Elizabeth Warren to Wall Street Regulators: Put Big Bank CEOs in Jail

[Redfairen]

Source: Mother Jones

This past weekend, the Department of Justice slapped a record fine on JPMorgan Chase for packaging and selling the mortgage-backed financial products that helped cause the financial meltdown. But Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wants the administration to know that fines are not enough. On Wednesday, she called on Wall Street regulators to hold all those responsible for the 2008 crisis accountable.

In a letter to the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Officer of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Warren lauded the overseer of the TARP bailout program for cracking down on financial industry players who wasted, stole, or abused the federal emergency funds doled out to banks during the financial crisis, and implied that the three banking regulators should also punish individuals who helped cause the financial meltdown.

Although the budget for TARP's inspector general was "a small fraction of the size of the budgets and staffs at your agencies," Warren pointed out, the program's watchdog has brought criminal charges against nearly 100 senior executives; obtained criminal convictions on 107 defendants, including 51 jail sentences; and suspended or banned 37 people from working in the banking industry.

How about you guys, Warren asked. She called on the Fed, the SEC, and the OCC to provide records on the number of people the agencies have charged criminally and civilly, the number of convictions and prison sentences they have obtained, the number of people banned or suspended from working in the industry, and the total amount of fines leveled against Wall Street ne'er-do-wells.



Read more: http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/10/elizabeth-warren-letter-wall-street-jail

[AnotherMcIntosh]

1. Good idea, but contrary to Obama Administration policy.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Ms. Warren is America's Senator.

Too many of us have at least one senator who speaks only for the 1%. Can't those of us who don't live in Massachusetts adopt Ms. Warren as our Senator?

[madokie]

18. I'm in Oklahoma and she's the only Senator I have

[Sophiegirl]

25. I would adopt her...

...except, I think we are the same age. Shoot, I could try anyway. Would be awesome to have a daughter like her!!!



Edit: No offense to my own daughter! You are the chips to my salsa and much more, honey!!

[Treant]

60. Dear Mommy,

Don't drink the tea.

--Your Daughter

[Sophiegirl]

67. Uhhhhh...

Now I know where that Ipecac went.

It's okay honey. I still love you and so will your new sissy, Liz. Trust me....or at least, trust her.

[merrily]

37. Move to Massachusetts.

Living here is great.

[JDPriestly]

41. Better yet, let's elect her president in 2016.

[Fla Dem]

55. While I think that would be awesome, she actually may be more effective in the senate. nt

[tblue]

56. I'd trade DiFi for Sen. Warren any day!

If only I could.

[Jack Rabbit]

61. You must be in California, too

That's exactly who I had in mind in post 2.

Not all agents of the 1% are Tea Baggers.

[colsohlibgal]

3. Overdue

This was banking fraud 101, there should have been a 24/7 perp walk channel set up to watch those responsible be led out in cuffs. Not underlings, executives came up with the scams.

BTW the rating agencies had to be in on the scam or at the very least liable, labeling these toxic financial instruments AAA. They were totally culpable in causing big losses in pensions, who tends to require safer, AAA investments - expecting them to really be AAA.

[Octafish]

4. Shoplifters get years in jail.

Banksters get billions in taxpayer-paid bonuses.

[Jerry442]

24. Shoplifters should incorporate.

That way, they'd get the same deal the banksters do: give up a fraction of their profits and no jail time.

[questionseverything]

5. warren is a dem i could believe in

she speaks for the 99%

[Brigid]

6. We can only dream of watching these crooks get hauled off to jail.

More's the pity.

[Swede Atlanta]

7. Amen....

We need to start CRIMINALLY prosecuting Wall Street and others for their crimes.

The "little" billions of dollars in fines is NOT ENOUGH. Those fines will be paid for, not by the criminals that nearly destroyed our economy, but by depositors and investors.

We must IMPRISON those responsible and strip them of their wealth. If their families end up on food stamps and welfare, so be it. Then their war on the poor might get new visibility in their eyes. We must confront these criminals with something that means something to them - their "freedom" and ability to subject more pain on more persons.

I suggest a prison cell of say 10 x 8 with an hour a day to shower and exercise for 50 years is about right. Anything less than this is a travesty.

[ruffburr]

8. I Really-

Would hope that Clinton and Warren would find a way to run together in 2016, It would energize the base and all reasonable thinking people to get out and Vote. And Dump the good ol boy bullshit down the toilet.

