"Mr. Al......"

Lisa was in a hurry and chased after Al. Fran made it to the door, but after the other party gave her a cold look, she had to swallow the words that came to her lips and let the other man walk away.

A member of Congress is by no means something that someone like Lisa can afford to offend.

"Hey, I didn't even have a chance to talk!"

Dario smiled self-deprecatingly and complained to Bell Stone, "What the hell is he, how dare he hold on to such a big thing!" ”

As he spoke, he clenched his hands, his fists trembling slightly, his joints white, and it was clear that Dario was extremely angry.

Speaking of which, the status is like that of Dario, and he is an absolute guest of honor in any place, even in front of the governor and vice president, Dario can talk and laugh, but today he was closed in front of a councilor, which naturally made Dario feel a deep humiliation.

"Relax, my friend!"

Zhong Shi was not as angry as Dario, although he was also quite surprised, although he had long expected that the trip would be quite unsmooth, but the indifference of the other party was still greatly unexpected to him. But even so, Zhong Shi didn't think that the whole thing was impossible to continue to maneuver.

"If that's the case, then we should take a trip to Minnesota and see what's going on there."

Zhong Shi comforted Dario and sighed in his heart, it seems that this time to make this councilor change his original intention, I am afraid that it will pay a lot of money.

Seeing Zhong Shi's group, the three people consulted by Belan glanced at each other, all of them feeling inexplicable, and they couldn't figure out what Zhong Shi meant.

However, they were soon shocked by Zhong Shi's generosity.

……

The next witness is the former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Brown. Mr. Paulson. ”

Two weeks later, at a congressional hearing. Sitting in the middle of the seat, Al. Fran, as the chairman of the investigative committee, was speaking to the crowd in a sonorous voice.

This is a joint congressional hearing between the U.S. Congress, the Department of Justice, the SEC and certain state governments to investigate the role of rating agencies in the financial crisis and to prepare for the next steps in the allegations and investigations.

The hearing hall, which can accommodate hundreds of people, poured in two to three hundred people, the vast majority of whom were media. Chasing Wall Street has always been what the media is most happy to do. And this time, the behavior of targeting the top rating agencies in the financial chain has attracted the attention of the vast majority of the media.

The hearing committee has seven members, five of whom are members of Congress, one is a representative of the SEC, and one is a prosecutor from the state of New York. They sat in the high chairs at the front, and in a row across from them were reserved for the witnesses to be examined.

Around them, a portion of the seats were reserved for the crowd and reporters.

To be clear, congressional hearings are not legal hearings. It's a special meeting to explain the situation to MPs. That is, if a member of Congress does not understand something, or is confused by something, he or she has the right to call a relevant person for a hearing. To put it simply, this kind of hearing is a meeting to explain what has been done to the state, to the government.

Under the overwhelming spotlight, Henry. Paulson appeared with his lawyer. In his place, he took the oath with the Bible in his hand, and then sat down cautiously.

After the new president came to power, Henry. Paulson is no longer the U.S. Treasury secretary. His position was assigned to former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman and President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Geithner.

However, as a former finance minister who turned the tide in the crisis, he still needs to testify to many details of the crisis. That's why he needs to be present at today's congressional hearing.

"Mr. Paulson, tell us about the impact and role of rating agencies in times of financial crisis?"

Henry. As soon as Paulson sat down, Al. Fran eagerly asked, "During the subprime mortgage crisis three years ago, with the collapse of a large number of home mortgages, the rating agencies represented by Moody's, S&P and Fitch. What role did it play? ”

Because of their own concerns, Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch also sent people to participate in the congressional hearings, and they were sitting down with Bell Stone, Dario and others, watching everything on the stage intently.

"Yes, Mr. President!"

Paulson first whispered to his lawyer for a long time. Then he replied respectfully, "During the subprime mortgage crisis, many of the bonds that were originally rated AAA became junk overnight, and the sudden downgrade in credit caused the price to collapse, and then spread to all sides, so much so that I had to use a huge amount of money to save the entire financial market." ”

"So what do you think is the rationale for rating agencies to downgrade these bonds?"

Al. "Based on your experience and judgment, do you think they did it on purpose, or did objective facts cause this to happen?" ”

He set a trap for the other party here, if the answer to the former is to confirm the fact that the rating agency is manipulating it, and if to answer the latter, it is even more to show that these bonds were originally junk grade, and under the "care" of the rating agency, they have become high-quality bonds, after all, all this is happening too fast, there is only such a reasonable explanation.

Although he set the trap, how could Paulson be a gullible person? He replied lightly: "I don't know about the rating methods and models of rating agencies, so I don't know what this is all about." All I can acknowledge is that the rating agencies did play a considerable negative role in the course of the subprime mortgage crisis. ”

Just a light sentence sent the other party away.

Al. Fran was naturally quite disappointed, but he quickly recovered from this frustration and continued to ask: "You mean that the rating agencies are also one of the culprits of this financial crisis?" ”

"I don't know the culprit, but there are many kinds of responsibilities, and the greed of certain human beings is also included."

