Ex-WaMu worker claims he was shunned for refusing to push toxic loans on borrowers
19.05.12
In the case of the salesman who wouldn’t sell, the two sides have starkly different tales to tell.
Greg Saffer says conscience and common sense prevented him from pushing the product his bosses wanted him to sell – “Option ARM” home loans that, he says, put homeowners at risk.
“I’m not going to steer people into a loan program that might not be good for them just because it’s more profitable for the company,” he says.
JP Morgan Chase Bank counters that Saffer didn’t sell because he didn’t have the chops to close deals.
“Rather than a paragon of virtue, Saffer was simply a guy who could not sell loans in an increasingly tough market,” the bank’s lawyers say in legal papers.
JP Morgan is matched against Saffer because it bought Saffer’s ex-employer, Seattle-based Washington Mutual Bank, in September 2008, after regulators seized WaMu in what was the largest bank failure in U.S. history.
Saffer charged in a lawsuit filed in 2009 in Los Angeles Superior Court that he was forced out of his job for refusing to take part in “fraudulent schemes.” In testimony in the lawsuit and in documents in arbitration proceedings, he claims WaMu retaliated against him because he refused to push “toxic” Option ARMs and mislead borrowers about how the loans worked and how much they would cost.
Source: iWatch News