There's a fellow syndicated in my local paper who's upset that Wall Street is being occupied and blamed for a whole lot of stuff he considers unfair. His name is Larry Elders and he writes for creators.com. The URL is generic, so I won't bother providing a link. But here's his beef--
Hey, Occupy Wall Street: What, No Anti-Obama Signs?
The Occupy Wall Street folks tell us to blame Wall Street for the nation's financial troubles. Notice the no-fly zone over President Barack Obama. Where are the anti-President Barack Obama signs or the verbal chants denouncing the President? Imagine the protests/sit-ins/rallies/mass marches on Pennsylvania Avenue — not Wall Street — if after two years of Republican White House leadership, America remained stuck on over 9 percent unemployment!
Now, I could dismiss Larry as one of those "gilt by association" people who feel their importance rise when they associate themselves, by being critical, with an important person like the President. "See, ma, I know better than Obama does."
But, I won't do that because Larry's half right. The mess is not all Wall Street's fault. And the FBI can help him prove it.
First off, there's this lovely story out of Florida and Alabama, wherein a fellow named Lee Bentley Farkas was convicted of multiple frauds and sentenced to thirty years in prison. It's actually an old story in that the jury found Farkas guilty on 14 counts in April and that was reported in the Washington Post, but by the time he was sentenced in July, it was old news. Even though:
“Lee Farkas, the former chairman of TBW, masterminded one of the largest bank fraud schemes in history,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. “His shockingly brazen scheme poured fuel on the fire of the financial crisis. It not only led to the downfall of TBW, one of the largest private mortgage lending companies in the United States, but also contributed to the failure of one of the country’s largest commercial banks. Mr. Farkas may have thought he could steal nearly $3 billion from investors and taxpayers and sail into the sunset. But now a jury has told him otherwise, and he must face the severe consequences.”
And the time frame for this caper?
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the fraud scheme began in 2002, when Farkas and his co-conspirators ran overdrafts in TBW bank accounts at Colonial Bank in order to cover TBW’s cash shortfalls. Farkas and his co-conspirators at TBW and Colonial Bank transferred money between accounts at Colonial Bank to hide the overdrafts. Evidence presented at trial showed that after the overdrafts grew to more than $100 million, Farkas and his co-conspirators covered up the overdrafts and operating losses by causing Colonial Bank to purchase from TBW over time more than $1.5 billion in what amounted to worthless mortgage loan assets, including loans that TBW had already sold to other investors and fake pools of loans supposedly being formed into mortgage-backed securities. Farkas and his co-conspirators caused Colonial Bank to report these assets on its books at face value when in fact the mortgage loan assets were worthless. By August 2009, approximately $500 million in fake pools of loans remained on Colonial Bank’s books.
Sorry, Larry, not on Obama's watch. In fact, the Department of Justice, perhaps out of duty, give kudos to the President.
This conviction is part of efforts underway by President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency task force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information about the task force visit: www.stopfraud.gov.
And they're all over the map. This one is more recent.
Long Island Woman Admits Role in Decade-Long Mortgage Fraud Scheme in Bridgeport
David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that MARLEEN SHILLINGFORD, 44, of Nesconset, New York, waived her right to indictment and pleaded guilty yesterday, October 12, before United States Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez in Hartford to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges stem from SHILLINGFORD’s participation in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme that involved more than 40 properties located in Bridgeport, Conn.
Nice of Marleen not to drag this out for years!
According to court documents and statements made in court, SHILLINGFORD was involved in the operation of Waikele Properties Corp., a real estate company with offices at 3770 Main Street in Bridgeport and 320 Endo Boulevard in Garden City, N.Y. From approximately 2001 to August 2011, SHILLINGFORD and others conspired to obtain fraudulent mortgages for the purchase of more than 40 multi-family properties in Bridgeport.
“Through this decade-long scheme, dozens of Bridgeport properties ended up in foreclosure, blighting neighborhoods and costing lenders millions,” stated U.S. Attorney Fein. “I want to commend IRS-CI, the FBI, HUD-OIG, and SIGTARP for their excellent work in this ongoing investigation and for exposing this scheme.”
So, again, the banks got took. No wonder they're insecure. Maybe what we should expect from the Occupy Wall Street people is that they infuse the banksters with some smarts.
SHILLINGFORD is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Robert N. Chatigny on December 30, 2011, at which time SHILLINGFORD faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 40 years. The government also is seeking the forfeiture of 20 properties located in Bridgeport, and $26,372.32 that was seized from a bank account held by Waikele Properties.
This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General, and the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Douglas P. Morabito and David T. Huang.
Just in time for the New Year. The Shillingford plea was covered by the Wall Street Journal and a few other media outlets, but it's my guess that this too will be old news when she's sentenced. Government success in catching the bad guys just doesn't seem to have the caché of the guy that got away.
If I recall correctly, the FBI did have a clue this was going on way back in 2004. But, we were all busy letting ourselves get distracted from Fallujah.