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w4rma

(31,700 posts)
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 05:11 PM Jul 2016

Eric Holder’s Longtime Excuse for Not Prosecuting Banks Just Crashed and Burned

Source: The Intercept

Eric Holder has long insisted that he tried really hard when he was attorney general to make criminal cases against big banks in the wake of the 2007 financial crisis. His excuse, which he made again just last month, was that Justice Department prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to bring charges.

Many critics have long suspected that was bullshit, and that Holder, for a combination of political, self-serving and craven reasons, held his department back.

A new, thoroughly-documented report from the House Financial Services Committee supports that theory. It recounts how career prosecutors in 2012 wanted to criminally charge the global bank HSBC for facilitating money laundering for Mexican drug lords and terrorist groups. But Holder said no.

The HSBC case, however, shows that lack of desire at the highest levels of the Justice Department was indeed the primary reason that no prosecutions took place.

Read more: https://theintercept.com/2016/07/12/eric-holders-longtime-excuse-for-not-prosecuting-banks-just-crashed-and-burned/
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Eric Holder’s Longtime Excuse for Not Prosecuting Banks Just Crashed and Burned (Original Post) w4rma Jul 2016 OP
Jan 30 2013: HSBC Names James Comey to The Board think Jul 2016 #1
Amazing how people conflate ideas ... 1StrongBlackMan Jul 2016 #2
Nothing like the soon to be nominated head of the FBI being appointed to the HSBC board think Jul 2016 #3
Actually, at that level ... it is a really small world. 1StrongBlackMan Jul 2016 #9
Disgustingly so.... think Jul 2016 #10
But don't call them elites...nope just a small circle of friends. Rex Jul 2016 #14
It seems more like one big happy family..... think Jul 2016 #19
Yep. R. Daneel Olivaw Jul 2016 #23
If you aren't willing to jail criminals for laundering drug cartel money, then what are you willing w4rma Jul 2016 #4
WEED! of course Gabi Hayes Jul 2016 #5
Smoking pot. I am glad he is exposed for the hypocrite he is. Rex Jul 2016 #12
He didn't go after known money launderers, so what is his excuse do you think? Rex Jul 2016 #11
Exactly - using the kind of logic in the article would cause Politicub Jul 2016 #26
"But they're my FRIENDS!" should be his fallback excuse n/t arcane1 Jul 2016 #6
It seems HSBC has friends all over the place. How "lucky" they are..... think Jul 2016 #7
An astonishing series of coincidences, I'm sure n/t arcane1 Jul 2016 #13
Read upthread...it is a small world when you are in those circles. Rex Jul 2016 #16
The JD really needs someone in charge that is not going to go right back to work for a Rex Jul 2016 #8
I agree, and I look forward to HRC's pledge being implemented ... 1StrongBlackMan Jul 2016 #17
No, none, that is a good point. Rex Jul 2016 #20
Elizabeth Warren Wants HSBC Bankers Jailed for Money Laundering (ABC 2013) think Jul 2016 #24
She is awesome, one of the best of the best. Rex Jul 2016 #25
It's. It like we didn't know that, but still pathetic. onecaliberal Jul 2016 #15
TOO BIG TO JAIL: George Osborne helped HSBC avoid US criminal charges for money laundering think Jul 2016 #18
jeeeezus...one can only take so much. that's it for me today.....back to Hillary's new theme song: Gabi Hayes Jul 2016 #22
Red herring. No need to prosecute the BANK – snot Jul 2016 #30
What I understand Holder to have said wasn't what this claims. Igel Jul 2016 #21
Well, there's that, too. 1StrongBlackMan Jul 2016 #27
Given the wide spread practices by investment banks leading to the fall it is reasonable. Ford_Prefect Jul 2016 #28
^This, yes.^ snot Jul 2016 #31
holder brokered the marc rich pardon. he knows which side his bread is buttered on. KG Jul 2016 #29
Fuckin' A. We kill people for selling loosies. JEB Jul 2016 #32
 

think

(11,641 posts)
1. Jan 30 2013: HSBC Names James Comey to The Board
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 05:15 PM
Jul 2016
CORRUPTION CURRENTS
HSBC Names James Comey to The Board


By SAMUEL RUBENFELD - Jan 30, 2013 5:49 pm ET

HSBC Holdingssaid Wednesday it named James Comey, Jr. to its board as of March 4 as it continues to respond to the money laundering scandal that has engulfed the bank since last summer.

Read more:
http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2013/01/30/hsbc-names-james-comey-to-the-board/
 

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)
2. Amazing how people conflate ideas ...
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 05:16 PM
Jul 2016

"He didn't jail the Bankers for the damage they did to the economy ... Here's the proof he didn't jail the bankers for laundering drug money!"

 

think

(11,641 posts)
3. Nothing like the soon to be nominated head of the FBI being appointed to the HSBC board
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 05:19 PM
Jul 2016

just months apart. Such a small small world...

 

w4rma

(31,700 posts)
4. If you aren't willing to jail criminals for laundering drug cartel money, then what are you willing
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 05:20 PM
Jul 2016

to jail criminals for?

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
12. Smoking pot. I am glad he is exposed for the hypocrite he is.
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 05:41 PM
Jul 2016

Won't pursue drug cartels, but will go after pot smokers...erkay...something doesn't add up there.

