Sen. John Edwards D-NC., speaks during the Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO Presidential Forum Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007, in Waterloo, Iowa. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Democratic presidential hopeful former Sen. John Edwards D-NC., speaks during the Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO Presidential Forum Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007, in Waterloo, Iowa. (AP Photo/M. Spencer...   (Associated Press)
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Edwards's campaign site on "predatory mortgages"
johnedwards.com

 
John Edwards • Hurricane Katrina • New Orleans • subprime mortgages • Fortress Investment Group • foreclosures

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