''Chain of Blame: How Wall Street Caused the Mortgage and Credit Crisis'' is a 2008 book about the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States by

investigative journalists Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

Paul Muolo of ''

National Mortgage News ''National Mortgage News'' is a digital media website covering the mortgage sector in the United States. Its editor is Austin Kilgore, and its publisher is Dennis Strong. ''National Mortgage News'' is owned by SourceMedia. History ''National Mo ...

'' and Mathew Padilla of the '' Orange County Register''. The book has an accompanying website www.chainofblame.com
/ref> with some excerpts, author biographies and a roundup of events in the subprime mortgage crisis that occurred after the book was printed.

Overview

The book analyses the causes of the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States in an attempt to assign responsibility for the collapse of a number of mortgage companies in 2007-2008 and for the sharp rise in mortgage defaults in the wake of the sudden tightening of mortgage credit in the summer and early fall of 2007. The authors find that, while blame can be laid at every link of the mortgage production chain (borrowers,

brokers A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be con ...

, wholesale lenders) the ultimate culprits are Wall Street firms that carelessly securitized mortgage loan pools without appropriate diligence and attention to the quality of the underlying loans.

Important personalities

* Angelo Mozilo, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of

Countrywide Financial Countrywide is one of the UK's largest integrated property services group including residential property surveying, a collaboration of estate agents, and corporate services. It employs circa 8,500 personnel nationwide, working across 650+ estat ...

Roland Arnall Roland E. Arnall (March 29, 1939 – March 17, 2008) was an American businessman and diplomat. As the owner of ACC Capital Holdings, he became a billionaire with Ameriquest Mortgage. He was the Founder and funded the City of David alone ...

, owner of ACC Capital Holdings *

Lewis Ranieri Lewis S. Ranieri (; born 1947) is a former bond trader, founding partner and current chairman of Ranieri Partners,http://www.ranieripartners.com/ranieri-senior-executive-team-1/lewis-s-ranieri a real estate firm. He is considered the "father" ...

, former vice chairman of

Salomon Brothers Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and the most profitable firm on Wall Street durin ...

* Michael Blum, managing director in charge of global asset-based finance at Merrill Lynch * Bill Dallas, founder & CEO, Ownit Mortgage, a Merrill Lynch company * Stanley O'Neal, former CEO Merrill Lynch * Eric Billings, co-founder, chairman CEO, Friedman Billings Ramsey (FBR) *

Kerry Killinger Kerry Killinger (born June 6, 1949) is an American businessman and author. He is founder and CEO of Crescent Capital Associates, and previously served as chairman and chief executive officer of Washington Mutual from 1990 until 2008. He and his wi ...

, CEO

Washington Mutual Washington Mutual (often abbreviated to WaMu) was the United States' largest savings and loan association until its collapse in 2008. A savings bank holding company is defined in United States Code: Title 12: Banks and Banking; Section 1842: Def ...

* Ralph Cioffi, founder and senior portfolio manager

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The comp ...

Alan Greenspan Alan Greenspan (born March 6, 1926) is an American economist who served as the 13th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. He works as a private adviser and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC. ...

, former chairman,

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

* Jack Mayesh, CEO, Long Beach Mortgage * Brad Morrice, co-founder

New Century Financial New Century Financial Corporation was a real estate investment trust that originated mortgage loans in the United States through its operating subsidiaries, New Century Mortgage Corporation and Home123 Corporation. It was founded in 1995. In 200 ...

* David Sambol, former president,

Corp. *

James Johnson James Johnson may refer to: Artists, actors, authors, and musicians *James Austin Johnson (born 1989), American comedian & actor, ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member *James B. Johnson (born 1944), author of science nonfiction novels *James P. John ...

, chairman and CEO,

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...

* George Davies, loan trader Merrill Lynch

Publishing information

Japanese translation

In 2009 the book was published in Japanese by Nippon-Hyoron-Sha Co., Ltd. under the title サブプライム危機 : 実録. .

References

{{Reflist Works about the subprime mortgage crisis Finance books 2008 non-fiction books Derivatives (finance)