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Should the Big Bankers and Wall Street execs get jail time?

Should the Big Bankers and Walll Street execs get jail time?

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    48
  • Poll closed .
DaveFagan

DaveFagan

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Mojo - October 2013 | Mother Jones

Warren to Wall Street Regulators: Put Big Bank CEOs in Jail

http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/10/elizabeth-warren-letter-wall-street-jail"This past weekend, the Department of Justice slapped a record fine on JPMorgan Chase for packaging and selling the mortgage-backed financial products that helped cause the financial meltdown. But Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wants the administration to know that fines are not enough. On Wednesday, she called on Wall Street regulators to hold all those responsible for the 2008 crisis accountable.In a letter to the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Officer of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Warren lauded the overseer of the TARP bailout program for cracking down on financial industry players who wasted, stole, or abused the federal emergency funds doled out to banks during the financial crisis, and implied that the three banking regulators should also punish individuals who helped cause the financial meltdown.Although the budget for TARP's inspector general was "a small fraction of the size of the budgets and staffs at your agencies," Warren pointed out, the program's watchdog has brought criminal charges against nearly 100 senior executives; obtained criminal convictions on 107 defendants, including 51 jail sentences; and suspended or banned 37 people from working in the banking industry.How about you guys, Warren asked. She called on the Fed, the SEC, and the OCC to provide records on the number of people the agencies have charged criminally and civilly, the number of convictions and prison sentences they have obtained, the number of people banned or suspended from working in the industry, and the total amount of fines leveled against Wall Street ne'er-do-wells."

Don't billion dollar crimes deserve jail time?

Is it curious that Warren has been prosecuting with jail time, but FEDS have not?

Is this the result of the revolving door of employees between Wall Street and FED, etc.?

I can't imagine multi million and billion dollar fines and no criminal prosecution, can you?

This smells like fish, and our economy is still suffering, but these crooks remain rich, footloose, and untouchable.

Is the new Mafia the elite bankers on Wall Street?
 
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I'm thinking the Big Bankers knew the financial threats of their positions and financial instruments and that is why they serve in these "illustrious" or notorious positions, ergo they can't plead ignorance. It would appear that if you are caught stealing or misappropriating a thousand dollars, you will go to jail, but if you are caught stealing or misappropriating a million dollars, you will be fined a hundred thousand dollars. I've got to get me one of these jobs. Crime does pay.
 
DaveFagan said:
I'm thinking the Big Bankers knew the financial threats of their positions and financial instruments and that is why they serve in these "illustrious" or notorious positions, ergo they can't plead ignorance. It would appear that if you are caught stealing or misappropriating a thousand dollars, you will go to jail, but if you are caught stealing or misappropriating a million dollars, you will be fined a hundred thousand dollars. I've got to get me one of these jobs. Crime does pay.
Click to expand...

I'm truthfully stunned that there is not more interest regarding this topic. These are the executives responsible for the 2008 crash. Regulators are just now settling some of these cases. If you fine these people less than they steal, that is a tacit OK to steal some more, because it will be profitable. Steal a billion, minus a 100 million dollar fine and no prosecution or jail time and you will make a 900 million dollar profit. Keerissst, that's just good business because it turns a profit. Is there astigmatism in this picture or are our regulators living on another planet.
 
DaveFagan said:
I'm truthfully stunned that there is not more interest regarding this topic. These are the executives responsible for the 2008 crash. Regulators are just now settling some of these cases. If you fine these people less than they steal, that is a tacit OK to steal some more, because it will be profitable. Steal a billion, minus a 100 million dollar fine and no prosecution or jail time and you will make a 900 million dollar profit. Keerissst, that's just good business because it turns a profit. Is there astigmatism in this picture or are our regulators living on another planet.
Click to expand...

in my opinion , the executives who were responsible for the 2008 crash should have been forced to give up to half their wages as compensation.
 
These are not cases for criminal court, and only a far-left ideologue would disagree. Making bad investments are not felonies.

