By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

March 31, 2008 – Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) is railing on unscrupulous lending practices by sub-prime mortgage lenders and offering up solutions to mitigate the crisis while one of her top advisers had been on the board of one of the nation’s biggest culprits in housing scandal.

Maggie Williams, Clinton’s campaign manager, joined the board and advised the now bankrupt sub-prime lender Delta Financial Corporation for seven years, according to Security Exchange Commission.  Williams was recruited for the board after the New York-based lender came under federal scrutiny for discriminatory lending practices.

 But there is no indication Williams, an African American, worked to protect folks from the practices that made tons of money for investors and cost working-class people their homes.  

Williams did, however, make her share of cash while on the board.  As of September of 2007 Williams’ shares of Delta’s stock earned her at least $175,000. 

How?

 Delta Financing did just what Clinton says she wants stopped.  Under a subsidiary, Delta Funding, the company made huge profits by turning around and selling loans it purchased for profit.  The company offered refinancing to homeowners of moderate and middle incomes – often in Black neighborhoods.   The company even penalized folks who tried to pay the loans off early, a practice Clinton has been grandstanding against in recent days.

Williams had to know how the Long Island-based company was raking in millions during her tenure on the board, but she stayed until the bubble burst and the company filed bankruptcy.  She left in December 2007,  just a couple of months before she came to her current position with the Clinton campaign. I would like to give Williams the benefit of the doubt and say she didn’t sell Black folks down the river, but she had to know how Delta Financing was making some serious cash. 

Homeowners were talked “out of” fixed 30-year mortgages, at 6.2 percent, and “in to” loans with rates anywhere from 11.3 percent to 13.6 percent, according to Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), an inter-agency body that recommends standards for U.S. financial institutions,.  These were rates they couldn’t afford to pay back, and borrowers found themselves forced into foreclosure.

Williams’ close relationship with the lender ended just two months before she became a top Clinton adviser, this brings into question how tough the New York senator could really be on these lenders.  It’s not clear if Williams filled any volunteer position with the Clinton campaign while at the same time serving on board of Delta Financing.

It also calls into question if the Clinton’s have investments in or have profited from companies like Delta Financing?  The campaign continues to stall on the release of the Clinton’s tax returns and have worked feverishly to keep the list of donors to President Clinton’s library under wraps.

Wonder why?