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.” And that, in turn, led to this, from The New York Times, June 3, 2009: 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: “I wanted to know why the bank’s C.E.O. wasn’t on trial,” said Mr. Brendler, who served as the jury’s foreman.
Guess what? But the SEC failed to attack the Stoker defense, when it was easy to anticipate (and on top of that, Stoker’s counsel telegraphed its argument in the media), that Stoker was just a poor dumb orders-following foot soldier. The second example comes from Pam Martens, and a search of my RSS reader shows this verdict against the SEC has not gotten the attention it deserves. 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. Bush to the much less severe Savings & Loan crisis of the 1980s: “There hasn’t been any serious investigation of any of the large financial entities by the Justice Department, which includes the FBI,” says William Black, an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, who, as a government regulator in the 1980s, helped clean up the S&L mess.
This is a vital part of the Obama legacy. Heist of the century: Wall Street's role in the financial crisis | Business. 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. 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. The Securities and Exchanges Commission has been deservedly criticised for not following up on years of complaints about Madoff, many of which came from a Boston investigator, Harry Markopolos, whom they treated as a crank. 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). But on the other hand, the lack of back and forth can allow speakers to talk past each other and also tends to reduce the vigor and incisiveness of the remarks. Why Do Dangerous Financial Criminals Roam Free? | Economy.
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. They speculated, along with Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street participants, many of whom have been calling for prosecutions, that Obama’s creation of a new group to prosecute mortgage fraud led by New York Attorney General Eric T. 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. So where were the police in the current financial crisis?
In the early part of the increase in subprime lending, state attorneys general were bringing cases, and calling attention to predatory lending practices. Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? | Rolling Stone Politics. “Crooks on the Loose? Did Felons Get a Free Pass in the Financial Crisis? “