Mortgage Exec Says Newsday Libeled Him

MINEOLA, N.Y. (CN) – The CEO of a mortgage lender says Newsday defamed him in a Sunday story that accused him of driving up home prices through fraudulent loans, flipping, and that he “issued loans in the name of four dead people in the Chicago areas, then sold those loans to another bank.” Aaron Wider and HTFC Corp. demand $55 million, in Nassau County Court.     Wider sued over Newsday’s Nov. 18, 2007 story, “The Loan Crisis on LI Exposed.” He also sued Tribune Co. and Cablevision.      Wilder also claims that Newsday reported, falsely, that “Wider’s ex-wife has sued him,” and that he had “talked her into using her credit to buy several homes in the Bronx and Cleveland then never paid the mortgages as he promised.”     He is represented by Raymond Vuolo.