[AceOfSpades] Investors who bought now-worthless securities supported by the auto loans of Tricolor Holdings are suing the investment banks that issued them. JPMorgan, Barclay’s, and Fifth Third Bank promoted these securities as being “investment grade” even though their source of repayment was auto loans issued to non-citizens with no credit. Now those money center banks are being sued for their complicity in a spectacular fraud.
First, here’s a background summary on the Tricolor story, which I have written about several times, most recently this piece from last October, “Tricolor Auto Failure Follow-up: JPMorgan Takes a $170 Million Hit; Trump Disbands the Government’s DEI Agency that Was Involved”
• Tricolor was a company that sold and financed used cars, and its primary market was Spanish-speaking non-citizens illegally residing in the U.S.
• President Trump’s crackdown on illegal aliens not only caused a cessation of sales, but it pretty much brought an end to repayment on Tricolor’s loans, too.
• Money center banks had securitized about $2 billion of Tricolor’s very high risk loans. These securities were much like the bundled, sub-prime mortgages from the 2008 financial crisis.
• Tricolor was engaged in a massive fraud, with the same collateral pledged to multiple loans and securities.
The question I have is why did otherwise intelligent bankers think they had no choice but to consent to promoting Tricolor as a good credit risk when the fraud and lack of creditworthiness were so evident.
• JPMorgan and Fifth Third Bank also had outstanding lines of credit to Tricolor. They each took a massive loss of about $200 million from the default on their lines of credit.
• The federal government under President Biden had given its seal of approval to Tricolor and its securities, certifying them as “social bonds” under the US Treasury’s CDFI program (“Community Development Financial Institution Fund”), because Tricolor’s customer base was an “underserved community.”
Did the banks think this meant their losses under the program would be covered by the feds?
While all parties involved deserve ridicule for thinking that a pool of lower-than-subprime loans could make a high-quality security, the lawsuit doesn’t just allege that the big banks were pushing a junk product, the allegation is that there was willful blindness to the fraud that was occurring. Further, with the fraud in plain sight, the banks continued to earn underwriting fees for promoting these fraudulent securities.
“Tricolor Noteholders Sue JPMorgan, Barclays and Fifth Third” [Bloomberg - 02/27/2026]
In their suit, the noteholders claim the banks ignored “clear evidence” of fraud, including “alarming” 2022 and 2024 audits of the company, because they were earning millions of dollars in fees underwriting Tricolor’s securitized notes.
The CPA audits of Tricolor indicated waving red flags, including:
• Nearly half of payments received on a given day were posted to the wrong account.
• Defaulted loan accounts showed financial recoveries from repossessions, even though the subject cars were not actually repossessed.
• Loan delinquencies were inaccurately reported and re-aged so as to show those loans not being in default.
The plaintiffs accordingly allege that:
• JPMorgan, Barclay’s, and Fifth Third “responded by hiding what they had learned and sticking their heads in the sand to avoid learning more.”
• JPMorgan, Barclay’s, and Fifth Third withheld or misrepresented adverse information in offering materials for investors. Per the plaintiffs’ suit, “Defendants fueled and perpetuated Tricolor’s Ponzi-like fraud.”
When the Tricolor fraud blew wide open, JPMorgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, was quoted as saying ”It is not our finest moment. When something like that happens, you can assume that we scour every issue, every universe, everything about how it could be taking place to make sure it doesn’t take place from here. You can never completely avoid these things, but the discipline is to look at it in cold light and go through every single little thing, which you can imagine we’ve already done.”
Dimon added, ”When you see one cockroach, there are probably more.” To repeat what I said back in October, If there are more “cockroach loans” like Tricolor that are about to blow up, it is not an economic indicator, rather it is a sign that banks and investment houses abandoned their underwriting standards in pursuit of woke cred.
I’d also argue that it’s not fair for Dimon to blame employees whose “discipline” was lax. While this is only my opinion, I will state with a high level of confidence that plenty of lower-level analysts and underwriters at JPMorgan knew just how uncreditworthy Tricolor was, but senior management pressure for Community Reinvestment Act credits, woke bragging rights, government favor, etc., compelled every layer of credit approver to recommend approval for a lending facility that objectively should have been rejected.
