Ethics Committee Clears Rep. Richardson, Refers Mortgage Broker to DOJ
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The House Ethics Committee has cleared Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Calif., of any wrongdoing in a formal probe investigating whether she got special favors from Washington Mutual, a bank that gave her a home loan to purchase a home in Sacramento.
The inquiry focused on whether mortgage broker Charles Thomas gave her a break because she was a lawmaker.
The Ethics Committee says that “Representative Richardson did not knowingly accept a gift from Washington Mutal or violate any applicable standard of conduct in connection with the purchase of, foreclosure on, rescission or florclosure sale for or modification of loan terms for a residential property” in Sacramento.
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The Ethics Committee then referred to actions of Thomas to the Justice Department for further study.
The committee probed Richardson for seven months, issued 14 subpoeanas and reviewed seven-thousand pages in documents.