[sulphurdunn]

16. How about Warren and Clinton?

[ruffburr]

22. OK I'm good with that too!

[rhett o rick]

35. Ms. Clinton wouldnt settle for VP, IMHO. nm

[sulphurdunn]

51. Precisely.

IMHO, a presidential candidate should be someone who at least has reservations about applying for the job.

[JDPriestly]

42. Clinton is supported by the bankers. I don't think she would pick Warren to run with her.

I want Warren without Clinton. Why Clinton? She has so many negatives.

[Enthusiast]

48. I agree......nt

[rhett o rick]

52. I agree. We need a break from the corporatist Democrats. But they run the Party at least

at the national level.

[RC]

54. Clinton's time has run out

As you said, Hillary is supported by the bankers and Wall Street.

[ffr]

9. #1 reason to perfect human cloning.

She is impossible to top.

[tblue]

57. Haha! Perfect! nt

[jakeXT]

10. Pecora 2.0 ?

The Pecora Investigation was an inquiry begun on March 4, 1932 by the United States Senate Committee on Banking and Currency to investigate the causes of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The name refers to the fourth and final chief counsel for the investigation, Ferdinand Pecora.

The investigation was launched by a majority-Republican Senate, under the Banking Committee's chairman, Senator Peter Norbeck. Hearings began on April 11, 1932, but were criticized by Democratic Party members and their supporters as being little more than an attempt by the Republicans to appease the growing demands of an angry American public suffering through the Great Depression. Two chief counsels were fired for ineffectiveness, and a third resigned after the committee refused to give him broad subpoena power. In January 1933, Ferdinand Pecora, an assistant district attorney for New York County was hired to write the final report. Discovering that the investigation was incomplete, Pecora requested permission to hold an additional month of hearings. His exposé of the National City Bank (now Citibank) made banner headlines and caused the bank's president to resign. Democrats had won the majority in the Senate, and the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, urged the new Democratic chairman of the Banking Committee, Senator Duncan U. Fletcher, to let Pecora continue the probe. So actively did Pecora pursue the investigation that his name became publicly identified with it, rather than the committee's chairman.

...

In 1939 Ferdinand Pecora published a memoir that recounted details of the investigations, Wall Street Under Oath. Pecora wrote: "Bitterly hostile was Wall Street to the enactment of the regulatory legislation." As to disclosure rules, he stated that "Had there been full disclosure of what was being done in furtherance of these schemes, they could not long have survived the fierce light of publicity and criticism. Legal chicanery and pitch darkness were the banker's stoutest allies."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecora_Commission

[Zorra]

11. She's the one. nt

[LuckyLib]

12. And yet every day in every state you can witness a Latino or African American in cuffs for sticking

up a 7-11. Jail time for them? Of course. The suits who steal on a large scale? No way. Our two-tier justice system. Ain't it grand?

[JDPriestly]

43. +100000 Skin color and ethnicity do make a difference.

So does how much money you have to pay your lawyers. If you are the wrong color or the wrong social class, you will probably be lucky to have an overworked public defender to help you bargain a guilty plea.

If you are a well-heeled banker with a corporation backing you, you can hire a team of the Ivy League's best.

Justice in America. Sorry. Born poor, you lose.

[colorado_ufo]

65. "Sticking up" used to imply an armed robbery.

No matter how much money is involved, $3 or $3M or $3B, that does not compare with deliberately threatening to take another person's life or putting that life in danger. Black, white, Asian, Latino, Pacific Islander, whatever -- this should be jail time.

That being said, "the suits" should be their cellmates.

[WillyT]

13. HUGE K & R !!!

[olddad56]

14. if a person robs a bank, they go to jail, If a bank robs a person, no jail. Sounds right to me.

[calimary]

70. MAN, that's a great meme! I'd love to see that on a bumpersticker, olddad56!

Like that a LOT!!!

Likewise for Senator Warren! I love thinking about her as the SENIOR Senator from Massachusetts. It just sounds so great, and a lot more clout-worthy. I love the noise she's making, the questions she's asking, the can of worms she's opening. These assholes BELONG in jail. And not some cushy "Club Fed," either!

