Hovde invests in bailout recipient - WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |

Republican hedge fund manager and U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde has bought a bank that received federal bailout money under the program known as TARP.

The political newcomer has stressed that no bank he owned ever took the bailout money when it was offered. But he says it's nearly impossible not to invest in other banks that did get the money.

On April 9 a bank that Hovde owns in Baltimore merged with Carrollton Bank. Carrollton received $9.1 million in TARP money in 2009.

Hovde spokesman Sean Lansing says the bank would not have taken the money had Hovde owned it at the time funding was available.

Part of the merger deal requires all the money to be paid back to the federal government.