Common
01-07-2016, 04:24 AM
His total indictments of corporate and wall street crooks is a grand total of ZERO
The Obama Administration Could Repeat Its Biggest Mistake Of The Financial Crisis
In the years since it failed to prosecute a single Wall Street executive involved in the global financial crisis, the U.S. Department of Justice has repeatedly promised to hold corporate executives liable for wrongdoing. But on Monday, when it sued Volkwagen (http://www.justice.gov/opa/file/809826/download) over the automaker's scheme to disguise the illegally high amounts of poisonous gases its cars were spewing into the air, the DOJ brought no criminal charges against the company or its employees.
The German automaker, one of the largest in the world, admitted on Sept. 22 to installing software meant to cheat on emissions tests in 11 million of its diesel vehicles. Prosecutors allege (http://www.justice.gov/opa/file/809826/download) the company attempted to scam the public and deliberately hid this fact from regulators, obstructed investigators, and lied to federal authorities.
By suing Volkswagen but not pursuing criminal cases against the company or its employees, the Justice Department is repeating the mistakes it made in the wake of the financial crisis, consumer advocates argue. In the years after the meltdown, several (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/hsbc-said-to-near-1-9-billion-settlement-over-money-laundering/) big (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/jpmorgan-settles-with-federal-authorities-in-madoff-case/) banks effectively bought their way out of criminal charges by agreeing to pay billions of dollars to government agencies and aggrieved households. And despite widespread fraud, no top bankers were prosecuted.
Obama administration officials have repeatedly promised that kind of impunity won't continue.
"Americans should never believe, even incorrectly, that one’s criminal activity will go unpunished simply because it was committed on behalf of a corporation," Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said on Sept. 10 (http://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/deputy-attorney-general-sally-quillian-yates-delivers-remarks-new-york-university-school), a day after she sent a memo to federal prosecutors (http://www.justice.gov/dag/file/769036/download) nationwide instructing them to pursue corporate executives. "If the citizens of this country don’t have confidence that the criminal justice system operates fairly and applies equally -- regardless of who commits the crime or where it is committed -- then we’re in trouble."
If the citizens of this country don’t have confidence that the criminal justice system operates fairly and applies equally, then we’re in trouble.
The case against Volkswagen "is a perfect opportunity for the Justice Department to live up to its word," said Mike Litt, who works on consumer issues for U.S. PIRG, the Federation of State Public Interest Research Groups.
The allegations against Volkwagen are "truly heinous," said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a Washington-based advocacy group. In its civil complaint against Volkswagen, the Justice Department accused the company of "knowingly" concealing from federal regulators that it had installed software designed to cheat emissions tests in about 580,000 of its diesel cars sold in the U.S. The automaker also "impeded and obstructed" regulators' efforts for about a year to learn about the "defeat device" that allowed the company to cheat the emissions tests, according to the complaint.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/department-of-justice-volkswagen_568ad0b8e4b06fa688831b99
The Obama Administration Could Repeat Its Biggest Mistake Of The Financial Crisis
In the years since it failed to prosecute a single Wall Street executive involved in the global financial crisis, the U.S. Department of Justice has repeatedly promised to hold corporate executives liable for wrongdoing. But on Monday, when it sued Volkwagen (http://www.justice.gov/opa/file/809826/download) over the automaker's scheme to disguise the illegally high amounts of poisonous gases its cars were spewing into the air, the DOJ brought no criminal charges against the company or its employees.
The German automaker, one of the largest in the world, admitted on Sept. 22 to installing software meant to cheat on emissions tests in 11 million of its diesel vehicles. Prosecutors allege (http://www.justice.gov/opa/file/809826/download) the company attempted to scam the public and deliberately hid this fact from regulators, obstructed investigators, and lied to federal authorities.
By suing Volkswagen but not pursuing criminal cases against the company or its employees, the Justice Department is repeating the mistakes it made in the wake of the financial crisis, consumer advocates argue. In the years after the meltdown, several (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/hsbc-said-to-near-1-9-billion-settlement-over-money-laundering/) big (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/jpmorgan-settles-with-federal-authorities-in-madoff-case/) banks effectively bought their way out of criminal charges by agreeing to pay billions of dollars to government agencies and aggrieved households. And despite widespread fraud, no top bankers were prosecuted.
Obama administration officials have repeatedly promised that kind of impunity won't continue.
"Americans should never believe, even incorrectly, that one’s criminal activity will go unpunished simply because it was committed on behalf of a corporation," Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said on Sept. 10 (http://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/deputy-attorney-general-sally-quillian-yates-delivers-remarks-new-york-university-school), a day after she sent a memo to federal prosecutors (http://www.justice.gov/dag/file/769036/download) nationwide instructing them to pursue corporate executives. "If the citizens of this country don’t have confidence that the criminal justice system operates fairly and applies equally -- regardless of who commits the crime or where it is committed -- then we’re in trouble."
If the citizens of this country don’t have confidence that the criminal justice system operates fairly and applies equally, then we’re in trouble.
The case against Volkswagen "is a perfect opportunity for the Justice Department to live up to its word," said Mike Litt, who works on consumer issues for U.S. PIRG, the Federation of State Public Interest Research Groups.
The allegations against Volkwagen are "truly heinous," said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a Washington-based advocacy group. In its civil complaint against Volkswagen, the Justice Department accused the company of "knowingly" concealing from federal regulators that it had installed software designed to cheat emissions tests in about 580,000 of its diesel cars sold in the U.S. The automaker also "impeded and obstructed" regulators' efforts for about a year to learn about the "defeat device" that allowed the company to cheat the emissions tests, according to the complaint.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/department-of-justice-volkswagen_568ad0b8e4b06fa688831b99