The two-tiered justice system: an illustration - Glenn Greenwald. Of all the topics on which I’ve focused, I’ve likely written most about America’s two-tiered justice system — the way in which political and financial elites now enjoy virtually full-scale legal immunity for even the most egregious lawbreaking, while ordinary Americans, especially the poor and racial and ethnic minorities, are subjected to exactly the opposite treatment: the world’s largest prison state and most merciless justice system.
That full-scale destruction of the rule of law is also the topic of my forthcoming book. But The New York Times this morning has a long article so perfectly illustrating what I mean by “two-tiered justice system” — and the way in which it obliterates the core covenant of the American Founding: equality before the law — that it’s impossible for me not to highlight it. The article’s headline tells most of the story: “In Financial Crisis, No Prosecutions of Top Figures.” More on the Incompetence and Venality of the SEC. In case you needed more proof of the utter incompetence of the SEC, two new items emerged late last week.
First was more detail on the mindset of the jurors who found Citigroup CDO salesman Brian Stoker innocent in the SEC’s case against him on misrepresenting the bank’s role and interests in selling a CDO squared it had set up to fail and making $160 million by betting against it. Per the juror’s foreman, as recounted by the New York Times: Why Can't Obama Bring Wall Street to Justice? Wall Street’s immunity. “It’s perplexing at best,” says Phil Angelides, the Democratic former California treasurer who chaired the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
“It’s deeply troubling at worst.” The Newsweek reporters note that “financial-fraud prosecutions by the Department of Justice are at 20-year lows”; in fact, such prosecutions under Obama “are just one third of what they were during the Clinton administration” — even though the 2008 financial crisis was drowning in financial fraud. Contrast that with the reaction of George H.W. Heist of the century: Wall Street's role in the financial crisis.
Bernard L Madoff ran the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, operating it for 30 years and causing cash losses of $19.5bn.
Shortly after the scheme collapsed and Madoff confessed in 2008, evidence began to surface that for years, major banks had suspected he was a fraud. None of them reported their suspicions to the authorities, and several banks decided to make money from him without, of course, risking any of their own funds. Theories about his fraud varied. Some thought he might have access to insider information. But quite a few thought he was running a Ponzi scheme. UBS headquarters forbade investing any bank or client money in Madoff accounts, but created or worked with several Madoff feeder funds. JPMorgan Chase had more evidence, because it served as Madoff's primary banker for more than 20 years. But not a single bank that had suspicions about Madoff made such a call.
This behaviour is criminal. And yet none of this conduct has been punished in any significant way. We Speak on PBS Newshour About Why No Bank Executives Have Gone to Jail. The cynic in me has to note that PBS Newshour decided to cover the issue of why no banksters have gone to jail on what has to be one of their lowest traffic days of the year.
And I have a sneaking suspicion I got the call to go on the show because it was not exactly easy to find people willing to be taped late in the afternoon on the day before Thanksgiving (they did have to go to the trouble not only of arranging for a studio in Alabama, but also finding a makeup person, since I’m not in the habit of taking my TV warpaint with me when I travel). I hope you like this segment. PBS prefers a format which keeps the guests from interacting directly. On the one hand, they do allow each speaker to make fairly long, uninterrupted comments, which is refreshing (at least on American TV). Why Do Dangerous Financial Criminals Roam Free? February 3, 2012 | Like this article?
Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. American Public Media's "Marketplace" had a recent segment focused on why it has taken so long to bring criminal prosecutions related to the financial crisis. Reporters observed that at the beginning of the crisis, the Obama administration wanted to calm the financial industry rather than impose accountability.
But here's what they didn't say: A major reason the prosecutions don’t exist is that President George W. Think about street crime. Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? “Crooks on the Loose? Did Felons Get a Free Pass in the Financial Crisis? “