Obama's DOJ And Wall Street: Too Big For Jail?
By Peter Schweizer
US Attorney General Eric Holder (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)
“The appearance of conflict is as dangerous to public confidence in the administration of justice as true conflict itself. Justice must not only be done; justice must also be seen to be done.” –Lloyd Cutler, 1981
Over the past three years, the Department of Justice has filed criminal charges against hundreds of ordinary Americans for financial fraud. But no one from the largest banks and firms onWall Street have been similarly charged for events leading up to the financial crisis. Could that be because those banks are clients of the firms from which top DOJ officials hail?
In November 2009, President Obama established the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to deal with financial crimes related to the 2008 financial crisis. As Attorney General Eric Holder, chairman of the Task Force, explained at the time: “This Task Force’s mission is not just to hold accountable those who helped bring about the last financial meltdown, but to prevent another meltdown from happening. We will be relentless in our investigation of corporate and financial wrongdoing, and will not hesitate to bring charges, where appropriate, for criminal misconduct on the part of businesses and business executives.”
None of that happened. The Task Force is still humming along almost three years later, but its highlighted successes are less “business executives” than ordinary Americans who have had the book thrown at them. From their website:
“Three Connecticut Women Charged with Overseeing ‘Gifting Tables’ Pyramid Scheme.” Three women in their 50s and 60s have been indicted on conspiracy, tax and wire fraud charges. “These arrests should send a strong message to all who threaten the financial health of our communities,” said one federal agent.
Ten people in Las Vegas have been criminally charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in a “scheme to fraudulently control” Condominium Home Owners Associations. They have pled guilty and face up to 30 years in prison.
“Justice Department Sues Princeton Review for Claiming Reimbursement for Tutoring Services It Did Not Provide.” The educational publisher apparently billed the federal government for reimbursements in connection with a federally-funded program for underprivileged children.
“Alabama Real Estate Investor Agrees to Plead Guilty to Conspiracies to Rig Bids and Commit Mail Fraud for the Purchase of Real Estate at Public Foreclosure Auctions.” Steven Cox will get one year in prison because he and some friends agreed not to bid against each other at public auctions and then hold a second secret auction with the properties they purchased. This meant that they ‘artificially suppressed prices…[and] homeowners and others with a legal interest in rigged foreclosure properties receive less than the competitive price for the properties,” reads the Task Force press release. People in several other states have been similarly charged.
“Former Real Estate Appraiser Sentenced in Washington, D.C. to 65 months in Prison for Mortgage Fraud.” A property appraiser goes to jail for fraudulently manipulating mortgage applications while flipping real estate properties. The fraud scheme cost mortgage lenders $2.3 million. A Florida man was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for obstructing an SEC investigation.
Certainly there have been opportunities to aggressively investigate criminal acts of fraud involving the largest banks and investment houses. The SEC has alleged that half a dozen banks “knowingly” passed fraudulent information along to government agencies and investors. The same charges have been leveled against several of the largest investment houses as it relates to subprime mortgages.
1 comment:
Has anyone ever gotten their bank statement and it was short by about $1.00 and you just figured it was too insignificant to make a big deal over? Well... one banker from another country actually confessed to taking this small amount out of everyone's accounts and putting it in his own pocket. Could have been multiple thousands, or even millions of accounts. Do you realize that some bankers have actually been doing this? Everyone should confront their banks on even the smallest discrepancy in accounting, and they would stop doing this. What about Obama and Romney having "secret" bank accounts in the Vatican Bank (overseas) and the Cayman Islands, and other "overseas" accounts? And then Obama going after wealthy Americans who have accounts in other countries? What about ALL the double standards for Obama and Holder, Pelosi, Reid, Clinton and everyone in government, and a second set of standards for all the "other" Americans?... OOPS, I forgot Obama ISN'T an American.
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