It never made much sense that "too big to fail" led to the conclusion that therefore the titans of high finance were "Too big to Jail". I remember U.S. Attorney General Eric Holders remarks from the Senate Judiciary Committee that although..
The greatest deterrent effect is not to prosecute a corporation — although that's important — the greatest deterrent effect is to prosecute the individuals in the corporations that are responsible for those decisions..
..the thrust of AG Holders statements seemed to decide something
very different when it comes to actual prosecution of the
individuals involved:
"I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy," Holder said, "And I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large."
Janine Jackson interviewed investigative reporter Lee Fang about Washington’s revolving door for the July 24 CounterSpin. (July 28, 2015) This is a lightly edited transcript.
After reading (and listening to) this 10 minute interview with FAIR program director Janine Jackson interviewing Lee Fang, things became much more clear
Here are just a few Q&A excerpts:
Janine Jackson:
When Eric Holder first joined law firm Covington & Burling in 2001, he was coming from a stint as deputy attorney general under Bill Clinton. So it’s no wonder that when Holder went to the Obama administration as attorney general, the folks at Covington kept his seat warm.
And indeed, for many, Holder’s seamless slide from theoretically prosecuting big banks to defending big banks from prosecution is a common-sense phenomenon only the hopelessly naïve would bother to decry. He’s a lawyer, what do you expect? was the substance of many a comment –of what comment there was, because, again, this latest glimpse of the porous tissue between regulator and regulated went down as no news at all for most of the press.
Our next guest does find that revolving door newsworthy. Investigative journalist Lee Fang has been talking about money and politics for years; he’s a co-founder of RepublicReport.org and writes at The Nation as well as The Intercept. He joins us by phone from the Bay Area.
JJ:
Well, tell us first, if you would, a little bit about Covington & Burling. Who are they and who are some of their clients?
LF:
Covington & Burling is a Washington, DC, law firm that also engages in lobbying; it’s got an extensive practice that hires former members of Congress, their staff, former federal officials—including of course, Eric Holder—and it represents major corporations.
So the firm has helped negotiate settlements for corporations that have been accused of wrongdoing, they’ve also helped secure legislation for their corporate clients and they’ve done a number of regulatory and lobbying acts that help provide their clients with special access to politicians.
JJ:
And some of those clients have included some of the largest banks.
LF:
Yeah, that’s right. You know, a few years ago, Reuters had a great investigation that showed that Covington & Burling has not only represented the big banks—Bank of America, CitiGroup, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo—but they played a really special role in the foreclosure crisis, helping these banks set up a mortgage company that helped create a document trail.
When banks have attempted to foreclose on companies and they have to produce these documents showing that they have a chain of title, then this third party company, known as MERS, produced these documents, in many cases falsified these documents, and Covington’s role, actually, in the late ’90s—they provided the legal documentation to create MERS...
skipping ahead:
LF:
...As the inspector general of the Justice Department found, under Holder the Justice Department actually deprioritized mortgage fraud in their US attorney offices in New York, California and elsewhere.
So there was a systemic attempt to shift the blame for the mortgage and financial crisis in 2008.
Instead of the big banks, there were only criminal prosecutions of some small-time lenders and mortgage professionals..
[...]
LF:
..this is not just a scandal for the Justice Department in that so many of the officials, not just Holder, but his top deputy Lanny Breuer also returned to Covington & Burling
...this is a scandal for the media.
One of the perhaps most cynical and and most prevalent ways that you can legally bribe a government official or an elected official is to wait to give them a multi-million dollar check, not while they’re in office, but as soon as they retire.
Then there is the loophole around the conflict (and "appearance" of) of interest:
LF:
... they wait until that official retires from office, as soon as they step out the door of Congress and find an employment contract with a lobbying firm or a big bank, then they can accept a multi-million-dollar payday; and so it’s simply delayed bribery, in my perspective.
Lee Fang remarks that this has become so routine, that this direct bribery is no longer a scandal, certainly not for the beltway press
JJ:
And just so folks know that we’re not using Holder as an example because he’s so rare, this kind of porousness happens at all levels. For example, before you were writing about Holder, you were writing about this guy Stephen Sayle from Chevron and his new job.
LF:
That’s right. A top lobbyist for Chevron, Stephen Sayle is now a senior staff member for the House Committee on Science, which oversees science policy for the federal government. This is a lobbyist, Mr. Sayle, who has helped Chevron beat back regulatory efforts that rest on federal science, whether it’s on the ozone or on climate change.
emphasis added
It's not that any of this information and the many stories of corruption is new. Over a decade of of reporting here @ Daily Kos has that covered; The easy access to our(?) representatives. The relatively cheap price that "special interests" pay to buy our legislators in comparison to the billions they receive in return.
It's that it isn't new. This kind of corruption isn't even considered a story worth printing anymore much less considered corruption at all. It barely raises eyebrows anymore in the msm. A beltway press that is complicit probably has something to do with that - imo - But just the same; I thought this story merited posting
# # #
note: I'm wondering and will search for connections that can explain why the war crimes of the Bush/Cheney administration also went unpunished.
It seems to me that these areas of corruption, whether it's Wall Street, High finance the PIC or the MIC, and undue influence by "special interest" lobbyists (Haliburton, Xe eg.) are where the much touted and sought after 'bi-partisanship' not only comes easily but is alive and well and thriving.
- For another day
- and time for a Bernie Sanders 12 step revolution of change - be back in a bit - thanks for stopping by