This Just In ...

For Immediate Release: July 21, 2012

Brian J. Nemoir

NEW TV AD: HOVDE'S WASHINGTON GAMES

Hovde boasts firm built on "government-assisted transactions"

         The Thompson for Senate campaign today launched a new television ad "Washington
Games" focusing on Eric Hovde's 24 years in Washington, DC.

         Thompson for Senate spokesman Brian Nemoir said Hovde's unfounded attacks on

Thompson are an attempt to mislead voters about the former governor's record while distracting

from the fact Hovde has spent the past 24 years trading on his contacts to profit from taxpayer

bailouts and programs. This week Hovde began a false and negative ad campaign against

Governor Thompson. FactCheck.org rated the focus of Hovde's attack on Thompson as "false."

         "Eric Hovde's lies and distortions about Tommy Thompson have gone too far. Thompson

will defend his record," said Nemoir. "Despite Hovde's arrogance, the voters of Wisconsin

understand that he's spent the past 24 years in Washington as a bailout predator seeking to

make money from the American taxpayer." 

• Hovde boasts his firm was built on "government-assisted transactions."

 

"Hovde financial built its foundation in the late 1980's and early 1990's on

government-assisted transactions." 

 

-- Hovde Industry Update, Nov. 2008 Vol XXI I Issue III

• At the height of the recent government-funded bailouts, Hovde published a guide labeled, "Let
  Uncle Sam Pay For Your Acquisition." The Hovde Industry Update concludes by encouraging
  investors to contact Hovde at his Washington, DC office to "take advantage" of this "opportunistic environment."

 

"Let Uncle Sam Finance your Acquisition"  

 

-- Hovde Industry Update, Jan. 2009 Vol XXII I Issue I

• MarketWatch, Jan, 9, 2009 reported, "The Financial Institutions Partners funds, run by
  Eric Hovde of Hovde Capital Advisors, gained more than 40% last year, partly by shorting
  companies over-exposed to residential construction lending and other frothy real estate
  markets."

 

http://articles.marketwatch.com/2009-01-09/news/30761640_1_hedge-bruce-kovner-s-caxton-associates-hennessee-group

• Hovde confirmed in the Washington Post that his profits were based on the decline in the housing industry. 

 

"However, most of our returns have been generated by being short a variety of
different financial stocks, particularly those that are substantially levered to
housing."   

 

-- Eric Hovde, The Washington Post, April 22, 2008

 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washbizblog/2008/04/value_added_a_chat_
with_eric_h.html

• In March 2011 Hovde issued a power point touting his "regulatory contacts" he uses to
  screen deals involving the government-assisted transactions he built his firm on. The below illustration is copied from that presentation and is on the slide entitled "The Investment Team is highly selective when screening deals."

• Hovde has been headquartered in Washington DC (as opposed to a financial center like New York, Boston, San Francisco or Chicago) since its founding. Its current headquarters is just over a block from the K-Street lobbying corridor. Hovde touts the government regulatory background of at least 3 of his lead team:

• John D. Hawke, who was a top Clinton political appointee as Under Secretary at the Treasury Department and the Comptroller of Currency.
• Richard Perry, was Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (now the office of Thrift Supervision)
• Allyson Savin was a Bank Examiner with the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (focused on banks in the Northeast, where, coincidently, one of Hovde's major projects (Concord) operates.)

Text of the television ad "Washington Games" is below:

The Washington game...Eric Hovde's been playing it for twenty-four years.

Hovde ran a hedge fund that used 'Uncle Sam' to buy banks. He traded on government contacts to profit from taxpayer bailouts.

Hovde gamed the system and bet against American companies and homeowners. After financial markets collapsed and families lost their life savings...

Hovde bragged that he made a forty percent profit.

Eric Hovde: He wins...taxpayers lose.

Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG6tS7Ofudg&feature=plcp

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