….in the two years since the peak of the financial crisis, the government has not brought one criminal case against a big-time corporate official of any sort.
Instead, inexplicably, prosecutors are busy chasing small-timers: penny-stock frauds, a husband-and-wife team charged in an insider trading case and mini-Ponzi schemes.
“They will pick on minor misdemeanors by individual market participants,” said David Einhorn, the hedge fund manager who was among the Cassandras before the financial crisis. To Mr. Einhorn, the government is “not willing to take on significant misbehavior by sizable” firms. “But since there have been almost no big prosecutions, there’s very little evidence that it has stopped bad actors from behaving badly.”
One reason is time and money. White collar wrongdoers have the ability to fight back and they have deep pockets. It can take the Government years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to prosecute a criminal or to bring a civil suit to recover damages.
In my first large case in an insurance insolvency the owners diverted 7 to 10 million dollars. The insurance went into receivership. The receiver (Florida Department of Insurance) sued. I took us 3-4 years, outside lawyers and accountants, to put the case together, plus a 6 week trial. Our cost was over 1 million including my time ($ 25 an hour (state salary), and that of our team of state employees and private lawyers and accountants (who charged more than $25 an hour). We got a judgment for 16 million I recall, but we were never able to collect on it.
“One reason is time and money. ”
That’s BS. The founder of Wikileaks had money. He was arrested and is being held indefinately without bail for “failing to wear a condom”. The difference is that the Wikileaks disclosures exposed the fraud perpetrated by Goldman Sachs and the various climate change scams, in collusion with the government. The problem is that our government is corrupt, and is owned by the banksters. That is why, they have preferred to print 13 trillion dollars to “save the banks” while holding guns at the heads of poor folk who are about to lose unemployment benefits and homes.
Do you really think that Paulson and the rest of the merry crew always wear condoms? There is NOTHING they could be charged with? Because the government has no trouble charging “normal” people who cross their path. Even “rich” normal people.
They could go after the banks if they wished to. Unfortunately we are no longer a democracy that allows freedom of speech and requires that Congress have control of the public purse. We are an oligarchy, controlled by Goldman Sachs.