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
11. He didn't go after known money launderers, so what is his excuse do you think?
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 05:40 PM
Jul 2016

Setting aside your strawman, why didn't he try to stop the drug cartels? He had no problems jailing non-violent drug users?

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
16. Read upthread...it is a small world when you are in those circles.
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 05:47 PM
Jul 2016

YEP. Carlin called it...it is a club and none of us are in it!

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
8. The JD really needs someone in charge that is not going to go right back to work for a
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 05:38 PM
Jul 2016

huge corporation after their tour of duty. We ALL knew he was soft on white collar crime. Some just kept quiet about it.

 

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)
17. I agree, and I look forward to HRC's pledge being implemented ...
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 05:50 PM
Jul 2016

But that said ... Does anyone have the least bit of confidence in a House sub-committee report (after the Benghazi reportssss), especially one that is captioned:

TOO BIG TO JAIL:
INSIDE THE OBAMA JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S DECISION
NOT TO HOLD WALL STREET ACCOUNTABLE
REPORT PREPARED BY THE REPUBLICAN STAFF OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HON. JEB HENSARLING, CHAIRMAN
114TH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
JULY 11, 2016


And contains the disclaimer:


This report has not been officially adopted by the Committee on Financial Services and may not necessarily reflect the views of its Members.


It's not like republicans have sought full and fair investigations of the Administration.

My ... some are a gullible lot.
 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
20. No, none, that is a good point.
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 06:00 PM
Jul 2016

If the House GOP told me the sun turned green, I would have to go outside to see it for myself. The GOP works for the plutocrats, they have been since Reagan. We need to regain the House to make any significant inroads. IMO.

 

think

(11,641 posts)
24. Elizabeth Warren Wants HSBC Bankers Jailed for Money Laundering (ABC 2013)
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 06:27 PM
Jul 2016
Elizabeth Warren Wants HSBC Bankers Jailed for Money Laundering

March 7, 2013 - By CHRIS GOOD

Elizabeth Warren has a question: How much money does a bank have to launder before people go to jail?

Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts and financial-regulatory maven, posed that question numerous times to financial regulators at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Thursday on banks and money laundering.




In December, U.S. Justice Department officials announced that HSBC, Europe's largest bank, would pay a $1.92 billion fine after laundering $881 million for drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia. At the time, the Justice Department disputed accusations that it views some banks as too big to prosecute.

The two regulators, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen and Federal Reserve Governor Jerome H. Powell, deflected Warren's questions, saying that criminal prosecutions are for the Justice Department to decide....

Read more:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/03/elizabeth-warren-wants-hsbc-bankers-jailed-for-money-laundering/

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
25. She is awesome, one of the best of the best.
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 06:31 PM
Jul 2016

If only we had her counterpart in the House! Seriously, how much money does a corporation have to launder before it becomes Enough To Jail?

 

think

(11,641 posts)
18. TOO BIG TO JAIL: George Osborne helped HSBC avoid US criminal charges for money laundering
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 05:53 PM
Jul 2016
TOO BIG TO JAIL: George Osborne helped HSBC avoid US criminal charges for money laundering

By Oscar Williams-Grut - July 12 2016

Britain's Chancellor George Osborne and the UK's former financial watchdog "hampered" the 2012 US investigation into HSBC's money laundering and contributed to a watering down of the banks eventual punishment, according to a damning US congressional report.

The Chancellor and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) warned that a possible criminal prosecution of the bank could lead to "very serious implications for financial and economic stability" and even another "global financial disaster."

The Congressional report, titled "Too Big to Jail", looks at the US Department of Justice's decision not to prosecute HSBC for money laundering offenses in 2012, instead hitting it with a $1.9 billion (£1.44 billion) fine.

The report, prepared by the Republican staff of the committee on financial services in Congress, says (emphasis ours):....

Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/hsbc-too-big-to-jail-report-george-osborne-letter-warned-of-financial-contagion-if-bank-prosecuted-2016-7?r=UK&IR=T




George Osborne's 2012 letter to then Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urging him to ease up on HSBC.
 

Gabi Hayes

(28,795 posts)
22. jeeeezus...one can only take so much. that's it for me today.....back to Hillary's new theme song:
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 06:07 PM
Jul 2016

snot

(10,530 posts)
30. Red herring. No need to prosecute the BANK –
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 09:29 PM
Jul 2016

just prosecute the individuals responsible.

Sure, it might take some work; but we put hundreds of S&L execs. in jail after the S&L crisis; and their fraud was tiny by comparison.

Igel

(35,320 posts)
21. What I understand Holder to have said wasn't what this claims.
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 06:06 PM
Jul 2016

Charge banks? That happened here and there.

But charging the CEOs, which is what most people really demanded, is a different matter. Virtually none of those were charged, and the reason given was a lack of clear evidence that met the requirements in the law.

It's also strange that one instance is evidence of there being a lot of cases that Holder quashed. Once instance is evidence of one instance. It allows the possibility of more, but that's about it.

Ford_Prefect

(7,905 posts)
28. Given the wide spread practices by investment banks leading to the fall it is reasonable.
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 07:27 PM
Jul 2016

If one did it to that extent it is very unlikely the others did not also. The scale of those events and the massive range of repercussions, along with the outspoken and outrageous denials makes this highly probable. It doesn't become actionable evidence at that point but it clearly was deserving of further and in-depth investigation.

Holder and the others clearly had been told to lay off ANY further investigation.

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