That is absurd.
 
Gipper said:
These are not cases for criminal court, and only a far-left ideologue would disagree. Making bad investments are not felonies.

That is absurd.
Click to expand...

and what if those bad investment throws the entire economic system of the world into chaos?
 
Unitedwestand13 said:
and what if those bad investment throws the entire economic system of the world into chaos?
Click to expand...

So all pencils should have erasers, huh?

Sorry, but as someone who fully believes in accountability, I don't think you'd like my answer.
 
Should the Big Bankers and Wall Street execs get jail time?

Yes they should get jail time.
 
i voted "other".
The executives should receive due process and be trialed, on criminal charges as they fit. If convicted, they should go to jail, yes.
 
Gipper said:
These are not cases for criminal court, and only a far-left ideologue would disagree. Making bad investments are not felonies.

That is absurd.
Click to expand...

If so wanted, many of those behind the schemes used could be on trial on the same charges as for example Bernie Madoff.
Intentional provision of false information, profiting from failing investments by betting against investors who were sold those investments on false promises by the same corporations... there's plenty of criminal charges and felonies that have been committed.
 
NeoVsMatrix said:
If so wanted, many of those behind the schemes used could be on trial on the same charges as for example Bernie Madoff.
Intentional provision of false information, profiting from failing investments by betting against investors who were sold those investments on false promises by the same corporations... there's plenty of criminal charges and felonies that have been committed.
Click to expand...

There is a far cry between a risky investment and a Ponzi. Slight hyperbole.
 
Gipper said:
There is a far cry between a risky investment and a Ponzi. Slight hyperbole.
Click to expand...

That would be for the court to determine, if there'd be a trial with all facts on the table.

The emails that have been made available, as to when people knew that the given situation was about to crumble and fall apart, the admission in those emails that this was meant to fail, that intentional bets have been made on those investments to crash, and that At some point investors were knowingly pulled into the already deteriorating market, pretty much knowing that they would lose their investments... there are a lot of parallels.
The intention to profit personally from an investment advise given to someone else, while knowing about the undisclosed risks such an investment bares... that sounds a lot like a ponzi scheme to me.
 
Gipper said:
There is a far cry between a risky investment and a Ponzi. Slight hyperbole.
Click to expand...

This is only an opinion, of course, not a legal observation.. but, as to your point, i am not the only one who thinks that comparing the DCS crash to a ponzi scheme is not at all just a far cry.

Excerpt:
"One of the most poorly kept secrets in Wall Street’s empire of fraud was that credit default swaps were never anything but pretend-insurance. The credit default swap market is a $60+ trillion paper Ponzi-scheme. The Wall Street crime syndicate claiming to “back” this insurance have nothing more than a few $billion of liquidity apiece. It is a fact of arithmetic that these fraud-factories never intended to honour these contracts."

Credit Default Swap Fraud Exposed/Confirmed
 
NeoVsMatrix said:
That would be for the court to determine, if there'd be a trial with all facts on the table.

The emails that have been made available, as to when people knew that the given situation was about to crumble and fall apart, the admission in those emails that this was meant to fail, that intentional bets have been made on those investments to crash, and that At some point investors were knowingly pulled into the already deteriorating market, pretty much knowing that they would lose their investments... there are a lot of parallels.
The intention to profit personally from an investment advise given to someone else, while knowing about the undisclosed risks such an investment bares... that sounds a lot like a ponzi scheme to me.
Click to expand...

