Banks are too big to prosecute

[ctc]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...-to-jail-.html

In an on-camera interview, which aired recently, Breuer stated plainly that some financial institutions are too large and too complex to be held accountable before the law. Bipartisan pressure is now being applied on the Justice Department to reveal exactly how this determination was made. Breuer, however, has announced he will leave government March 1. Good luck unraveling the cover-up that must already be in place.

“Well, I think I am pursuing justice,” he said. “And I think the entire responsibility of the department is to pursue justice. But in any given case, I think I and prosecutors around the country, being responsible, should speak to regulators, should speak to experts, because if I bring a case against Institution A, and as a result of bringing that case, there’s some huge economic effect -- if it creates a ripple effect so that suddenly, counterparties and other financial institutions or other companies that had nothing to do with this are affected badly -- it’s a factor we need to know and understand.”

[AndromedaPatFan]

Severe systematic ethical lapse. If Justice felt they couldn't prudently pursue justice in that way, they should have bucked the decision VERY high up the command chain, and only held back under very clear orders.

And if they received those orders, they should have lobbied hard for changes elsewhere in the legal/regulatory system, to put enough safeguards in place that they could indeed go ahead and prosecute. (Example: Reducing the consequences of a conviction so that it doesn't put a huge financial institution actually out of business.)

Obviously, little of that actually happened.

[RayClay]

"Let he who is without sin, write the first loan"

*crickets*

[Superbelt]

I think that's a bull**** excuse, first of all. Like in the case of HSBC, where they were guilty of financially shielding and assisting our enemies in Iran, and funneling drug money. Any citizen who did that would be in jail for life and have their possessions seized. Being big and powerful shouldn't shield you from the penalties of law.

It's Justice's job to prosecute under the law. It should take an act of Congress to exempt them from it. And even if we still come to that determination, part of not prosecuting a company for this, is to force them to become small enough to fail / be prosecuted. Force them to sell off parts of their company as the penalty.

[flyerhawk]

We allowed banks to become massive bureaucracies and now we are surprised that they have become ungovernable?

How often do individuals EVER get prosecuted for corporate malfeasance in large corporations?

[flyerhawk]

Great to see that CTC is now concerned with corporate accountability. Well at least if it allows him to take shots at the Obama Administration, he cares about corporate malfeasance. Of course if they DID prosecute people and never got a conviction but did harm the economy, he would be the first to blame Obama for reckless prosecutions.

[Nunchuckz]

Banks should be broken up, investment banks should be separate from lending institutions

[flyerhawk]

Banks should be broken up, investment banks should be separate from lending institutions

Yup but it isn't going to happen.

[RayClay]

Yup but it isn't going to happen.

It absolutely should.

Of course ctc was adamant that this wasn't a problem in the scandal of the 2000s so...

[flyerhawk]

It absolutely should.

Of course ctc was adamant that this wasn't a problem in the scandal of the 2000s so...

Yeah it's pretty amusing to watch CTC, public advocate, show up. Wish he was here from 2006-2009.

[Raid]

The feds are going after Standard & Poor's I think. That's a great start really.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/q...poors-18406774

[eaglesnut]

If you completely destroy one of these institutions the rest of them will follow suit by themselves and unwind their holdings until they can actually understand them. The federal government has to understand that at some level. Publicly though, the cry seems to be "we aren't big enough yet."

Bad situation we let develop. Should have busted these suckers in 2008 when we had a golden opportunity.

[flyerhawk]

The feds are going after Standard & Poor's I think. That's a great start really.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/q...poors-18406774

Civil charges that will ultimately lead to either a fine for S&P or a settlement.

That is unless the right wing crazy bin gets involved and starts accusing the DoJ of a witch hunt against S&P because S&P downgraded the credit of the United States.

[flyerhawk]

If you completely destroy one of these institutions the rest of them will follow suit by themselves and unwind their holdings until they can actually understand them. The federal government has to understand that at some level. Publicly though, the cry seems to be "we aren't big enough yet."

Bad situation we let develop. Should have busted these suckers in 2008 when we had a golden opportunity.

How exactly do you propose destroying one of these institutions?

How does one go about destroying Citibank?

[The Q]

We allowed banks to become massive bureaucracies and now we are surprised that they have become ungovernable?

How often do individuals EVER get prosecuted for corporate malfeasance in large corporations?

Do you mean criminally or via corporate governance laws?