Mortgage lobbyist played 'critical role' in financial crisis

Emails surfacing from 2007 and 2008 reveal an influential mortgage lobbyist touted his influence over the then N.Y. Attorney General's investigation into the housing finance crisis.

Emails surfacing from 2007 and 2008 reveal an influential mortgage lobbyist touted his influence over Andrew Cuomo's, the then N.Y. Attorney General, investigation into the housing finance crisis.

Those emails revealed that Cuomo adviser Howard Glaser, was involved in an investigation of mortgage professionals, including some that were clients of Glaser’s lobbying firm, according to ProPublica.

In particular, one email showed Glaser touting his influence over a Cuomo deal that weakened rules to prevent misdeeds in the mortgage market. That Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac deal reflected Glaser's "significant, critical, and current input," he wrote in an email, "a fact to which current [Fannie and Freddie] employees and the NYAG's office are prepared to attest," according to ProPublica.
 
The emails contradict Glaser's previous account of his involvement in Cuomo's investigations.

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