FED Judge criticizes lack of prosecution against Wall Street executives

[Ichingcarpenter]

Nov 12 (Reuters) - The federal judge who oversaw the recent civil fraud trial against Bank of America Corp criticized the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday for failing to prosecute high-level executives over the financial crisis.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff of Manhattan said while companies have been prosecuted for causing the 2007-2009 financial meltdown, Wall Street executives have escaped justice.

"The failure of the government to bring to justice those responsible for such a massive fraud speaks greatly to weaknesses in our prosecutorial system that need to be addressed," Rakoff said.

Rakoff, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, blamed the lack of criminal cases on a shortage of investigatory resources coupled with an over-emphasis on bringing cases against companies rather than individuals.

Rakoff's critique drew a quick reaction from the Justice Department, where a spokeswoman said top prosecutors are "aggressively working" on several ongoing investigations.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/13/financial-judge-idUSL2N0IX1B620131113


Why didn't this news get higher exposure? As far as I know I didn't see a thread on this that got any exposure.

[tblue]

1. Put them in jail and they'll cut this crap out.

And they'll keep doing it until we do.

Come on, DoJ! Start looking backward. It ain't that far.

Interesting that this was a Clinton appointee.

[Scuba]

2. Yep. Fines lower than what they stole aren't a deterrent. Seize their assets and lock them up.

That'll make the next guy think twice.

Hell, get caught smoking dope and they'll seize your assets, why not the banks?

[Fumesucker]

3. Punching hippies is what the Very Serious People do

All the Very Serious People know that dope smoking is an existential threat to America, corrupt and criminal banks not so much.

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Even our judicial system sees

the forest through the trees..... well at least this judge who saw whom the real culprits were and chided The justice department for their lack of action.

[Scuba]

6. Yeah, well ...

[sendero]

4. "Aggressively working?"..

.... nothing that takes 6 years is being done aggressively. That's bullshit, the known perps are never going to pay because our political/economic system is completely broken and lack of justice is easily bought.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. The Statue of limitations is aggressively

running out for criminal charges.

That's what they meant.

[BelgianMadCow]

8. The Department of Justice’s Willful Blindness to the Willful Blindness of CEOs (Steve Cohen edition)

SAC is the longest operating and most lucrative insider trader in history – turning Cohen into one of the richest men in the world through the traditional “sure thing” of fraud. It is stunning that DOJ refuses to prosecute the man its indictment says led, and was made wealthy by, history’s most lucrative insider fraud scheme. DOJ’s actions, including the indictment of SAC, suggest that Steve Cohen has committed the perfect crime and demonstrated that elite white-collar crime pays – massively. If that is true, then the Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama should be urging Congress to act immediately to change the law and make criminal actions such as those it alleges Cohen took to produced “systematic insider trading.” Their failure to seek such an urgent change in the law demonstrates either that they realize that they could prosecute Cohen under existing law or that they feel no urgent need to fix a broken legal and financial system in which our elites become wealthy by designing the perverse incentive structures that make “systematic” fraud and catastrophic damage to our economy “the predictable and foreseeable result.”
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/11/bill-blackthe-department-of-justices-willful-blindness-to-the-willful-blindness-of-ceos-steve-cohen-edition.html#L2L07Q2eGXWhKOwP.99

Another, similar case.

[Wilms]

9. ^

[4dsc]

10. Holder..

I need not say any more.

[lark]

12. Holder, Summers, Geithner, Jaime Dymon

The head of GE, all those people that led the charge to create the conditions for the rich to destroy our economic world are the folks that Obama trusts the most. That should really tell you something.

[Ichingcarpenter]

14. and the billionaires are twice as rich now

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/11/11/pers-n11.html

[lark]

24. Sickeningly true!!!

[zentrum]

16. It does.

I'm so depressed by how it is now I can't listen or watch the news anymore. Not dropping out politically of course, but can't listen/see it anymore.

[lark]

11. Are you really surprised?

Obama goes with the 1% on almost every topic, they were his chief campaign funders. He and Holder are not anywhwere near progressive, they are middle of the road moderates, firmly in favor of the 1%.

[Rex]

13. The plutocracy laughs at this judge and says his career is over.

Pointing out the obvious is a no no for all public officials. We must continue to pretend that we live within a system of rules that apply to everyone equally.

[ReRe]

15. I'll never understand....

...why this country will try everything in the book before they just do the right thing to begin with. Seriously, it happens day in and day out, year after year, decade after decade. This goes especially for the Dept of Justice...the one place you would think there could possibly be some good judgment.

[DefenseLawyer]

17. As much as I appreciate and agree with the sentiment

Judges are neutral magistrates who should not have an opinion about who deserves to be prosecuted and who doesn't. If you want to be a public advocate you should stop being a judge.

[mbperrin]

36. No, judging is what they do.

Sharing their considered judgment is a good thing.

All those "good German" judges who are keeping quiet are the ones that are allowing these corporate criminals to escape justice.

