First Marblehead Enters Into Loan Program Agreement With SunTrust

First Marblehead Enters Into Loan Program Agreement With SunTrust

The First Marblehead Corporation  has announced that it has entered into a loan program agreement (the "Agreement") with SunTrust Bank.

Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company will perform a range of services in support of a school-certified private education loan program to be funded by SunTrust, including loan processing, production support, program support and portfolio management, and program administration services. The Company expects to facilitate approximately $200 million in loans over the term of the program.

This loan program would be the first based on the Company's Monogram product offering, which enables lenders to customize a loan program to meet defined risk control and return objectives. The Agreement is expected to become effective during the quarter ending September 30, 2010, following execution of certain ancillary documents and satisfaction of other specified conditions.

Daniel Meyers, the Company's Chief Executive Officer and President, said, "Partnering with SunTrust provides First Marblehead a meaningful opportunity to structure, process and originate private student loans in this new market paradigm of credit, risk management, and revenue sharing. This loan program will put our Monogram structure into the marketplace and demonstrate that our revenue model does not require a capital markets takeout."

Mark Smith, SunTrust's Executive Vice President for Specialty Lending, said, "We are pleased that this partnership with First Marblehead will enhance the options we offer for families and students seeking assistance to fund the rising costs of college."

The Company has filed a current report on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission providing additional information relating to the terms and conditions of the Agreement, including the conditions to its effectiveness. We refer you to the filing, which can be accessed through the EDGAR or IDEA systems on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.

About The First Marblehead Corporation -- First Marblehead helps meet the growing demand for private education loans by offering national and regional financial institutions and educational institutions an integrated suite of design, implementation and capital market services for student loan programs. First Marblehead supports responsible lending and is a strong proponent of the smart borrowing principle, which encourages students to access scholarships, grants and federally-guaranteed loans before considering private education loans; please see www.SmartBorrowing.org. For more information, go to www.firstmarblehead.com.

About SunTrust Banks, Inc. SunTrust Banks, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, is one of the nation's largest banking organizations, serving a broad range of consumer, commercial, corporate and institutional clients. As of March 31, 2010, SunTrust had total assets of $171.8 billion and total deposits of $118.7 billion. The Company operates an extensive branch and ATM network throughout the high-growth Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states and a full array of technology-based, 24-hour delivery channels. The Company also serves clients in selected markets nationally. Its primary businesses include deposit, credit, trust and investment services. Through various subsidiaries the Company provides mortgage banking, insurance, brokerage, investment management, equipment leasing and capital markets services. SunTrust's Internet address is SunTrust.com.

Statements in this press release regarding the loan program (the "Loan Program") contemplated by the loan program agreement (the "Agreement") among The First Marblehead Corporation, First Marblehead Education Resources, Inc. and SunTrust Bank, including statements regarding the expected effectiveness of the Agreement, the provision of services by us pursuant to the Agreement and the volume of loans to be facilitated pursuant to the Loan Program, as well as any other statements that are not purely historical, constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based upon our historical performance and on our plans, estimates and expectations as of April 26, 2010. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by us or any other person that the future results, plans, estimates or expectations contemplated by us will be achieved. You are cautioned that matters subject to forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including economic, legislative, regulatory, competitive and other factors, which may cause our actual financial or operational results, including the effectiveness of the Agreement and facilitated loan volumes, loan portfolio performance or revenues related to the Loan Program, or the timing of events, to be materially different than those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include: market acceptance of, and demand for, loans pursuant to the Loan Program; demand for private education financing generally; competition for providing private education financing; our success in delivering our services to SunTrust Bank; our ability to negotiate and execute the additional agreements contemplated by the Agreement; the satisfaction of additional conditions specified in the Agreement; and the other factors set forth under the caption "Part II - Item 1A. Risk Factors" in First Marblehead's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 9, 2010. We disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release.

Copyright 2010 The First Marblehead Corporation


Contact:

Lee Jacobson
Investor Relations
First Marblehead
800 Boylston Street, 34th FL
Boston, MA 02199
617.638.2065

SOURCE: The First Marblehead Corporation

Official Press Release: DaGrin (Olaitan Oladapo) is Dead by BlackHouse Media/Edlyne Records.

Olaitan Oladapo Olaonipekun A.K.A. Dagrin

We regret to announce the passing of our son, friend, partner and brother Mr. Olaitan Oladapo Olaonipekun A.K.A. Dagrin.

He died at 6:00pm on Thursday April 22 – exactly eight days after he was involved in a ghastly accident in front of Alakara Police station, off Agege motor road, Mushin, Lagos. 

He survived a serious head injury, as a result of the crash.

He was initially admitted at Tai Solarin Hospital, Baba Olosha Bus stop, Mushin before he was transferred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi Araba where Doctors made serious efforts to save his life. He was admitted at the Intensive Care Unit and operated upon, and later moved to the private wing of the hospital.

Doctors worked day and night; we fasted and prayed, but all efforts to save his life proved abortive. We lost him on Thursday April 22, 2010 at 6:00PM.