People who think that derivatives are low-risk ought to not invest in the first place.
 
looking forward to a response to this Warren inquiry:
... Although the budget for TARP's inspector general was "a small fraction of the size of the budgets and staffs at your agencies," Warren pointed out, the program's watchdog has brought criminal charges against nearly 100 senior executives; obtained criminal convictions on 107 defendants, including 51 jail sentences; and suspended or banned 37 people from working in the banking industry.How about you guys, Warren asked. She called on the Fed, the SEC, and the OCC to provide records on the number of people the agencies have charged criminally and civilly, the number of convictions and prison sentences they have obtained, the number of people banned or suspended from working in the industry, and the total amount of fines leveled against Wall Street ne'er-do-wells.
Click to expand...
[emphasis added by bubba]

until this prosecution - of those guilty of fraud and illegal manipulation - happens
we will continue to have the best government money can buy

thank you Elizabeth Warren for staying focused on this issue
please run for the white house in 2016
 
DaveFagan said:
Mojo - October 2013 | Mother Jones

Warren to Wall Street Regulators: Put Big Bank CEOs in Jail

http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/10/elizabeth-warren-letter-wall-street-jail"This past weekend, the Department of Justice slapped a record fine on JPMorgan Chase for packaging and selling the mortgage-backed financial products that helped cause the financial meltdown. But Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wants the administration to know that fines are not enough. On Wednesday, she called on Wall Street regulators to hold all those responsible for the 2008 crisis accountable.In a letter to the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Officer of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Warren lauded the overseer of the TARP bailout program for cracking down on financial industry players who wasted, stole, or abused the federal emergency funds doled out to banks during the financial crisis, and implied that the three banking regulators should also punish individuals who helped cause the financial meltdown.Although the budget for TARP's inspector general was "a small fraction of the size of the budgets and staffs at your agencies," Warren pointed out, the program's watchdog has brought criminal charges against nearly 100 senior executives; obtained criminal convictions on 107 defendants, including 51 jail sentences; and suspended or banned 37 people from working in the banking industry.How about you guys, Warren asked. She called on the Fed, the SEC, and the OCC to provide records on the number of people the agencies have charged criminally and civilly, the number of convictions and prison sentences they have obtained, the number of people banned or suspended from working in the industry, and the total amount of fines leveled against Wall Street ne'er-do-wells."

Don't billion dollar crimes deserve jail time?

Is it curious that Warren has been prosecuting with jail time, but FEDS have not?

Is this the result of the revolving door of employees between Wall Street and FED, etc.?

I can't imagine multi million and billion dollar fines and no criminal prosecution, can you?

This smells like fish, and our economy is still suffering, but these crooks remain rich, footloose, and untouchable.

Is the new Mafia the elite bankers on Wall Street?
Click to expand...

No, but they should be reduced to instruments of the state.

If a nation's economic resources are "too big to fail" then it follows they are "too big for freedom."
 
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NeoVsMatrix said:
This is only an opinion, of course, not a legal observation.. but, as to your point, i am not the only one who thinks that comparing the DCS crash to a ponzi scheme is not at all just a far cry.

Excerpt:
"One of the most poorly kept secrets in Wall Street’s empire of fraud was that credit default swaps were never anything but pretend-insurance. The credit default swap market is a $60+ trillion paper Ponzi-scheme. The Wall Street crime syndicate claiming to “back” this insurance have nothing more than a few $billion of liquidity apiece. It is a fact of arithmetic that these fraud-factories never intended to honour these contracts."

Credit Default Swap Fraud Exposed/Confirmed
Click to expand...


The article linked is exactly correct and was written a year and a half ago. Not a very flattering picture of our government or the rest of the World Banking system. It all appears a charade to protect the crooks. Warren should be careful. If she rocks this boat, her life could be in danger.
 
If they are a guilty of offenses appropriate for imprisonment, yes, hunt them down (legally).
 
The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has never been a haven for shrinking violets. If there was a prosecutable criminal offense those execs would have done the perp walk a long time ago.
 
If they purposely did something that led to the housing collapse, or their actions were criminally negligent, then yeah, put them on trial.

If they were just doing what everyone else was doing on a bigger scale, because that's what the law allowed them to do, then I don't see how that's their fault.
 
Of course bankers deserve jail time and to think otherwise is, literally, stupid.
 