Mr. Dimon stated that he was going to look at the Tricolor debacle “in cold light and go through every single little thing.” I hope he did. And if he has not yet uncovered why the underwriting and approval chain felt they could not decline the Tricolor facilities, then the light is clearly not cold enough.
As the lawsuit by defrauded investors moves forward, the question I’m most interested in isn’t “Who knew how bad Tricolor was, and when?” Instead, the question I have is why did otherwise intelligent bankers think they had no choice but to consent to promoting Tricolor as a good credit risk when the fraud and lack of creditworthiness were so evident.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Thieves stole more than £1million worth of jewellery in just 70 seconds at a Californian shop.
Nearly two dozen masked and hooded thugs flooded Kumar Jewelers in Fremont, in a 'mob-style takeover'.
They arrived in a fleet of cars which screeched into the jeweller's car park before the thieves used pickaxes and hammers to break through glass display cases and stuffed loot into rucksacks.
A stolen Honda smashed down the store's door to begin the raid.
More than three-quarters of the jeweller's products - including gold and diamonds - were stolen, valued at around £1.28million.
Two gunmen held a security guard hostage until the last thief left, after which the getaway cars sped off in different directions.
That meant police could only follow one of the cars and the rest were able to escape.
Though the raid happened in June 2025, the US Department of Justice has only now made the footage public.
In court filings reported by the East Bay Times, federal prosecutors wrote: 'Forced to decide which car to pursue, officers continued after [a] black Acura, which led them on a pursuit through several residential areas in Fremont.
'During the pursuit, the black Acura passed other vehicles on the wrong side of the road, ran stop signs at multiple intersections and reached speeds of approximately 80 miles per hour while veering across lanes.'
After the car crashed men got out and were chased by officers on foot - four men aged 19 and 20 were then arrested.
Afatupetaiki Faasisila, 20, of San Bruno, Jose Herrada-Aragon, 20, of Concord, Andres Palestino, 19, of Concord, and Tom Parker Donegan, 19, of Fairfield, now face a federal indictment, according to the East Bay Times.
An interesting mix of names. I would have expected all Hispanic. Still, it will be interesting to discover how many of them are illegals and/or gang members…
Faasisila and Palestino have been released by a judge while the case is pending, records show.
Police have not yet arrested anyone else suspected of taking part in the raid.
Prosecutors believe there is a link between the Fremont robbery and another raid three months later in San Ramon, California, where another £1.28million of jewellery was stolen.
After a car crash and a short pursuit on foot, four men aged between 19 and 20 were arrested. Police have not detained anyone else suspected of being involved in the raid.
Prosecutors believe that there is a link between the Fremont robbery and one that occurred three months later in San Ramon, California, where another £1.28m of jewellery was stolen.
Some 19 people have been either charged or convicted for the San Ramon robbery, which targeted Heller Jewelers, and last month two men were convicted at trial of conspiracy and robbery for their involvement.
#4
'During the pursuit, the black Acura passed other vehicles on the wrong side of the road, ran stop signs at multiple intersections and reached speeds of approximately 80 miles per hour while veering across lanes.'
It is extremely dangerous, Renee Good, to have criminals fleeing from law enforcement in cars. It is debatable whether or not police should pursue due to the danger to innocents but it's also dangerous to let the criminals get away with it. I think the best solution would be a helicopter with a machine gun.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/16/2026 12:49 Comments ||
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#5
I think the best solution would be a helicopter with a machine gun.
Howzabout a high-speed drone armed with rockets and fentanyl darts? Small enough to store in the trunk of a patrol car, able to be deployed in minutes.
[FoxNews] An Arizona man accused of crucifying a pastor and placing a crown of thorns on the victim's head has requested the death penalty so everyone "can move on with our lives."
Adam Sheafe, who is representing himself, asked the judge last week to allow him to enter a guilty plea, so the case can wrap up quickly, saying the legal system was "dragging this out," according to Fox 10.
Sheafe, 51, is accused of murdering William Schonemann, the pastor of New River Bible Chapel, in April 2025 before mutilating the man's body. Schonemann was found dead with his arms spread out in his bed and his hands pinned to a wall, authorities said.
