I was naive, I thought that N.Y. AG Eric Schneiderman was going to go after the greedy wall street financiers and bankers that caused the "Great" recession that began in 2008 over the objections of the Treasury Dept. Now it seems, unless he moves quickly, the skeptics will be right, the bank-financial cabal and wall street corporations own a controlling majority of our elected officials and Schneiderman is a eunuch. Anyone wanna bet the winning word in the 2012 national spelling bee will be plutocracy? From HuffPost.....
Forgery. Perjury. Investor fraud. Bribery. Money laundering. The
body of evidence against individuals at the nation's biggest banks is
overwhelming. Nothing speaks louder about the banks' guilt than this
evidence -- nothing, that is, except the billions they've paid to settle
the charges.
The Administration reacted indignantly this week to suggestions it's
still slow-walking its investigation. And then, despite all this
evidence, the Treasury Secretary of the United States proclaimed that no laws had been broken. And the White House wonders why its word is no longer enough?
A source in the office of a key figure in the investigation has
denied a new story that they've ruled out criminal prosecutions. But the
burden of proof has shifted. Nothing will convince the public now
except action.
Straw Men
Whether it's JPMorgan Chase settling
bribery charges in Alabama, Wells Fargo settling charges of laundering
drug-cartel money in Mexico, or the nation's five largest banks buying
their way out of widespread foreclosure fraud and tax evasion, never in
history has so much evidence led to so little action. Investigators
pinpointed the fraudulent activity of individual accountants in GE
Capital's settlement with the SEC, only to be dumbfounded to discover
that no criminal indictments were handed down.
So it was nothing short of astonishing to hear the Secretary of the Treasury assert yesterday
that no crimes were committed by America's banks, saying that "most
financial crises are caused by a mix of stupidity and greed and
recklessness and risk-taking and hope" and adding "you can't legislate
away stupidity and risk-taking and greed and recklessness."
That's a straw-man argument, since nobody has suggested outlawing
character traits. The Administration's critics are pointing to a mound
of evidence implicating bankers in criminal activity and asking the
simple question: Where are the prosecutions?
Free Pass
Geithner was doubling down on an assertion his boss made last December, when President Obama told 60 Minutes that
"Some of the most damaging behavior on Wall Street -- in some cases
some of the least ethical behavior on Wall Street -- wasn't illegal."
Deliberately or not, that sent a message to bankers that they could
stop worrying about indictments -- that is, if they ever had worried.
Why would they? There's been no investigation, no grilling, no
subpoenaing of bank executives' emails or phone records. And as far back
as 2010, Eric Holder and his Justice Department were trying to pass off
long-standing investigations as part of a major assault against
financial fraud called "Operation Blind Trust."
The DoJ's claims were quickly debunked and "Blind Trust" was shown to be nothing more than a deception which a Bloomberg columnist said used "trumped-up numbers." The Columbia Journalism Review summed up their recap of "Blind Trust" coverage with the headline, "Obama Administration's Financial Fraud Task Force Stunt Misfires."
Burden of Proof
But we were told those days are over. Now the President's really cracking
down on Wall Street, we were told. In the face of widespread criticism
for his proposed foreclosure fraud settlement with five top banks, the
President eventually accompanied that deal with a promise of tougher
enforcement. He appointed New York State Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman, who had been pursuing banks and resisting previous deals,
to his previously-lethargic mortgage fraud group.
"The mortgage fraud task force I announced in my State of the Union
address retains its full authority to aggressively investigate the
packaging and selling of risky mortgages that led to this crisis," the
President said
on February 9. "Working closely with state attorneys general, we're
going to keep at it until we hold those who broke the law fully
accountable."
But then there were stories that the task force's proposed staff,
whose proposed numbers were already absurdly low when compared to those
used to pursue criminal behavior under Reagan after the much smaller
savings and loan scandal of the 1980s, hadn't even been hired.
The Administration responded swiftly. Unnamed Justice Department employees joined Schneiderman's press secretary in telling The Nation's
George Zornick that the task force's five co-chairs are in "constant
communication" and "meet regularly." Fifty attorneys and other
employees were already working on the project, Zornick was told. (It was
not made clear whether they were assigned to the task force full-time.)
The Candidate
Yesterday Zornick published a piece
quoting former Democratic Rep. Brad Miller, an outspoken advocate for
bank investigations, as saying he was strung along by the task force
after being led to believe he was a leading candidate by Schneiderman's
office. What's more, he made the explosive suggestion that, in Zornick's
words, "the working group was afraid of Wall Street."
Miller told Zornick that he knew "Republicans were watching the work
of the task force very closely and very critically, and that they would
oppose my playing that role." Most explosively, he said he had been
told that "People being indicted and looking at the possibility of
prison sentences -- they were saying they did not expect any of that.
They expect civil litigation or civil enforcement but not criminal
prosecution."
If the task force had abandoned any thoughts of criminal prosecution
with Schneiderman's assent, it would be a political and legal bombshell.
But a source in Schneiderman's office who said he was Miller's point
of contact denies that suggestion -- "vehemently," he added.
The source said Miller was a candidate for the job, but that some
felt he lacked prosecutorial experience. In addition, I was told,
concerns were expressed about appointing someone with a political
background. "That would give Republicans another avenue of attack
against the whole task force," the source said. (The Republicans have
already been harrassing the group at every opportunity.) Schneiderman's
office recognizes that statutes of limitation present a real problem.
"But abandon prosecutions altogether," the source added, "and let the
word get out that everybody's off the hook? How silly would that be?"
The Problem
The real problem isn't that they haven't appointed the right Executive
Director for the task force,although that's extremely important. The
real problem is that the Administration didn't take more aggressive
action in 2009 or 2010 to investigate criminal behavior on Wall Street.
Now the wrongdoers -- and their political sympathizers -- are trying to
run out the clock.
The real problem is that the senior officials in the same
Administration are making public proclamations about the innocence of
people who should, by all rights, be suspects in a criminal
investigation.
The real problem isn't that somebody's lust for vengeance isn't being
fulfilled. It's not even the fact that senior officials find it
understandably difficult to contemplate criminal investigations of
people they've known for years as colleagues, friends... and yes, as
donors.
The real problem is this: As long as bankers know they won't be
prosecuted for committing crimes they'll commit them again. Officials
in the Justice Department and elsewhere privately express fears that it
will be difficult to obtain convictions after so much time has passed,
or in cases where intent is difficult to prove.
But they don't even look like they're trying. Comments like Mr.
Geithner's only add to the perception that bankers have a free pass to
commit crimes without fear of prosecution. That's not just an
injustice. It's also a threat to our economic security.
This perception can only be changed if the Administration moves
aggressively to hire and staff this Task Force with the best people and
best managers possible. The public needs to see action, and it needs to
see it now.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/burden-of-proof-geithner_b_1456951.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications
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