Global financial crisis: The 'culprits'

The financial crisis continues to jolt the world's most developed economies.
Many companies have declared bankruptcy in the United States, millions of jobs are being lost and the government has the mounting challenge of reviving the economy.
The crisis, that has also rendered so many people homeless, certainly did not happen overnight. So who is responsible for it?
Time magazine has a listed some people who have been blamed for this gargantuan crisis.
Time names former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and former US Presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton in the list. Meet the other key players who have been blamed.
Christopher Cox
Christopher Cox was the 28th chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was a 17-year Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, and member of the White House staff in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. Prior to this, he was a practicing attorney, teacher, and an entrepreneur.
Today, he hits the Time magazine's list of people blamed for the financial crisis mainly because of the SEC's inability to enforce stricter norms against fraudulent companies.
The SEC also failed to detect Bernard Madoff's $50ibillion Ponzi scheme. So the SEC's role in the financial crisis has been questioned. Many feel that the SEC failed to act when the financial companies were involved in huge financial irregularities
Angelo Mozilo
Angelo R Mozilo was the co-founder and chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial until July 1, 2008. He started the company in 1969.
The company soon grew to become one of the biggest mortgage lenders in the US. Countrywide was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1984. They granted huge loans to borrowers without verifying their repayment abilities.
Promoting risky loans, the company played a crucial role in huge subprime mortgage crisis. Finally, this led to the collapse of the company. The company was subsequently taken over by the Bank of America. CNN named Mozilo as one of the 'Ten Most Wanted: Culprits' of the 2008 financial collapse in the United States.
Joe Cassano
Joe Cassano's introduction of credit-default swaps led to a financial crisis at AIG. AIG offered insurance protection to buyers against losses on debts and loans of borrowers, amounting to $447 billion.
The housing crisis led to a fall in value of the assets insured. After the company lost $11 billion, Cassano quit in February 2008. Cassano faces lawsuit for cheating investors who suffered huge losses due to the company's downfall.
The American government finally granted $150 billion to revive the insurance company. PricewaterhouseCoopers, who audited AIG said there were discrepancies in financial reporting at Cassano's division. Cassano is blamed for leading AIG to bankruptcy.
Franklin Raines
Franklin Raines was the former chairman and chief executive officer of the Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Fannie Mae.
Fannie Mae's mission was to ensure more people get the opportunity to buy homes. Franklin Raines, started a programme in 1999 to issue bank loans to individuals with low incomes and eased norms on loans to enable more people benefit from the programme.
Many feel that the plan of offering easy credit to home buyers who were not creditworthy led to the subprime mortgage crisis.
Phil Gramm
Phil Gramm was former Senator of Texas and John McCain's former economic adviser. He left the campaign in July 2008 after his comments on recession came in for much criticism.
He had said, the 'US become a nation of whiners' and the nation is in a 'mental recession'. His comments during the campaign became an issue.
In his response, Barack Obama, stated, "America already has one De Phil. We don't need another one when it comes to the economy."
Some economists believe that the 1999 legislation put forward by by Gramm and signed by President Clinton - the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act -- was also responsible for the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis and the global economic crisis.
The Act is most widely known for repealing portions of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had regulated the financial services industry.
Kathleen Corbet
Kathleen Corbet served as president at Standard & Poor's. She was held responsible for giving top AAA rating to collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).
Collateralized debt obligations are a type of asset-backed security and structured credit product. CDOs have become an important funding vehicle for fixed-income assets.
Dick Fuld
Richard Fuld hit the headlines when he sold a $14 million Florida house to his wife for $100. Many see this as a move to protect the house from future legal action against him.
Fuld joined Lehman Brothers in 1969 after giving up his career as an air force pilot. He turned around the fortunes of the company after he took over but soon risky mortgages backfired.
He ignored warnings from experts on several issues. He refused to talk to buyers and finally the company had to declare bankruptcy. Fuld earned about $45 million in 2007.
From the years 1993 to 2007, he is said to have received nearly half a billion dollars in total compensation. CNN named Fuld as one of the 'Ten Most Wanted: Culprits of the Collapse'.
Ian McCarthy
Ian McCarthy is the president and chief executive Officer of Beazer Homes March 1994. Beazer is in trouble with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Housing and Urban Development and IRS investigating cases related to employees of its mortgage unit violated regulations, says the Time magazine.
Bernard Madoff
Bernard Madoff, former chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange founded the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1960 and was its chairman until December 11, 2008.
He was charged for committing the largest investor fraud.
Bernard Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq exchange, was arrested for running a $50-billion Ponzi scheme. His operation is said to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
He is under house arrest until his indictment, which is likely by mid-March 2009.
Herb and Marion Sandler
Herb Sandler together with his wife Marion Sandler purchased Golden West Savings and Loan in Oakland California and created Golden West Financial Corp, the parent company of World Savings Bank.
It was one of the largest S&Ls in the US with assets of almost $80 billion and deposits of $46 billion as of 30 November 2003. In the early 1980s, the Sandlers' World Savings Bank became the first to sell a tricky home loan called the option ARM.
They offered ways to cut down on early payments with misleading advertisements. The couple made a whopping $2.3 billion when they sold their bank to Wachovia in 2006. But losses on World Savings' loan portfolio led to the downfall of Wachovia, which was sold in 2008 to Wells Fargo.
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