The suspect previously confessed to the crime and has never claimed to be innocent.
"From day one, I’ve said I did this. These are the reasons why I did this, and I’m not contesting anything," he told the court on Thursday, according to Fox 10. "And my speedy trial rights went from five months to basically two and a half years. And we’re dragging this out in the interest of justice."
"What about the victim’s families? What about me? What about my family? We want closure so we can move on with our lives," he continued.
His request for the death penalty on Thursday echoes comments he made a year ago, when he said he wanted to be executed immediately.
"Put me on death row, set the execution date for right now," Sheafe told 12News at the time. "The victims want it. The victim's families want it. I want it, and the taxpayers want it."
Sheafe told Fox 10 last year that the murder of Schonemann, 76, was part of a plot targeting more than a dozen Christian leaders across the country in a mission he called "Operation First Commandment."
He has claimed that Schonemann and other Christian pastors were leading followers onto a false path. The defendant’s father, Chris Sheafe, told the Arizona Family that his son had become obsessed with the Bible and has a large tattoo of a Hebrew word for God on his neck.
"Adam became extremely interested in the Old Testament. He read it extensively. And part of that process became his interest. We weren’t excited when we’d learned that he’d done it, but to have the tattoo," his father said. "It means God. It means he’s directly related to God. And he wanted people to know that was his allegiance."
Sheafe, who says he is mentally sound,
No he isn’t. We don’t kill over doctrinal differences in this country.
initially filed a petition to plead "no contest," but the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office objected to that request. Sheafe then offered to plead guilty, but a judge said a future hearing must happen first to ensure his guilty plea is entered voluntarily.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
03/16/2026 00:29 ||
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[1804 views]
Top|| File under: Nut Jobs
#1
Most of us here will be dead and buried before this scumbag is. Why is honoring his wish so difficult?
[Mirror] Matt Clark, an actor whose career spanned six decades, died at his Austin Texas, home from complications after back surgery, TMZ reported on Monday, March 16.
The Army vet’s second movie was the 1967 Sidney Poitier classic In the Heat of the Night. He followed by a string of Westerns, including 1972’s The Cowboys with John Wayne, Jeremiah Johnson with Robert Redford, and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean with Paul Newman. Clark also starred in Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid in 1973, The Outlaw Josey Wales opposite Clint Eastwood in 1976 — and even 2014’s Western spoof A Million Ways to Die in the West.
Clark may be most well-known for playing the bartender in Back to the Future III and also had guest-starring gigs on Bonanza, Kung Fu and Dynasty.
"Clark was an ’actor’s actor’ who loved and respected the job, but was not concerned with stars and fame. He was impressed when working with good people who loved their families. He felt ’lucky’ about his career ... and ’he died the way he lived, on his terms,’" his family told TMZ.
#1
Situational awareness is not high in this generation.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/16/2026 6:35 Comments ||
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#2
This is actuially in South Haven, Michigan. There's a reason there is a catwalk above the concrete pier. Of course, the catwalk is only for official use. The guy who was swept away should get a Darwin Award consolation prize.
[WND] Census Bureau data confirms it's not just immigration changing workforce, but a whole new business model working against Americans.
For many American technology workers, the transformation of their industry didn't begin with a headline or a government report. It began quietly, with fewer interviews, contract jobs replacing full-time roles and positions that once seemed plentiful suddenly becoming harder to find.
Over time, many began to notice something else. Teams were changing. Entire projects and teams increasingly staffed through consulting firms, projects outsourced through vendor networks and hiring pipelines that extend far beyond the domestic labor market.
Some workers spoke out. Others filed complaints. A few pursued lawsuits. But proving what they were seeing was far harder than describing it.
[Just The News] Democrats in the United States Senate blocked another attempt by Republicans to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday, as the partial government shutdown entered its fourth week. One of the most apparent consequences of the blockade is the out-of-control TSA wait lines at airports across the country.
As the issue is elevated by people like Senators Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn, and Dave McCormick, R-Pa., the argument inevitably reemerges that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is unconstitutional and should not exist anyway.
