By Carter Dougherty
When his colt I’ll Have Another charged from behind to win the Preakness Stakes May 19, J. Paul Reddam joined an exclusive club of thoroughbred owners who’ve been one race short of the Triple Crown.
Not far from the Baltimore track, Maryland state regulators were probing the consumer loan business that helps fund Reddam’s wildly successful investment in horses.
Reddam, 56, a former philosophy professor, made his fortune with a subprime mortgage firm, DiTech Funding Corp., which he sold toGeneral Motors Co. (GM) in 1999 for more than $240 million. He is now owner and chief executive officer of Anaheim, California-based CashCall Inc., which makes mortgage and short- term loans and has tangled with three states over alleged violations of consumer-protection laws.