[Scuba]

15. Thank you Elizabeth!

[Stuart G]

17. Let us hear it for Elizabeth Warren...That is the truth..put them in jail..

[radhika]

19. For contrast: Under CA's odious 3-Strikes Law, non-violent felons received life without parole.

All of their priors (some as stale as 20 years past) were non-violent and low ticket. Here are some examples I recall:

Selling or possessing minor amounts of drugs
Stealing video tapes worth approximately $7.00
Shoplifting pizza from a convenience store.

There is a big difference between underwriting the Prison Industrial Complex and being under its thumb.

(Some luckless felons have been released over the years, thanks to courts and budget problems. But you get my point.)

[Rebellious Republican]

20. She is my heroine!

her·o·ine (hr-n)
n.
1. A woman noted for courage and daring action.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/heroine

[ReRe]

21. K&R

Sock it to 'em, Sen Warren!

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

23. Lock em up.

I'll help guard them. Give me just ten minutes.

[fascisthunter]

26. Not sending them to Jail, Promotes more Lawbreaking

All criminals need to do is pay a fine... and their fines are less than the profits they make, which means, "Crime does pay".

[grahamhgreen]

44. +1

[Stellar]

27. They didn't have enough money ..

to rid themselves of Elizabeth Warren, and they tried!

[NealK]

28. Love her. K&R

[Corruption Inc]

29. It's imperative for the future of our country that we do exactly that

Otherwise the criminals just keep committing crimes. Too bad our corrupt political system is paid to overlook that simple fact.

[Uncle Joe]

30. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Redfairen.

[steve2470]

31. she is a great senator ! nt

[Utopian Leftist]

32. Go get 'em, Liz!

She's not only doing the right thing, she is doing the long-neglected will of the people! And the people will reward her for it, too, wait and see....

[libdem4life]

33. She is in a very good place. I'm glad she didn't run for President. She actually has more power

doing what she is doing. Doubt it's any coincidence that JP Morgan paid, even if a pittance, some fines lately. Also, sold their Manhattan Plaza building. Good news. More to come.

[Babel_17]

34. Warren gets it

The fines are not personally paid by these criminals. Doing time they understand.

[SoapBox]

36. Bravo Elizabeth

[merrily]

38. I'm still watching and reserving judgment.

But, I can't help but smile every time I read what she says.

I try to stop myself, but I can't.

[blue14u]

39. My sig line says it all!!!

love love LOVE her!!!!

[Half-Century Man]

40. I want to reintroduce a sentencing idea I had.

Assign a mandatory sentence according to dollar value of a crime.
For every one hundred thousand dollars involved in a crime a one year sentence is imposed.

If you steal $81,000.00 you serve the time for burglary. If you stick up a bank and make off with $123,000.00, you serve out the sentence for armed robbery and 1 year. If you defraud your contributors with a fake charity, netting yourself 1.5 million dollars; you serve off embezzlement time plus 15 years. If you defraud investors with toxic mortgages and/or investment and steal a billion dollars, your family can claim your body in ten thousand years,

[supercats]

45. I Love Elizabeth Warren!

Just one more reason why I love her!!! God I wish she would run in 2016!!!

[DeSwiss]

46. K&R

[Enthusiast]

47. K&R

Wall Street fraudsters should do time in prison.

[Live and Learn]

49. I'm not a big fan of jailing people

but refusing to jail those that do the biggest harm to the country while at the same time jailing the biggest percentage of our population ever is making our justice system a joke.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

50. President Elizabeth Warren. . .first female American President. Has a nice ring to it

Vice President Alan Grayson. . .first non-Christian American Vice-President.

[raouldukelives]

53. K&R! nt

[TheJames]

58. K & R; What she said.

[Flatulo]

59. Do US senators get a security detail? Ms. Warren is pissing

off some very powerful people.

I hope she at least gets a large dog and an armored car. And stays away from light aircraft.

[blue-wave]

62. Wouldn't it be great

if we could replace all the senate repubs with the likes of Senator Warren! I love that woman.

[silvershadow]

63. If she doesn't run for President this time, President Obama should appoint her AG.

It's a wonder he didn't do this before, imho.

[Hotler]

64. Treat them like drug dealers.....

Kick the doors to their houses open in the middle of the night. Drag them and their family out in the streets. confiscate all their assets and throw them in prison for 25yrs. Fine them so much that if they make it out of the joint they had no money to live on.

[Orsino]

66. This is why They will never allow her to become AG. n/t

[Marblehead]

68. that record fine

is just a slap on the wrist

[woo me with science]

69. K&R