Criminal Charges To Be Lodged Against Wall Street Executives?

Angelo Mozilo

An offer America couldn't refuse.

***

"Finally! Wall Street Goes On Trial: Holding The 0.1% Responsible For The Shithole"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/jamie-dimon-felonious-financier-who.html

***

Criminal charges against Wall St. execs pending? "The nation’s top prosecutor did not go into detail...but people familiar with the cases say the probes involve the possible manipulation of the $5.3 trillion global foreign-exchange markets....The attorney general has faced unrelenting criticism for failing to bring criminal charges against any Wall Street executives in the wake of the economic meltdown. Even after the Justice Department secured multibillion-dollar settlements with JPMorgan, Citigroup and Bank of America...lawmakers and financial reform advocates have questioned why individuals behind such schemes have never been charged....The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles is preparing to file a civil suit against a key figure in the housing meltdown, Angelo Mozilo." Danielle Douglas in The Washington Post.

Holder: I feel your pain, but don't blame me. "He said prosecutors could not always establish that high-ranking executives far removed from day-to-day operations knew about a particular scheme. He said blurred lines of authority often make it hard to name the person responsible for individual business decisions....The law caps rewards for potential whistleblowers in cases that do not involve fraud against government programs and hurts the ability of prosecutors to get Wall Street executives to cooperate, Holder said." Aruna Viswanatha and Nate Raymond in Reuters.

Holder's wish list: Power to reward whistleblowers more. "Many of the Justice settlements have been brought under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), which currently caps payments to whistleblowers at $1.6 million. Holder called the amount...not enough to lure Wall Street executives to risk their careers by coming forward. Holder said he wants Congress to bring possible rewards for whistleblowers in these cases more in line with the False Claims Act, which is used to prosecute companies and individuals for defrauding government programs and allows those who come forward with evidence to earn up to one third of a resulting settlement amount....Holder also asked for the authority to add more FBI investigators to white collar crime units without diverting resources away from counterterrorism investigations." Jon Prior in Politico.

DOJ has a request of banks themselves: Rat out your employees, or else. "The Justice Department has a suggestion for banks hoping to avoid criminal charges: Rat out your employees. Marshall L. Miller, the No. 2 official in the Justice Department’s criminal division, detailed in a speech on Wednesday how banks would either earn credit for exposing nefarious individuals or face charges for protecting them. The comments by Mr. Miller reflect the Justice Department’s renewed interest in charging bank employees rather than just the banks." Ben Protess in The New York Times.