The Transportation Security Administration was established in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people when hijackers seized four commercial airliners and used them as weapons against targets in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Prior to 9/11, airport passenger screening in the United States was handled by private contractors hired by airlines. Standards were minimal: passengers could carry small pocket knives aboard, no boarding pass or ID was required to reach gates in many cases, and security was often inconsistent across airports.
The attacks exposed these vulnerabilities, as the hijackers exploited lax procedures to board flights with box cutters and knives.
#6
The airports operated before TSA was formed. Get rid of another overgrown federal agency or let the airlines pay for their own security. WE've bailed them out enough, time to be big boys and take care of your own shit.
Posted by: chris ||
03/16/2026 5:02 Comments ||
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#11
Remember it is the LSD's that are causing the problem. If we have a DHS issues while this is political stunt is going on, it is solely them to blame.
#14
I still think we need a constitutional amendment for congress. They HAVE to pass one budget every fiscal year. If they don't, they don't get paid for the year, get barred from running for re-election and lose their pension.
#16
I don't care if I never board another airplane as long as I live. I never liked air travel anyway. Stuffed into a tube with a couple hundred other passengers like so many sardines and defying gravity at 30,000 feet, so many things can go wrong and it's so damned uncomfortable. I can drive anywhere I need to go.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/16/2026 13:35 Comments ||
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#17
If only we had a decent passenger railroad system for continental travel. Imagine travel without the sardine-can scruffiness. Virtually nothing requires coast to coast travel in a day anymore. Connectivity while enroute is effortless and inexpensive. Privacy, comfort and decent treatment of the customer, ideals long lost by the money-grubbing airlines these days. Sadly, AMTRAC is a sad echo of what might have been!
[Hot Air] The last time I wrote about Havana Syndrome was back in January of 2025. US Intelligence Agencies had officially determined in 2023 that Havana Syndrome was not the result of an attack by a state actor.
Five of those agencies determined it was "very unlikely" that a foreign adversary was responsible for the symptoms, either as the result of purposeful actions — such as a directed energy weapon — or as the byproduct of some other activity, including electronic surveillance that unintentionally could have made people sick, the officials said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the findings of the assessment, which had not yet been made public...
The intelligence assessment also examined whether an adversary possessed a device capable of using energy to cause the reported symptoms. Of the seven agencies, five determined that it was "very unlikely," while the other two said it was "unlikely."
And yet, there was pretty strong evidence uncovered by several major news outlets that Havana Syndrome was the result of directed attacks carried out by Russia's GRU. And in 2025, just as the Biden administration was leaving office, it updated the IC conclusions about a possible weapon.
Today, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released an update to the 2023 report. The intelligence agencies aren’t saying a foreign actor is to blame for Havana syndrome. But they are no longer so confident that one is not.
Two intelligence agencies have now "shifted their judgment to reflect a greater possibility" that a small number of cases indeed were "caused by a foreign actor," an intelligence official told reporters in a briefing. The agencies have examined new information that "foreign actors"—he didn’t say which—"are making progress in scientific research and weapons development."
#1
No one appears to be discussing the possibility of a faulty or failed 'Havana Syndrome' prevention system or tracking device. Is this yet another Fauci-lite 'cure worse than the virus' event? The alleged victims appear to remain silent. Why is that ?
What made the bulky ID badge alarm systems fail? Were some federal employees given placebo alarm badges ?
Was the transmitter beacon power setting too high ?
In retrospect, some may have wished they had never volunteered for the program. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
#2
Besoeker, I knew someone who died of something like Havana Syndrone back in 1977. I was 10.
He was a neighbor had long term health effects from being a military attache in the Microwave Oven the Soviets had changed the US embassy in Moscow into, and died of cancer.
"60 Minutes" did a big report on all the people who died from that.
#3
/\ Why the hell is it a mystery today in my old age? Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain
"Mystery" or shrouded truth. You decide. Likely nasty droppings both in and out of the nest. Agent Orange effects were denied for many years as well. More stories about space aliens please. No proof, just stories to keep me pondering the galaxies and ignoring the events at hand.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[WND] Census Bureau data confirms it's not just immigration changing workforce, but a whole new business model working against Americans.
