NEW YORK -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Sen. Charles Schumer said Sunday the Bush administration is trying to `` blame the fire on the person who calls 911 '' by suggesting he had a role in one of the costliest U.S. bank failures . Sen. Charles Schumer said the OTS `` ought to stop pointing false fingers of blame . '' Federal regulators with the Office of Thrift Supervision were `` asleep at the switch '' when it came to IndyMac 's `` reckless '' behavior , the New York Democrat complained . The OTS announced Friday that it was taking over the $ 32 billion IndyMac and transferring control to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation . The OTS pointed the finger directly at Schumer for the failure , accusing him of sparking a bank run by releasing a letter that `` expressed concerns about IndyMac 's viability . '' Watch what 's next for IndyMac '' `` In the following 11 business days , depositors withdrew more than $ 1.3 billion from their accounts , '' the OTS said in a statement announcing the California-based lender 's takeover on Friday . The statement included a quote from OTS Director John Reich saying , `` Although this institution was already in distress , I am troubled by any interference in the regulatory process . '' Schumer , a member of the Senate Banking Committee , chairman of Congress ' Joint Economic Committee and the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate , rejected any suggestions of responsibility for IndyMac 's collapse `` OTS ought to stop pointing false fingers of blame and start doing its job to protect the future of the banking system , so that there wo n't be other IndyMacs , '' he said . Schumer 's June 26 letter said he was `` concerned that IndyMac 's financial deterioration poses significant risks to both taxpayers and borrowers . '' In a Sunday news conference , he said everything in his letter was already known to the public . `` IndyMac was one of the most poorly run and reckless of all the banks , '' he said . `` It was a spinoff from the old Countrywide , and like Countrywide , it did all kinds of profligate activities that it never should have . Both IndyMac and Countrywide helped cause the housing crisis we 're now in . '' The embattled Countrywide Financial Corp. was recently purchased by Bank of America . Schumer argued that the `` breadth and depth '' of the problems at IndyMac were `` apparent for years , and they accelerated in the last six months . '' But OTS , he said , `` was asleep at the switch and allowed things to happen without restraint . `` And now they are doing what the Bush administration always does : Blame the fire on the person who calls 911 . '' The White House had no immediate response . Schumer said OTS is `` known as a weak regulator , '' and added , `` my job was to try and toughen them up and that 's what I tried to do . '' IndyMac , with assets of $ 32 billion and deposits of $ 19 billion , is the fifth bank to fail this year . Between 2005 and 2007 , only three banks failed . And in the past 15 years , the FDIC has taken over 127 banks with combined assets of $ 22 billion , according to FDIC records . IndyMac will reopen Monday with a new charter and a new name -- IndyMac Federal Bank .