Question: What scandal resulted in an investigation into the real estate investments of the Clintons and McDougals that also influenced Roger Altman's employment situation at that time?
Context: The Whitewater controversy, Whitewater scandal (or simply Whitewater), was an American political episode of the 1990s that began with an investigation into the real estate investments of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their associates, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, in the Whitewater Development Corporation, a failed business venture in the 1970s and 1980s. Genshiro Kawamoto (born 1932) is a Japanese businessman known for his real estate investments in Japan, California and Hawaii.  He is also notable for controversial real estate investments in the late 1980s, when he bought more than 170 properties, including many Oʻ ahu homes.  More recently, Kawamoto is known for owning 30 properties in the Kāhala area of Honolulu where he has allowed them to be run down, attracting many complaints and media attention.  Although these homes are vacant, boarded up and often vandalized, their estimated total value is $200 million.  In September 2013, Kawamoto sold all of his Hawaii assets to Alexander and Baldwin for $128 million.  The transaction was brokered by Steve Sombrero, president of NAI ChaneyBrooks. A private investment capital subscription (PICS), is a financial tool that relies on a small pool of investors’ money for real estate investments.  The money managers of private investment capital subscriptions or PICS are real estate investment experts, who also invest in related real estate products such as tax lien certificates, foreclosures, notes, as well as development projects on behalf of their subscribers and themselves. Roger Charles Altman (born April 2, 1946) is an American investment banker, the founder and senior chairman of Evercore, and a former Democratic politician.  He served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Carter administration from January 1977 until January 1981 and as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration from January 1993 until he resigned in August 1994, amid the Whitewater controversy. The Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation is a SEC Registered Investment Adviser that manages private equity real estate investments and provides real estate services for domestic and international clients.  Established in Boston, Massachusetts in 1959 as a construction firm by Petros A. Palandjian, an Armenian immigrant from Iran, the corporation has acquired, developed, managed, and owned over US $10 Billion of real estate assets of all real property types. Scott Picken is a South African-born real estate investor and entrepreneur.  He is the co-founder of Wealth Migrate, a fintech company that offers real estate investments on its online marketplace through crowdfunding.  He began offering real estate investment solutions at the age of 26 when he founded International Property Solutions. " The Huffington Post" named Wealth Migrate as one of the top 60 real estate crowdfunding solutions in the United States in 2014. Harrison Street Real Estate Capital is a private real estate investment management firm based in Chicago, Illinois.  Founded in 2005 by Christopher Merrill, Chris Galvin, and Michael Galvin, the Firm focuses on real estate investments in the Education, Healthcare, and Storage sectors. Real estate investing involves the purchase, ownership, management, rental and/or sale of real estate for profit.  Improvement of realty property as part of a real estate investment strategy is generally considered to be a sub-specialty of real estate investing called real estate development.  Real estate is an asset form with limited liquidity relative to other investments, it is also capital intensive (although capital may be gained through mortgage leverage) and is highly cash flow dependent.  If these factors are not well understood and managed by the investor, real estate becomes a risky investment.  The primary cause of investment failure for real estate is that the investor goes into negative cash flow for a period of time that is not sustainable, often forcing them to resell the property at a loss or go into insolvency.  A similar practice known as flipping is another reason for failure as the nature of the investment is often associated with short term profit with less effort. Loan modification is the systematic alteration of mortgage loan agreements that help those having problems making the payments by reducing interest rates, monthly payments or principal balances.  Lending institutions could make one or more of these changes to relieve financial pressure on borrowers to prevent the condition of foreclosure.  Loan modifications have been practiced in the United States since The 2008 Crash Of The Housing Market from Washington Mutual, Chase Home Finance, Chase, JP Morgan & Chase, other contributors like MER's.  Crimes of Mortgage ad Real Estate Staff had long assisted nd finally the squeaky will could not continue as their deviant practices broke the state and crashed.  Modification owners either ordered by The United States Department of Housing, The United States IRS or President Obamas letters from Note Holders came to those various departments asking for the Democratic process to help them keep their homes and protection them from explosion.  Thus the birth of Modifications.  It is yet to date for clarity how theses enforcements came into existence and except b whom, but t is certain that note holders form the Midwest reached out in the Democratic Process for assistance.  FBI Mortgage Fraud Department came into existence.  Modifications HMAP HARP were also birthed to help note holders get Justice through reduced mortgage by making terms legal.  Modification of mortgage terms was introduced by IRS staff addressing the crisis called the HAMP TEAMS that went across the United States desiring the new products to assist homeowners that were victims of predatory lending practices, unethical staff, brokers, attorneys and lenders that contributed to the crash.  Modification were a fix to the crash as litigation has ensued as the lenders reorganized and renamed the lending institutions and government agencies are to closely monitor them.  Prior to modifications loan holders that experiences crisis would use Loan assumptions and Loan transfers to keep the note in the 1930s.  During the Great Depression, loan transfers, loan assumption, and loan bail out programs took place at the state level in an effort to reduce levels of loan foreclosures while the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Trade Commission, Comptroller, the United States Government and State Government responded to lending institution violations of law in these arenas by setting public court records that are legal precedence of such illegal actions.  