Dagrin  was a recording artiste, songwriter, rapper and performer. He was signed to his own label Missofunyin Entertainment and managed by Edlyne Records. 

Burial arrangements will be announced by his family soonest.

While we pray the Almighty God grant him eternal rest, we wish to thank his numerous fans and supporters, as well as the media for their unflinching support at this trying period. 

We ask that you please continue to pray for his family, especially his parents and siblings. And please only the details contained in this release –jointly issued by his parents and management - should be considered as fact.

BlackHouse Media

On behalf of the family

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accuses Goldman Sachs of civil fraud

• SEC accuses Goldman Sachs of fraud in failing to disclose conflict in mortgage securities

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government has accused Goldman Sachs & Co. of defrauding investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in mortgage investments it sold as the housing market was collapsing.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil complaint Friday that Goldman failed to disclose that one of its clients helped create -- and then bet against -- subprime mortgage securities that Goldman sold to other investors.

The SEC said the fraud, a blow to the reputation of Wall Street's most powerful firm, was orchestrated in 2007 by a Goldman vice president then in his late 20's. The employee, Fabrice Tourre, has since been promoted to executive director of Goldman Sachs International in London.

Tourre, the SEC said, boasted to a friend that he was able to put such deals together as the mortgage market was unraveling in early 2007.

In an email to the friend, he described himself as "the fabulous Fab standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstrosities!!!"

Two European banks that bought the securities lost nearly $1 billion, the SEC said. The agency is seeking to recoup profits reaped on the deal

Goldman Sachs denied the allegations. In a statement, it called the SEC's charges "completely unfounded in law and fact" and said it will contest them.

Goldman, founded more than 140 years ago, built a reputation as a trusted adviser to its investment banking clients. In recent years, it shifted toward taking more risks with its clients' money and its own. Goldman's trading allowed the firm to weather the financial crisis better than most other big banks.

It earned a record $4.79 billion in the last quarter of 2009.

The SEC's enforcement chief said the agency is investigating a wide range of practices related to the crisis. The prospect of possible legal jeopardy for other major financial players roiled the stock market.

Goldman Sachs shares fell more than 12 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average sank more than 100 points in midday trading.

The charges come as lawmakers seek to crack down on Wall Street practices that helped cause the financial crisis. Among proposals Congress is weighing are tougher rules for complex investments like those involved in the alleged Goldman fraud.

The Goldman client implicated in the fraud is one of the world's largest hedge funds, Paulson & Co. The SEC said it paid Goldman roughly $15 million in 2007 to put together an investment offering that was tied to mortgage-related securities the hedge fund viewed as likely to decline in value.

Separately, Paulson took out a form of insurance that allowed it to make a huge profit when those securities became nearly worthless.

ABN Amro, a major Dutch bank, was the biggest loser in the securities, having paid Goldman $841 million, according to the SEC. And IKB, a German commercial bank, lost nearly all its $150 million investment, the agency said. Most of the money they lost went to Paulson in a series of transactions between Goldman and the hedge fund, the SEC said.

The civil lawsuit filed by the SEC in federal court in Manhattan was the government's most significant legal action related to the mortgage meltdown that ignited the financial crisis and helped plunge the country into recession.

The SEC is seeking unspecified fines and restitution from Goldman Sachs and Tourre.
Asked why the SEC did not also pursue a case against Paulson, Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami said: "It was Goldman that made the representations to investors. Paulson did not."

Paulson & Co. is run by John Paulson, who reaped billions by betting against subprime mortgage securities. He is not related to former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

In a statement, Paulson & Co. said: "As the SEC said at its press conference, Paulson is not the subject of this complaint, made no misrepresentations and is not the subject of any charges."

Goldman told investors that a third party, ACA Management LLC, had selected the pools of subprime mortgages it used to create what are known as synthetic collateralized debt obligations. But, the SEC alleges, Goldman misled investors by failing to disclose that Paulson & Co. also played a role in selecting the mortgage pools and stood to profit from their decline in value.

"Goldman wrongly permitted a client that was betting against the mortgage market to heavily influence which mortgage securities to include in an investment portfolio, while telling other investors that the securities were selected by an independent, objective third party," Khuzami said in a statement.

The SEC charges come after Goldman Sachs denied last week it bet against clients by selling them mortgage-backed securities while reducing its own exposure to them.

In an annual letter to shareholders, Goldman said it began reducing its exposure to the U.S. mortgage market in late 2006. It said it did so by selling mortgage investments or buying credit default swaps. The swaps are a form of insurance that pays out if the value of the underlying asset declines.

Those hedges, also known as short positions, served Goldman well. As the housing market began cratering and losses piled up for other big banks, Goldman suffered less damage. That led to criticism that the bank benefited at the expense of clients who bought mortgage-backed securities that became toxic. Goldman denied that.

"Our short positions were not a 'bet against our clients,'" Goldman said in the letter. "Rather, they served to offset our long positions. Our goal was, and is, to be in a position to make markets for our clients while managing our risk within prescribed limits."

In the letter, Goldman also rejected claims that it profited from the mortgage market meltdown.

