Senator Maria Cantwell 511 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator: We, the undersigned petitioners, respectfully ask that you protect the interest of Washington Mutual shareholders to the fullest extent of the law. Additionally, our concern as shareholders is that we were not afforded the benefit to make informed decisions regarding our individual positions due to the hasty seizure of Washington Mutual by the FDIC, followed by a "firesale" of some 300 Billion in assets to JP Morgan for 1.9 Billion. Senator, as facts in the case begin to unfold it is our belief that; - Washington Mutual was well capitalized at the time of seizure, albeit we had 16.7 billion dollars withdrawn over a 10 day span, reportedly primarily due to withdrawals and transfers of funds that were over the threshold insured by the FDIC. - Washington Mutual had a plan for improving their liquidity by borrowing money, but the OTS did not allow enough time to implement it. - While there certainly is evidence that Washington Mutual had not managed their bank optimally, we have found no evidence that they either collapsed, or were about to collapse. - Washington Mutual had presented a comprehensive plan to the FDIC to "get its house in order" and it was approved by the FDIC about 2 weeks before the seizure. - The FDIC had made public indications that Washington Mutual would be able to operate in the "medium term" without difficulty. - While Goldman Sachs was trying to sell Washington Mutual, the FDIC was trying to make arrangements with the same banking institutions to buy Washington Mutual, thus undercutting our ability to sell ourselves or raise additional monies. In addition, it is common knowledge that banks were hesitant to make any agreement to buy Washington Mutual pending the results of Congressional discussion about the 700 billion dollar bailout. - Due to the mismanagement of the FDIC, notably that the FDIC waived insurance premiums for the period of 1996-2006, which affected their ability to pay claims, it is our belief that this prompted the FDIC to seize Washington Mutual rather than risk having to pay any claims to depositors. - The FDIC had the option to borrow 30 billion dollars from the Federal Reserve, but they chose not to exercise that option in order to "save" Washington Mutual from what appeared to be temporary liquidity problems, if indeed there were liquidity problems at all. - JP Morgan may have withheld approximately $5 billion dollars in deposits from Washington Mutual when they needed it the most. Interestingly enough, the same is reported to have occurred with Lehman Brothers, another big bank failure at about the same time. We found that JP Morgan has been accused of freezing 17 billion dollars in assets of Lehman Brothers that may have caused or significantly contributed to its collapse. In summary, the circumstances surrounding the seizure of Washington Mutual Bank are questionable at best. There are multiple issues that at least give the prima facie impression of impropriety. It is our opinion that the actions of the FDIC seemingly allowed the whole weight of wall street’s trouble to fall on the very few, and apparently unimportant, shoulders of the Washington Mutual shareholders, instead of spreading the financial crisis to all who deserved it, Washington Mutual took the full brunt. It is our request that you join the growing grassroots campaign that calls for immediate FDIC and OTS oversight and we request an investigation into Washington Mutual’s seizure and subsequent “firesale”. Thank you and God Bless America. Sincerely, The Undersigned Petitioners cc/ ALL MEMBERS OF THE SENATE C/O MARIA CANTWELL