Huffington Post Investigation on Why More Banskters Not in the Big House

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund advanced the discussion on why there have not been more criminal prosecutions of the Banksters large and small. Their researchers document that government agencies, specifically the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission have completely dropped the ball on criminal referrals to the Department of Justice for apparent fraudulent and criminal behavior. They invited us to reproduce their work, so we do so here and we include a video of our friend William Black's recent interview on Bill Moyer's on the same topic. Remember, BanksterUSA has been urging the Department of Justice and the FBI to "Book the Crooks" for a year now. If you didn't have time to take action click here.

******

Too Big to Jail?

Executives unscathed as regulators let banks report criminal fraud
By David Heath
Huffington Post Investigative Fund

The financial crisis has spawned hundreds of criminal prosecutions for alleged fraud. Yet so far, defendants have been mostly minor players such as real-estate agents, mortgage brokers, borrowers and a few low-level bank employees. No senior executives at large financial institutions face criminal charges.

That's in stark contrast to prosecutions during the savings and loan scandal two decades ago, when the government's strategy targeted and snagged some of banking's most powerful players. The approach back then succeeded in sending scores of S&L executives to prison, as well as junk-bond king Michael Milken and business tycoon Charles Keating Jr.

One explanation for the difference may be that key bank regulators -- who did the detective work during the S&L crisis and sent more than 1,000 criminal referrals to prosecutors -- have this time left reporting fraud up to the banks themselves.

Spokesmen for two chief regulators, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision, say that they have not sent prosecutors a single case for criminal prosecution.

An OTS spokesman said the agency, much like the banks themselves, does not see much evidence of criminal fraud inside the financial institutions. The spokesman, Bill Ruberry, citing the agency's enforcement director, said, "There may be some isolated cases, but certainly there's no widespread patterns."

That surprises William K. Black, a former OTS official who helped coordinate criminal investigations during the S&L crisis. "Dear God," Black said when told bank regulators haven't made any criminal referrals. "Not a single one?"

READ THE FULL STORY BY CLICKING HERE.