AP Business Writers Alan Zibel in Washington and Stevenson Jacobs in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.finance.yahoo.com/

Related Posts:

• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Press Release on Goldman Sachs

ENOUGHISENOUGH Nigeria Response to Lagos State Government (LASG) Press Release

Our attention has been drawn to a press release by Lagos State Government which was issued today by the Commissioner for Information in Lagos State, in response to the EnoughisEnough Nigeria youth protest in Lagos on Tuesday April 13. According to the commissioner the rally’s organisers did not follow the process of informing the governor’s office or his government.

We make haste to note that this is not true. Attached is the letter that was sent to the governor’s office and was acknowledged by his Chief of Staff on March 30 2010, weeks before the protest. In fact, our letter to the police was sent at the same period, and the police promptly responded on the day of the march.

The protest, as we said in our letter to Governor Babatunde Fashola, was not against the governor, and our campaign is way beyond Governor Fashola, or any other individual for that matter. It is a national campaign, working against a system that among other things makes it easy for government officials to ignore young people, and we are committed to making sure that the youth vote counts in the 2011 elections.

We are not a political organisation, and we have no affiliations with any individual, group of persons or political party. It is in fact because of this that, when we were courteously invited by the Speaker of the House of Assembly to receive us in the absence of the governor, we declined; because we have no interest in Lagos politics.

Many young people who were in that march continue to support Governor Fashola as he continues to transform Lagos State. In fact many of us have organisations that have partnered with or supported/commended his efforts. However this was clearly a failure of processes in his offices, and, as a group, it is our hope that this error will be corrected moving forward and that young people will be taken more seriously.

Please see below the letter acknowledged by his Chief of Staff on March 30, 2010 for your confirmation.

1. Confirmation Page 1
2. Confirmation Page 2

Source: http://www.enoughisenoughnigeria.com/

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• Enough is enough: Any politicization?
• ENOUGH IS ENOUGH (EIE) Press Release On (Charly Boy) Charles Oputa's disgraceful actions.
• ENOUGHISENOUGH Nigeria disappointed in Lagos state government attitude.
• Lagos State Government (LASG) Denies Allegation Of Shutting Out Protesting Group

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH (EIE) Press Release On (Charly Boy) Charles Oputa's disgraceful actions.

It has come to the notice of ENOUGHISENOUGH Nigeria that Mr. Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, on Thursday April 1, led a group of young persons under the aegis of ‘Alliance for Defence of Democracy’ to the premises of the National Assembly on to clamour for the reappointment of INEC Chairman, Maurice Iwu, for a second term.

ENOUGHISENOUGH Nigeria wishes to categorically dissociate itself from this group, who disingenuously sought – through their slogans – to identify themselves with the ENOUGHISENOUGH Nigeria platform. While we recognise the right of any person or group of persons to hold on to any beliefs they wish to, and to associate with any public figure as they deem fit, we wish to particularly express our concerns because, only a few weeks ago, on March 16, Charly Boy had publicly identified with ENOUGHISENOUGH Nigeria in our march to the National Assembly premises to register our displeasure with the status quo in our country.

Charles Oputa a.k.a Charly Boy (Area Father)

  

It might be important to make clear that Mr. Oputa is not one of the organisers of the ENOUGHISENOUGH coalition, he is not one of its leaders, and only joined the protest on the day in question midstream, after apparently hearing about it. Whilst we welcome any person or group that identifies with our vision, we are shocked and deem it distasteful that Charly Boy, after identifying with us of his own volition, would make a U-turn to support a man whom international and national observers have pointed to as bearing a large share of responsibility for the sorry state of our electoral process, and by extension our democracy.

Following this action by Charly Boy, we hereby use this opportunity to put the general public on notice: We will not hesitate to name and shame all persons or groups of persons who think that they can identify publicly with our message (which we have gone to great lengths to make clear) without actually believing in it, no matter how close they are to this coalition. Nigeria is the way it is today largely because it is run by men and women who have power but no principles; persons for whom publicity is far more important than real passion.

Now, we realise that there are many out there whose consciences and convictions are available to be purchased by the highest bidders, and we know there is nothing that ENOUGHISENOUGHNIGERIA can do to change those people. But we ask all such persons to steer clear of the ENOUGHISENOUGH Nigeria platform, and to pursue their ignoble objectives completely independent of us. We are not a political organisation.

We are an impartial, independent platform that is not aligned or in support of any individual, and we will guard this integrity and objectivity jealously. We are also not one of the usual crop of Nigerians who engage in activism so that they can position themselves for political position or to be “settled”. We cannot be bought. We reiterate that we are a group of young people determined that our country must change for the better and we are committed to a chain of activities to ensure that in 2011, young people vote for leaders that can change this country and that young people also protect their votes. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH of politics and activism without principle. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

For more information about those behind this coalition and what our vision and mission is, please visit http://www.enoughisenoughnigeria.com/

Related Posts:

• Enough is enough: Any politicization?
• ENOUGHISENOUGH Nigeria disappointed in Lagos state government's attitude.
• LASG Denies Allegation Of Shutting Out Protesting Group
• Re: Lagos Commissioner for Information’s Press Release