[DefenseLawyer]

38. No, deciding the cases before them is "what they do"

If you want to prosecute, quit and become a prosecutor. Judges need to be impartial. I certainly don't want to appear before a judge who has said publicly that my client "deserves" to be prosecuted.

[mbperrin]

41. Well, of course you would never appear in front of any such judge,

since as a competent attorney, you would ask for them to be disqualified for your case, especially if he had actually named your client by name.

But having an opinion and not stating it is a form of lying by omission. I'd sure rather have it in the open. But then, there are people who don't think school teachers should criticize the government, either.

[DefenseLawyer]

42. Would you be just as pleased if this judge was criticizing prosecutors

for not seeking the death penalty more often? Would you be just as pleased if the judge was criticizing prosecutors for not filing child neglect charges against everyone with a drug case that has kids? My guess is would would be outraged and call her a blockhead. I realize you like the message. So do I. As I said, I agree with it. I also believe in a neutral judiciary. Judges from the Supreme Court on down are already too political and far too many judges see themselves are "super prosecutors", instead of truly neutral referees. A judge really shouldn't have an opinion about what charges get filed and what charges don't. It is not a judge's job. I don't particularly understand your comparison to school teachers. Judges aren't school teachers. I do appreciate the discussion.

[DeSwiss]

18. K&R

[snot]

19. K&R'd!

[sabrina 1]

20. Can the American people file complaints about crime themselves and force the hand

of our so-called Justice System? I mean the same way you would report a crime against yourself and file charges after which if there is enough evidence, begin the process of arrests and prosecutions.

These criminals ruined the lives of millions of people and they are getting away with it, and are apparently back to their old tricks, the ones that caused the collapse. I see they are quietly changing part of the Wall St. Reform Bill, which was pretty weak as a deterrent to begin with, to remove restrictions against what CAUSED the collapse, derivatives.

Just wondering if the people who are the direct victims of the crimes can begin to speed this up before it's too late.

[Enthusiast]

39. +1 a whole bunch.......nt

[wowser]

21. Prosecute!

Hang them from the lampposts on Wall Street. Let their bodies rot there.

[mbperrin]

37. I'm for it.

I've got this little populist streak that makes me want to start taking up collections for rope.

[woo me with science]

22. "Justice Dept...spokeswoman said...prosecutors are "aggressively working" on...investigations"

Yeah, riiiiiight. It's just an accident that the statute of limitations is expiring now for the 2008 crimes.

Wall Street will get away with massive wave of criminality of 2008 - Statute of Limitations Expiring
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022516719

The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022246632

How Wall Street Killed Financial Reform
It's bad enough that the banks strangled the Dodd-Frank law. Even worse is the way they did it - with a big assist from Congress and the White House
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-wall-street-killed-financial-reform-20120510

This is a complete list of Wall Street CEOs prosecuted for their role in the financial crisis
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3653154

[WillyT]

23. HUGE K & R !!!

[Lodestar]

25. Indeed. We need to start building new prisons for all the white collar crime

that has been corrupting and destroying this country. It is a crime, plain and simple, and should be treated as such.

[onethatcares]

27. we have enough prisons

we just need a justice department that isn't in the revolving door.

[Turbineguy]

26. It's probably hard to prosecute them since

before they started stealing they got congress to make stealing legal.

[red dog 1]

28. "Why didn't this news get higher exposure?"

Good question!

I could not find a single "newspaper" that covered this story.

What I did find was

http://www.mfi-miami.com/2013/11/u-s-should-get-mortgage-firm-data-for-probe-judge-says/
(A Miami Mortgage Fraud Investigative site)

http://www.publicsource.org/shared-sources/judge-criticizes-lack-of-prosecution-against-wall-street-executives-for-fraud/
(A Pennsylvania newsletter)

Thank God for small town journalism!

[DonCoquixote]

29. Fire Eric

Hire this guy.

[red dog 1]

34. + 1000

Of course Obama would never do that; and Holder does nothing without his boss's approval anyway.

[valerief]

30. 99% of Americans feel the same way. nt

[99Forever]

31. Most rididulous line in the entire article:

"Rakoff's critique drew a quick reaction from the Justice Department, where a spokeswoman said top prosecutors are "aggressively working" on several ongoing investigations."

Eric Holder and Co. really do think we are stupid. And anyone who actually believes that bullshit, is stupid.

[Romulox]

32. This administration's FIRST priority was to bail out these criminals to the tune of trillion$$$.

They will never be prosecuted under Obama's watch. Never.

[99th_Monkey]

33. Too big to fail, Too big to Jail

the fix was in, so soon in the game.

May these scoundrels choke on their caviar.

[blkmusclmachine]

35. A Wall St. White House won't ever prosecute Wall St. They're "Too Big To Jail"!

Duh!

[pam4water]

40. That's great but would mean more if done before the statute of limitations ran out.