Christy Mack, John Mack's wife, and Susan Karches, the widow of Morgan Stanley's former investment-banking division president, Peter Karches, took $220 million in a TALF loan, according to an upcoming Rolling Stone article.
The New York Daily News has a preview of what's to come in the Rolling Stone article (out Friday).
Exhibit one: a company that the wives invested $15 million in called the Waterfall TALF Opportunity.
After founding and investing in the company, the wives took $220 million in TALF loans, bought "student loans and commercial mortgages" -- and didn't pay back $150 million yet (as of the fall).
TALF, you'll remember, was a $200 billion program designed to help lending to small businesses and consumers.
Also remember how it was pretty easy to "scam" the TALF.
So the wives may not have done anything illegal (they are probably some of the city's best consumers after all), but they'll definitely get flack for being rich and taking federal loan/stimulus money.
They're easy targets. According to the NY Daily News:
Two months after Waterfall TALF launched, Taibbi reports that John Mack purchased a 107-year-old Limestone carriage house with a 12-car garage on E. 70th St. from Bunny Mellon for $13.5 million.
Rolling Stone will publish Taibbi's article, "The Real Housewives of Wall Street," on Friday.
