Holder: More Trials Coming For Those Responsible For Economic Collapse

Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday that he expects to see an increase in the number of trials for those who may have engaged in illegal activity contributing to the collapse of the housing, financial and banking industries.

Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a hearing on Justice Department activities, Holder was asked by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) why there hadn't been more "show trials" for alleged white-collar criminals. Cornyn, despite the use of a somewhat dismissive phrase, was being sincere.

"The president has created the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, and that task force is looking at a variety of matters," the Attorney General replied. "These are difficult cases to put together. They are complex by their nature. They are paper-driven. They are not easy to put together.

"I think over time we will see more of these trials, and I hope they will have the deterrent effect that they are capable of having," Holder went on, noting that cases had been successfully prosecuted against Bernie Madoff and Robert Allen Stanford.

Holder added that, like Cornyn, he believed the issue of investigating and -- in certain cases -- trying those responsible for the economic collapse "ultimately needs to be emphasized." The primary responsibility for that, Holder said, rests with the aforementioned task force, which he said is taking "an unprecedented effort to take the alphabet agencies and federal bureaucracies together so we can be efficient."

Comments

[Stephen Bishop]

07:33 PM on 04/15/2010

Massive pernicious fraud by an industry that is deliberately structured for fraud from top to bottom. Punishment is definitely warranted, but it will happen again unless the entire real estate machine is dismantled.

[BlueSkyPilot]

12:35 PM on 04/15/2010

Remember HeathSouth? Richard Scrushy Ordered To Pay $2.9B To Shareholders.

Get your money back from the Theives on Wall Street. Sue the CEOs for what they took from you.

They can afford to pay the investors at least 80 percent of the profits they have made.

You can always find a new casino to take your bets.

[mariusvinchi]

07:40 AM on 04/15/2010

In addition to criminal prosecutions, I would like to see shareholder lawsuits. Shareholder value plummeted while Wall Street execs took home ENORMOUS pay packages. I would especially like to see Goldman Sachs execs face a firing squad for pushing derivatives while betting against them.

[PhilipTaylor]

03:53 AM on 04/15/2010

NOT ONE WALL STREET CEO HAS EVER BEEN PROSECUTED IN OUR HISTORY! NEVER! EVER!

Time for a CHANGE!

IGNORED HEROS OF SCAMS: MADOFF TO JPM!

#1. SEC ignored Harry Markopolos who BUILT CASE AGAINST Madoff’s $50+Billion Ponzi scheme.

#2 SEC ignored Leyla Basagoitia (2003) who warned of $8 Billion Sir Allen Stanford PONZI SCAM! SEC forced her to pay Stanford $107,782 in damages.

#3 SEC ignored Brad Birkenfeld (2007) who warned of USB offshore tax shelters the Swiss bank was using to help wealthy Americans evade taxes. He cooperating with the IRS, SEC, and DOJ appearing before the Senate and Birkenfeld was arrested in June 2008. SADLY the IRS fined UBS $780 Million but has FAILED to PROSECUTE the 19,000 cases of tax evasion!

#4 SEC ignored David Einhorn detailed EVIDENCE of Allied World Capital’s FRAUD. SEC ended up a PRIME Topic in his book “Fooling Some of the People All of the Time.”

#5 SEC ignored Ex-Moody's executive Eric Kolchinsky in Sept 2009 warning Moody's was violating securities law by assigning inflated investment grades to mortgage-Derivatives. Ultimately, he had to go to Congress after SEC ignored and delayed.

#6 SEC ignored Peter Sivere, former JPM officer, internal e-mails showing JPM was illegally giving $Hundreds of Millions in credit to a firm "in the business of day trading mutual funds." SEC lawyer, Demos now running for Congress, passed his warnings to JPM's lawyers, violating SEC confidentiality rules. Sivere was fired by JPM!

[freespeech2]

08:47 PM on 04/29/2010

So why do you want to sue the CEO'S? YOU SHOULD BE SUING THE SEC!!!!

[GloriaY]

12:04 AM on 04/15/2010

AG Holder, while the grass is growing, the horse is starving. How long will it take before the FIRST indictment is made? Let's see them coming before President Obama comes out of office pleeeeeeeze. Your mills seem to be grinding much too slowly for comfort. The American people want swifter action.Come on Mr Attorney General.

[LawTalkingGuy]

07:43 PM on 04/14/2010

""I think over time we will see more of these trials, and I hope they will have the deterrent effect"

WTF? He's the Attorney-General. He doesn't need to think and hope. As a wise muppet said, there is no try, only DO.

[venusvictrix]

06:56 PM on 04/14/2010

Holder points to the cases successfully prosecuted against Bernie Madoff and Robert Allen Stanford as evidence that his Task Force Committee will succeed.

Wow that's reassuring!

And how ironic that both of those cases are featured in HP’s “SEC’s Biggest Whistleblower Blunders” of all time, just today:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/14/the-secs-biggest-whistleb_n_529500.html

Too bad the SEC ignored the Whistleblowers who tried to tip them off about BOTH these individuals . . . years before their fraud actually came to light.

[lynettema]

06:52 PM on 04/14/2010

Good. Go get 'em. Wish democracy and justice in a democracy was not so darned slow.

[freespeech2]

06:08 PM on 04/14/2010

Good. Lets sort out who was responsibleand quit blaming everyone.

[wassilij]

05:59 PM on 04/14/2010

GET YOUR MONEY OUT OF THE BIG BANKS NOW!!!!......AND INTO YOUR LOCAL CREDIT UNIONS NOW......THE SECOND WAVE IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER....YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!! DON"T BE HIT TWICE.!

[Pavane]

11:44 PM on 04/14/2010

Stop yelling.

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

04:00 AM on 04/15/2010

It's ok to yell that. I'm afeared that too many are not listening.

[AngryOhioan]

05:58 PM on 04/14/2010

Who is responsible for these headlines. How do you go from 'i think over time we will see more' to more trials coming. What a load. Nobody important will be prosecuted because they all gave their payoffs, i mean donations to Obama.

[schatsie]

04:56 PM on 04/14/2010

He """"expects''' to see an increase.....The least he can do is hire Eliot Spitzer and get the whip cracking....At the rate he is going, Obama will be out and Jeb will be in and all the cases will be dropped...Just like Arnie dropped the 50 billion dollar lawsuit against ENRON for pillaging California.....

[Dan De Leon]

04:18 PM on 04/14/2010

FINALLY

[karen1p]

03:30 PM on 04/14/2010

BTW, Eric, just grab a couple of loan origination documents from WaMu.....pretty sure you could send them over to a local high school math class and have some indictments by evening.

[karen1p]

03:23 PM on 04/14/2010

Mr. Holder,
Only when I see Blankfein and Dimon behind bars or so heavily fined that they are actually spilling real tears will I believe you are doing your job.

Signed,
A Disgusted and Disillusioned Homeowner

[TeeLolly]

03:28 PM on 04/14/2010

Cosigned.