Eric Schneiderman Discusses Financial Crimes Unit (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON--New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman discussed his new role as co-chair of a Financial Crimes Unit Sunday on "Up With Chris Hayes."

"You can't have some institutions that are protected by the law, not allowed to fail and not held to account, and all the other institutions and companies in America are allowed to fail," he said.

"You can't have equal justice under law and have too big to fail," he continued. "And that's where we were stepping up this week." He added, "We're not taking equal justice under law back anywhere. That's American, that is quintessentially American, and that's what we're stepping up on. Everything is on the table."

When asked about criminal prosecutions, he said, "certainly the folks who have the criminal jurisdiction are a part of our working group...again the combination of resources should tell you that we're looking at criminal liability, civil liability and an array of things I've already mentioned."

(Video above via MSNBC.)

The new unit, announced by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address, will have the power to investigate mortgage fraud going back at least 10 years. It will consider a variety of cases, including false statements, mail and wire fraud, and failure to comply with the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989, established in the wake of the savings and loan crisis, reported The Huffington Post's Loren Berlin.

The administration announced a different financial fraud unit three years ago, the Financial Fraud Task Force, which has gone after small-time fraud and not big-time Wall Street bankers, mostly settling for civil fines.

FireDogLake blogger David Dayen wonders about the purpose of the new unit. "Three of the five co-chairs of this panel have a history of dragging their feet on enforcement against the banks in precisely the same areas that this panel will allegedly investigate," he noted.

Robert Kuttner, while praising the decision to create the task force, said Schneiderman could face headwinds:

There are certainly those in the administration who hope to sit on Schneiderman. You can see this in the dueling press releases to date. For instance, Eric Holder, in his Friday statement, included the unhelpful comment that "behavior that is unethical or reckless may not necessarily be criminal." This is of course true, but why on earth make that point in the context of announcing a new task force that is supposed to signal new toughness? It suggests that Holder, if left in charge, would pursue the same weak prosecutorial policies of the past three years.

The announcement of the unit came just a few days before The Huffington Post's Sam Stein and Zach Carter reported that the Obama administration, state attorneys general, and possibly, the nation's largest banks, were close to a final $25 billion settlement over allegations of massive foreclosure fraud.

Attorneys general more critical of the banks, such as Schneiderman, have rejected administration overtures that they join in the settlement, calling it too weak. The creation of the crisis unit is seen as a way to persuade those attorneys general to rejoin the talks.

Comments

[RonaldBlair]

08:40 PM on 01/30/2012

Barney Frank should go to JAIL- along with HOLDER & OBAMA- who have deceived America- The incredible Obama HOAX- the most secrative of any president and the only president in history to hide his past history (at the cost of millions) he even surrendered his LAW license to avoid investigation- an honest man would NOT do this-

[Steelsil]

01:31 PM on 01/30/2012

Eric Holder is a bank$ter lawyer. Hearing that 3 out of 5 of the commissioners are also bank$ter plants tells us that the fix is still in. Wall $treet owns the Obama administration, and matters would be even worse with a Republican administration. Why do Democratic voters put up with this? Why shouldn't we replace Obama with a Progressive who isn't in the bank$ters' pockets?

[nothingchanges]

01:24 PM on 01/30/2012

"You can't have some institutions that are protected by the law, not allowed to fail and not held to account, and all the other institutions and companies in America are allowed to fail," he said.

"You can't have equal justice under law and have too big to fail,"

Personal opinion..............

You can't open "Pandora's box" with no consequences.

The Too Big to Fail bailouts all ready took place. You can't take them back.

The Big Banks learned an important lesson. They learned that they have more power in this country than our government has.

They won't forget that lesson, no matter how much politicians want them to.

[Senzasord]

01:20 PM on 01/30/2012

As long as we are going to subscribe to the farcial notion that corporations are people then we can distinguish between the activities of the CEO's and the Corporations. The Companies may be too big to fail, but the CEO's are not too big for jail.

[tacevad]

01:11 PM on 01/30/2012

the only entity that should qualify for the "too big to fail" title should be the USA. all others should be dismantled to the point of sustainability The Ma Bell approach is needed in the financial world

[emmanuel kalu]

12:42 PM on 01/30/2012

it is time we begin going after this banks and those that created this financial crisises that we are experience. I believe that this AG would really tough on this banks and would get result. yes there should be jail time, however the govt has to hit this banks and corporation exactly where it hurts the most. if those banks are found at fault, they should be made to pay huge fines, help the homeowner and made to be reviewed periodically by the regulators.

[Steelsil]

01:33 PM on 01/30/2012

Eric Holder's practice before he was made AG was representing bank$ters. Do you see the problem, now?

[Sandie123]

12:25 PM on 01/30/2012

Thank you President Obama!!!

Obama 2012

[nymexdvd]

12:22 PM on 01/30/2012

So what did they do during the crisis, they made them bigger, DUH!!!!!!

[tacevad]

01:13 PM on 01/30/2012

I assume you refer to TARP, without reinventing history can you tell me who instituted that program?

[nymexdvd]

02:00 PM on 01/30/2012

I'm not referring to TARP, I'm referring to the mergers that took place between banks and investment houses.

[hrc04]

12:15 PM on 01/30/2012

If they got Schneiderman because they thought he would be good window dressing, then they don't know Schneiderman.

[emmanuel kalu]

12:43 PM on 01/30/2012

i seriously believe that they got the NY AG because he is tough and would get some serious result.

[hrc04]

12:46 PM on 01/30/2012

Lets hope so.

[ez14livin]

01:39 PM on 01/30/2012

just hope he doesn't have any h00kers in his closet

[aloha hi]

09:43 PM on 01/30/2012

amen to that..
Put Mitchell J Stein in the the mix too...
After all who are the real criminals here and who are the victims?

[JoanMeijer]

12:15 PM on 01/30/2012

I certainly hope this actually happens. It certainly does make Obama look like at last he's doing something right.

[Steelsil]

01:34 PM on 01/30/2012

FireDogLake blogger David Dayen wonders about the purpose of the new unit. "Three of the five co-chairs of this panel have a history of dragging their feet on enforcement against the banks in precisely the same areas that this panel will allegedly investigate," he noted.

[Robert Fanney]

12:05 PM on 01/30/2012

The big banks should write down losses to underwater homeowners -- fini. If they're going to get bailed out, they should at least pass some benefit on to the public who helped them. Instead, they continue mortgage sharking practices that are nothing more than a war on home ownership.

[tacevad]

01:16 PM on 01/30/2012

while that would be ideal, I personally would prefer automatic refi for anyone currently paying above 6% on a mortgage . The money freed from banking clutches would be better spent in the economy by real people who can remain in their real homes .

[Robert Fanney]

01:50 PM on 01/30/2012

That would help!