And then the homebuilders started going to jail...

Beazer Accountant Fired in Document Destruction Try

June 27 (Bloomberg) -- Beazer Homes USA Inc., a homebuilder that's under investigation by the FBI for potential fraud, fired its chief accounting officer for violating the company's ethics policy by attempting to destroy documents.

Beazer fired Michael Rand after an internal probe of the company's mortgage origination business, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Messages left at Rand's home and with Leslie Kratcoski, a Beazer spokeswoman, were not immediately returned.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation of Beazer after the Charlotte Observer reported on March 25 the company sold homes to low-income buyers who couldn't afford them, using mortgages based on expectations the buyer's income would rise. That practice is prohibited by the Federal Housing Administration, which provides loan guarantees for home buyers.

M&T Announces That the Alt-A (Liar's Loan) Meltdown Has Now Begun. Goodbye IndyMac

Supply, meet Demand...

M&T, a big Alt-A lender, admitted the obvious today, that the buyer pool for their Alt-A garbage has dried up, and they're stuck holding the bag.

The BIG Alt-A player, IndyMac, with 70% of their portfolio made up of this cancer, was out pumping their stock last week, trying to make people believe that since they don't have big subprime exposure, all would be fine with their stock and their Alt-A garbage.

Watch for criminal indictments soon at IndyMac I'd say after this stock manipulation effort. Their lead lawyer resigned last week - hmmm... wonder why?

(Note - I'm gleefully short NDE at time of writing)

M&T Shares Fall After Bank Reports Weak Bids on Alt-A Mortgages

Shares of M&T Bank Corp., the western New York bank partly owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., fell the most since 1998 after saying low bids for Alt-A mortgages it planned to sell will cut earnings by $7 million.

The stock tumbled $9.18, or 7.9 percent, to $106.65 at 10:30 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Shares of mortgage lenders have tumbled this year as defaults on subprime loans rose to four-year highs. Companies that offer less-risky Alt-A mortgages including IndyMac Bancorp Inc. and Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc. say investors are mistaking them for subprime lenders and unfairly punishing their shares.