Archive for February, 2015
Who Caused The Financial Crisis? Prosecutors Face 3-Month Deadline For Bringing Charges In The Subprime Mortgage Mess
Ninety days: Thats how long U.S. federal prosecutors have to tell Attorney General Eric Holder whether they have enough material to bring cases against individuals for wrongdoing in the 2008 financial crisis. Its likely the last such appeal from the outgoing Holder, who made the announcement during a speech earlier this week.
Though many view Holder's unusual announcement as political face-saving, it raises a serious question: Are financial felons going to get away? In light of Holder's self-imposed deadline, IBTimes spoke with several former prosecutors and Wall Street watchdogs to identify those banks where prosecutors are most likely to find individuals to present with criminal charges should any be forthcoming.
Despite protestations from Holder as to the difficulty of charging individuals, the governments own disclosures in bank settlements seem to provide ample grist for such cases. For Bank of America, JPMorgan and [ratings agency] Standard & Poors, there are actually individuals named, either with their formal names in the complaints or by reference to their job titles, says Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate at the organization Public Citizen.
Since the fraud-riddled subprime mortgage market blew up in 2007, sparking a crisis that brought the financial system to its knees, major banks have paid tens of billions to settle criminal allegations with the DOJ. In most cases, however, they have neither formally admitted wrongdoing nor felt serious sanctions.
What's more, no Wall Street executive or top-level manager has faced criminal charges. That fact has rankled accountability advocates and ordinary Americans alike not to mention outspoken officials like U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff and Benjamin Lawsky, New Yorks top financial regulator.
For his part, Holder maintains his Justice Department has done everything it could to hold financial miscreants accountable. To the extent that individuals have not been prosecuted, Holder said Tuesday, people should understand it is not for lack of trying."
Nonsense, says former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Jimmy Gurul, who faults Holder for a poor and indefensible record on charging bank officials. Charges for white-collar crimes are filed every single day by U.S. attorneys across the country. Just because theyre more difficult with banks is not a legitimate excuse for bringing zero charges against individuals.
Naylor, too, thinks the DOJ is eminently capable of charging invididuals. The statute of limitations has yet to run out for certain federal laws. "Its the sheer fact that it must be a person who commits a crime, he says. We already have the Justice Department accusing companies of crimes. There must be people behind those crimes.
Here's where prosecutors might look:
Citigroup
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Who Caused The Financial Crisis? Prosecutors Face 3-Month Deadline For Bringing Charges In The Subprime Mortgage Mess
Liberal Democrat Terrorist – Video
Liberal Democrat Terrorist
Muslim students shot in NC, the suspect is a left wing liberal hate monger.
By: Wild Bill for America
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Liberal Democrat Terrorist - Video
Democrat pushes for big tax to expand UTA hours, bus service
It comes a day after a bill pushed by House leaders, HB362, was introduced to propose a variety of tax changes for transportation. It includes allowing voters to consider up to a quarter-cent sales tax increase for local transportation, with one-tenth cent going to UTA in Wasatch Front counties.
Briscoe says that tenth of a cent increase isn't enough to expand UTA service much.
"You might have the choice of expanding Saturday and Sunday service, or going later in the evening. If you just do one of those, I think the public's going to say you increased our taxes and I'm not seeing an effect," Briscoe said.
He said his bill would restrict how UTA could spend increased funding to ensure that it does not go for more new train lines, but instead goes for such things as expanding bus service.
He said federal officials like to come to Utah to be photographed with new TRAX, FrontRunner or streetcar extensions. "No one wants to come out here for a photo op because we just brought back a bus route that we cut five years ago. It's not sexy. But you know what, it's important."
Many constituents have said that they or family members cannot accept jobs that end late at night "because they can't get public transportation back home," Briscoe said. "It's an economic-development issue that we don't have a robust enough UTA system."
Briscoe's bill may not have much of a chance compared to the Republican alternative, since the GOP has a 63-12 majority in the House and 24-5 in the Senate. But Briscoe said, "I just want to make a point that we've got to be more serious about transit."
He added, "We can't be serious about air quality if we don't get serious about transit."
Continued here:
Democrat pushes for big tax to expand UTA hours, bus service
Democrat says GOP transit tax increase too small
It comes a day after a bill pushed by House leaders, HB362, was introduced to propose a variety of tax changes for transportation. It includes allowing voters to consider up to a quarter-cent sales tax increase for local transportation, with one-tenth cent going to UTA in Wasatch Front counties.
Briscoe says that tenth of a cent increase isn't enough to expand UTA service much.
"You might have the choice of expanding Saturday and Sunday service, or going later in the evening. If you just do one of those, I think the public's going to say you increased our taxes and I'm not seeing an effect," Briscoe said.
He said his bill would restrict how UTA could spend increased funding to ensure that it does not go for more new train lines, but instead goes for such things as expanding bus service.
He said federal officials like to come to Utah to be photographed with new TRAX, FrontRunner or streetcar extensions. "No one wants to come out here for a photo op because we just brought back a bus route that we cut five years ago. It's not sexy. But you know what, it's important."
Many constituents have said that they or family members cannot accept jobs that end late at night "because they can't get public transportation back home," Briscoe said. "It's an economic-development issue that we don't have a robust enough UTA system."
Briscoe's bill may not have much of a chance compared to the Republican alternative, since the GOP has a 63-12 majority in the House and 24-5 in the Senate. But Briscoe said, "I just want to make a point that we've got to be more serious about transit."
He added, "We can't be serious about air quality if we don't get serious about transit."
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Democrat says GOP transit tax increase too small