The ceo from Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Bros., Bear Stearns, Wamu, and the big 3 audit firms that gave them unqualified good audits should all go to jail for violating the Sarbanes Oxley Act, IMO.

1. Certifying Periodic Reports
Sections 906 and 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act enacted twin provisions of the United States Code requiring certification by the CEOs and CFOs of corporate documents; these provisions are 18 U.S.C. §1350 and 15 U.S.C. §7241, respectively. Each section gives two levels of criminal penalties, depending upon whether the violation was knowing or willful.

Under 18 U.S.C., all CEOs and CFOs certify, in writing, that every periodic report filed by their public company under §13(a) or §15(d) of the Exchange Act, fairly represents the financial condition of the company. 18 U.S.C. §1350 also provides criminal penalties of up to 20 years for willful violations and up to 10 years imprisonment for violations where the executive knowingly signed a false certification.

Under 15 U.S.C. §7241, a “principal executive officer of officers and principal financial officer of officers  or persons performing similar functions,” of a public company must certify each quarterly and annual report filed by the company under the new Exchange Act Rules §13(a) or §15(d). Furthermore, “a separate certification must be provided for each certifying officer, and the language of the certification cannot be varied from the language contained in” the statute.

Certification is made based on the knowledge of the certifying officer, and ignorance will not be a defense to a charge of falsely certifying a quarterly or annual report if the certifying officer should have known that the certification was false. Therefore, the implementation of §302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act “creates a heavy burden on the CEO and CFO to become personally aware of material information on a timely basis, and also makes it difficult to argue in any investigation that the CEO or CFO in fact had no knowledge of material information that was available.”
Click to expand...
www.dallascriminallawyer.com/library/docs/SarbanesOxleyart4-06.doc‎

If you put www. in front of the following it should work: dallascriminallawyer.com/library/docs/SarbanesOxleyart4-06.doc

Hank Paulson at Treasury was in constant contact with the financial CEO's to assess how much trouble they were in, and they failed to disclose it to their shareholders, many of whom got wiped out or nearly so. This is a clear violation of Sarbanes Oxley, and should have been prosecuted.
 
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DaveFagan said:
Mojo - October 2013 | Mother Jones

Warren to Wall Street Regulators: Put Big Bank CEOs in Jail

http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/10/elizabeth-warren-letter-wall-street-jail"This past weekend, the Department of Justice slapped a record fine on JPMorgan Chase for packaging and selling the mortgage-backed financial products that helped cause the financial meltdown. But Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wants the administration to know that fines are not enough. On Wednesday, she called on Wall Street regulators to hold all those responsible for the 2008 crisis accountable.In a letter to the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Officer of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Warren lauded the overseer of the TARP bailout program for cracking down on financial industry players who wasted, stole, or abused the federal emergency funds doled out to banks during the financial crisis, and implied that the three banking regulators should also punish individuals who helped cause the financial meltdown.Although the budget for TARP's inspector general was "a small fraction of the size of the budgets and staffs at your agencies," Warren pointed out, the program's watchdog has brought criminal charges against nearly 100 senior executives; obtained criminal convictions on 107 defendants, including 51 jail sentences; and suspended or banned 37 people from working in the banking industry.How about you guys, Warren asked. She called on the Fed, the SEC, and the OCC to provide records on the number of people the agencies have charged criminally and civilly, the number of convictions and prison sentences they have obtained, the number of people banned or suspended from working in the industry, and the total amount of fines leveled against Wall Street ne'er-do-wells."

Don't billion dollar crimes deserve jail time?

Is it curious that Warren has been prosecuting with jail time, but FEDS have not?

Is this the result of the revolving door of employees between Wall Street and FED, etc.?

I can't imagine multi million and billion dollar fines and no criminal prosecution, can you?

This smells like fish, and our economy is still suffering, but these crooks remain rich, footloose, and untouchable.

Is the new Mafia the elite bankers on Wall Street?
Click to expand...

If they committed a crime and are convicted yes......if not no.
 
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