Henry. Unfazed, Paulson continued, "But what I know for sure is that rating agencies were also part of the cause of the financial crisis." There is no doubt about that. ”

Twice in a row, Al. Fran didn't get the answers he wanted from Paulson, which made him realize that it was impossible for the other party to say what he wanted. Then he asked a few more questions, and then asked Paulson to step down first.

"This time they're out of line!"

The person on Moody's side smiled, and whispered to Zhong Shi beside him, "This guy is going to be poor in donkey skills!" ”

This time the man from Moody's side is called Dean. Bendtner. The managing director of Moody's Corporate Public Relations, a middle-aged white man in his forties, with short brown hair, is a complete public relations master.

"It's too early to say that!"

Zhong Shi still stared at the stage and explained in a low voice, "Since they have been investigating for such a long time, they will definitely not be such a little witness, and there will definitely be others who will come to the stage to testify." Don't let your guard down until the last minute. ”

"Really?"

Dean. Bendtner said so. But in his heart, he didn't agree with Zhong Shi's statement, but the next moment when he heard the name of the witness, his face changed.

"The next witness, Eric . Mr. Kosinski! ”

Al. Fran said with a blank face.

"What's wrong?"

When hearing about Eric. After Kosinski's name, Bell Stone became acutely aware of the Dean next to him. Bendtner fidgeted and couldn't help asking, "Who is this man?" ”

"A former colleague!"

Dean. Bendtner barely managed to squeeze out a smile and pretended to be calm and said to Bell Stone. After all that is said. He also realized that he was wrong, so he simply shut up and said nothing.

I looked at the other person's reaction. Zhong Shi nodded thoughtfully, then withdrew his gaze and continued to look at the stage.

Eric. Kosinski was a middle-aged man in his thirties, with a pale face and a restrained demeanor, perhaps because it was his first time on such an occasion. So I was a little nervous and kept wiping the beads of sweat from my forehead.

Swore that after the procedure was completed, Al. Fran glanced at Zhong Shi as if unintentionally, and then cleared his throat. Lang Sheng asked, "May I ask the name of the witness?" ”

"Eric. Kosinski! ”

Eric. Kosinski replied hastily, then added pretentiously, "I am a descendant of Polish immigrants, so the name is a little ...... Odd. ”

"I heard that the witness used to work for Moody's, which is the rating agency, right?"

Al. Fran then asked, "Can you describe your time and responsibilities there?" ”

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Eric. "I joined Moody's in 2006 as head of ratings for the subprime collateralized derivative bond division, and left in 2010 for more than four years. ”

"So, you're familiar with Moody's internal approach to rating subprime bonds?"

Kosinski's words caused such an uproar in the audience that Al. Fran had to use his gavel and strike a few times to warn everyone before he continued to ask, "Or do you know how to rate the subordinated loan derivative bonds that occur in your department, under what circumstances and what the impact will be?" ”

"Yes, Mr. President!"

Kosinski rubbed his hands together, still speaking in a restrained voice.

"So tell me, or tell you, during the financial crisis, did the rating agencies or Moody's in the process of rating these bonds obviously violate the law or violate professional ethics?"

"It's not just Moody's fault, it's the entire rating agency!"

Gradually, Eric . Kosinski relaxed and began to speak fluently into the microphone, "In my opinion, this is not only Moody's fault, but the entire rating agency!" ”

This sentence shocked everyone present.

Al. Fran's face was beaming, and he thought he had finally gotten what he wanted.

"What the hell is this guy all about?"

Seeing Dean, whose face was getting more and more ugly next to him. Bendtner, Zhongshi couldn't help but frown and said, "Also, what the hell is going on with him?" ”

"A cynical guy!"

Dean. Bendtner thought for a long time, and finally used this one word to describe the other party, "You also know that in order to compete with S&P and Fitch in the market, we need to compete for market share. ”

"And he ......"

Pointing at Eric. Kosinski, Dean. Bendtner said disdainfully, "It's an old guy who prefers to stick to a more conservative rating agency, so he's losing market share and is not willing to improve the rating methodology." That's why I was fired. ”

"...... so"

Zhong Shi touched his chin and looked at Eric on the stage. Koczynski, thoughtfully, said, "I don't think I'm going to say anything harmful, right?" ”

"No!"

Dean. Bendtner categorically denied, "He will not only say things that harm Moody's, but also things that harm S&P and Fitch." Because his target is not for Moody's, but for the rating system as a whole. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you book friend Oliver, cpower, and dreams come true 7882 for voting for the monthly ticket! Thank you for the tips of the book friends Sangu Fork, Nanquan 99, and Electromagnetist! Thank you very much for being able to support this book at the moment of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, seeing everyone's support, the author has the motivation to come on the code word, hoping to get through this difficult time smoothly, of course, the author will try his best to persevere, thank you~