U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters has served California’s 43rd congressional district for going on 30 years; she was elected to her 15th term in November. She is also the first woman and first African American to chair the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. It’s an appointment that’s drawn fire from detractors who are dusting off some old allegations against the congresswoman.
"In 2010, Maxine Waters steered $12 million in TARP funds to her husband’s private bank account. She was indicted but served no time," reads a May 6 Facebook post featuring a photo of Waters shrugging. "2019, she will become the committee chair of U.S. Finances that oversees banks."
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In 2017, PolitiFact checked a similar claim about Waters that was circulating online. Bloggers then said that "California Democrat Maxine Waters charged on 3 counts." That got a Mostly False rating because it distorted the facts.
Here’s how that allegation and this Facebook post intersect.
In 2009, reports surfaced that Waters had allegedly helped the CEO of a bank called OneUnited secure a meeting to ask for $50 million in bailout funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program—or TARP—to help recover from the Great Recession. The bank ultimately got $12 million to help offset losses from investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.
But those reports triggered a House ethics investigation and, in 2010, the House ethics committee charged Waters with breaking three rules by allegedly trying to assist OneUnited, a bank in which her husband held a sizeable stock share. Mikael Moore, Waters’ chief of staff, was also charged.