The mother of octuplets known as “octomom” became a surprise topic at Thursday’s confirmation hearing for Steven Mnuchin, President-elect Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary.
Octomom, whose real name is Nadya Suleman, fell behind on payments for her Los Angeles home and the house went into foreclosure in 2009, according to celebrity reports at the time. She was forced to move with her 14 children to a new home.
Her mortgage was owned by OneWest, the bank Mnuchin later took over as CEO in the wake of the financial crisis. He said the bank worked hard to help her buy another home.
“The most troubling loan we had was actually to the octomom, and we worked very, very hard, that was a terrible situation, and we worked very, very hard to move her to another home that they could afford,” Mnuchin testified.
Democrats questioned Mnuchin about accusations that he ran a “foreclosure machine” at the bank, illegally or inappropriately foreclosing on borrowers that could have been helped.
Mnuchin defended his record but also apologized for any borrowers that were hurt. “I earnestly feel terrible for any mistakes at the bank,” he said, also acknowledging that “there were mistakes, we regret those mistakes.”
