The highest bid didn't win failing BankUnited. The Carlyle Group's bid was less than that of J.C. Flowers. Bloomberg reported:
The offers, kept sealed by the FDIC when the sale was completed last month, show that making the highest bid for assets of a failed bank doesn’t guarantee victory. BankUnited underscores the divisions between private-equity firms seeking profits and regulators keen to protect taxpayers as buyout firms step up investments in lenders crippled by the credit freeze.
The Fed and FDIC do deals outside the light of sunshine. FDIC sales are a TARP workaround, where buyers get government capital and avoid restrictions on executive pay. Corporafornication lives and the Obama team is as creative as George W. in funneling ka-ching to the PEU boys. (PEU stands for private equity underwriter)