Political Scandals Throughout History
In the late 1980s, the United States was hit by a major financial scandal known as the Savings and Loan Crisis. The crisis involved the collapse of hundreds of savings and loan associations, which were financial institutions that primarily made home loans. One of the most notorious cases involved the Keating Five.
In the mid-1980s, Charles Keating Jr. was the head of Lincoln Savings and Loan, a major financial institution based in Arizona. Keating was a prominent figure in the state's political scene and had made significant campaign contributions to several politicians, including five U.S. senators. These senators were later referred to as the Keating Five.
Throughout the late 1980s, Keating and his associates engaged in a series of fraudulent activities, including making risky investments and diverting funds for personal use. When regulators began investigating the company, Keating turned to his political connections to try and stop the investigation. The Keating Five were accused of intervening on Keating's behalf by pressuring regulators to ease up on their investigation.
The scandal became a major political issue and the subject of a lengthy investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee. In the end, four of the five senators were formally criticized by the committee for their involvement in the scandal. One of the senators, John McCain, was cleared of any wrongdoing.
The Keating Five scandal had significant political implications, as it helped to fuel public distrust of politicians and contributed to the passage of new regulatory laws designed to prevent similar financial crises from occurring in the future.
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