National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, has become the fourth House member to be notified that he received a discounted mortgage from the former Countrywide Financial Corporation, the Associated Press reports.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee notified Sessions and the three others that records turned over to the House Ethics Committee show that they had received discounts from Countrywide through its VIP program. The other three are House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., and Reps. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., and Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y.
All four members denied that they were aware that they had received any favor from the company.
The Ethics Committee is likely to look into whether or not the lawmakers had received improper gifts from Countrywide, which played a major role in the collapse of the housing market in 2008, and whether or not they had performed any favorable actions for the company, according to the AP.
After the collapse, Countrywide was bought by Bank of America, which has complied with a subpoena for records from the Oversight committee.
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