- Oct 7, 2011
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A new report from the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) finds that President Barack Obamas and Attorney General Eric Holders failure to criminally charge any top Wall Street bankers is likely a result of cronyism inside the Department of Justice and political donations made to Obamas campaign.
Despite Obamas and Holders heated rhetoric against Wall Street (in 2009, Obama blamed the 2008 financial collapse on reckless speculation of bankers while Holder charged that unscrupulous executives, Ponzi scheme operators and common criminals alike have targeted the pocketbooks and retirement accounts of middle class Americans), they havent filed a single criminal charge against any top executive of an elite financial institution, GAI wrote in its report...
GAI argues that the Obama administrations decision to not go after Big Finance is due to senior DOJ leadership Holder, Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli, Associate Attorney General Tony West, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, Deputy Attorney General James Cole and Deputy Associate Attorney General Karol Mason who all came to the DOJ from prestigious white-collar defense firms where they represented the very financial institutions the DOJ is supposed to investigate.
The report details how Holder and Breuer both came to the DOJ from Covington & Burling, a top-tier Washington law firm with a client list that includes financial firms like Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, CitiBank, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, ING, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wilmington Trust.
GAI said that President Obamas decision to choose Holder, a white-collar defense attorney from Covington, as his attorney general, over a more fiery prosecutor, appears to have sent a subtle signal to the financial community that this administration isnt going to actually do anything, despite the harsh words.
Cole, the report outlines, was with Bryan Cave LLP a white-shoe firm with A-list clients before becoming Holders right-hand man at the DOJ. One of Coles clients while at Bryan Cave LLP, the GAI report shows, was insurance and financial giant AIG.
Cole had done $20 million worth of work for AIG between 2004 and 2008, but his close ties with the company which was at the heart of the financial crisis largely because of its noncompliance in regulatory and compliance issues didnt stop Obama or Holder from welcoming him aboard their administration...
Read more: Report: Cronyism behind Holder's failure to charge bankers | The Daily Caller
Despite Obamas and Holders heated rhetoric against Wall Street (in 2009, Obama blamed the 2008 financial collapse on reckless speculation of bankers while Holder charged that unscrupulous executives, Ponzi scheme operators and common criminals alike have targeted the pocketbooks and retirement accounts of middle class Americans), they havent filed a single criminal charge against any top executive of an elite financial institution, GAI wrote in its report...
GAI argues that the Obama administrations decision to not go after Big Finance is due to senior DOJ leadership Holder, Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli, Associate Attorney General Tony West, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, Deputy Attorney General James Cole and Deputy Associate Attorney General Karol Mason who all came to the DOJ from prestigious white-collar defense firms where they represented the very financial institutions the DOJ is supposed to investigate.
The report details how Holder and Breuer both came to the DOJ from Covington & Burling, a top-tier Washington law firm with a client list that includes financial firms like Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, CitiBank, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, ING, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wilmington Trust.
GAI said that President Obamas decision to choose Holder, a white-collar defense attorney from Covington, as his attorney general, over a more fiery prosecutor, appears to have sent a subtle signal to the financial community that this administration isnt going to actually do anything, despite the harsh words.
Cole, the report outlines, was with Bryan Cave LLP a white-shoe firm with A-list clients before becoming Holders right-hand man at the DOJ. One of Coles clients while at Bryan Cave LLP, the GAI report shows, was insurance and financial giant AIG.
Cole had done $20 million worth of work for AIG between 2004 and 2008, but his close ties with the company which was at the heart of the financial crisis largely because of its noncompliance in regulatory and compliance issues didnt stop Obama or Holder from welcoming him aboard their administration...
Read more: Report: Cronyism behind Holder's failure to charge bankers | The Daily Caller