The legal precedents and reporting agencies were created to address the violations of laws to consumers while the Modifications were created to assist the consumers that are victims of predatory lending practices.  During the so-called "Great Recession" of the early 21st century, loan modification became a matter of national policy, with various actions taken to alter mortgage loan terms to prevent further economic destabilization.  Due to absorbent personal profits nothing has been done to educate Homeowners or Creditors that this money from equity, escrow is truly theirs the Loan Note Holder and it is their monetary rights as the real prize and reason for the Housing Crash was the profit n obtaining the mortgage holders Escrow.  The Escrow and Equity that is accursed form the Note Holders payments various staff through the United States claimed as recorded and cashed by all staff in real-estate from local residential Tax Assessing Staff, Real Estate Staff, Ordinance Staff, Police Staff, Brokers, attorneys, lending institutional staff but typically Attorneys who are also typically the owners or Rental properties that are trained through Bankruptcies'.  that collect the Escrow that is rightfully the Homeowners but because most Homeowners are unaware of what money is due them and how they can loose their escrow.  Most Creditors are unaware that as the note holder that the Note Holder are due a annual or semi annual equity check and again bank or other lending and or legal intuitions staff claim this monies instead.  This money Note Holders were unaware of is the prize of real estate and the cause of the Real Estate Crash of 2008 where Lending Institutions provided mortgages to people years prior they know they would eventually loose with Loan holders purchasing Balloon Mortgages lending product that is designed to make fast money off the note holder whom is always typically unaware of their escrow, equity and that are further victimized by conferences and books on HOW TO MAKE MONEY IN REAL STATE - when in fact the money is the Note Holder.  The key of the crash was not the House, but the loan product used and the interest and money that was accrued form the note holders that staff too immorally.  The immoral and illegal actions of predatory lending station and their staff began with the inception of balloon mortgages although illegal activity has always existed in the arena, yet the crash created "Watch Dog" like HAMP TEAM, IRS, COMPTROLLER< Federal Trade Commission Consumer Protection Bureau, FBI, CIA, Local Police Department, ICE ( The FBI online Computer crime division receives and investigates computer crimes that record keeping staff from title companies, lending institutional staff, legal staff and others created fraudulent documents to change payments and billing of note holders to obtain the money note holders are typically unaware of) and other watch dog agencies came into existence to examine if houses were purchased through a processed check at Government Debited office as many obtained free homes illegally.  Many were incarcerated for such illegal actions.  Modifications fixed the Notes to proper lower interest, escrow, tax fees that staff typically raised for no reason.  Many people from various arenas involved in reals estate have been incarcerated for these actions as well as other illegal actions like charging for a modification.  Additionally Modifications were also made to address the falsifications such as inappropriate mortgage charges, filing of fraudulently deeds, reporting of and at times filing of fraudulent mortgages that were already paid off that were fraudulently continued by lenders staff and attorneys or brokers or anyone in the Real Estate Chain through the issues of real estate terms to continue to violate United States Laws, contract law and legal precedence where collusion was often done again to defraud and steal from the Note Holder was such a common practice that was evidence as to why the Mortgage Crash in 2008 occurred for the purpose of wining the prize of stealing form Homeowners and those that foreclosed was actually often purposefully for these monies note holders were unaware of to be obtained which was why Balloon mortgages and loans were given to the staff in the Real Estate Market with the hoper and the expectation that the loan holders would default as it offered opportunity to commit illegal transactions of obtaining the homeowners funds.  While such scams were addressed through modifications in 2008.  The Market relied heavily on Consumers ignorance to prosper, ignorance of real estate terms, ignorance on what they were to be charged properly for unethical financial gain and while staff in real estates lending arenas mingled terms to deceive y deliberate confusion consumers out of cash and homes while the USA Government provided Justice through President Obamas Inception and IRS Inception of Modifications which addressed these unethical profits in Reals Estate.  It was in 2009 that HARP, HAMP and Modifications were introduced to stop the victimization of Note Holders.  Taking on the Banks that ran USA Government was a great and dangerous undertaking that made America Great Again as Justice for Consumers reigned.  Legal action taken against institutions that have such business practices can be viewed in State Code of Law and Federal Law on precedent cases that are available to the public.  Finally, It had been unlawful to be charged by an attorney to modify as well as fro banking staff to modify terms to increase a mortgage and or change lending product to a balloon in an concerted effort to make homeowner foreclose which is also illegal, computer fraud and not the governments intended purpose or definition of a modification. Colony NorthStar is a diversified equity REIT with an embedded institutional and retail investment management business.  The company has over 500 employees operating in 17 offices around the world.  The company focuses on real estate opportunities around the world either on its own, through funds run by the company, or in joint ventures.  In particular, Colony NorthStar invests in real estate and real estate-related debt investments, real estate-dependent operating companies, non-performing loans, distressed assets and select development opportunities throughout the world.  The company is run by businessman Thomas J. Barrack, Jr. In 2010, Colony was reported to manage about $30 billion in investments.  In 2011, Colony was tied for 3rd largest private equity real estate fund in the world, behind Blackstone Group and Morgan Stanley Real Estate.
Answer: Whitewater controversy