Incredible! Lanny Breuer Identifies Real Clients on Frontline Then Quits!

[KoKo]

Last edited Wed Jan 23, 2013, 10:39 PM - Edit history (1)

Lanny Breuer Identifies Real Clients on Frontline Then Quits
By: masaccio Wednesday January 23, 2013 5:08 pm



Lanny Breuer is out as head of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, according to the Washington Post. After his ratlike performance on Frontline (transcript here) it won’t be long before we find him at some creepy New York or DC law firm defending his best friends, the banks and their sleazy employees. His legacy is simple: too big to fail banks can’t possibly commit crimes, so minor civil fines and false promises of reform are punishment enough. Jamie Dimon couldn’t have put it better.

Breuer tried his best to dodge questions about why he violated his promise to Senator Kaufman that he was actually conducting an investigation of Wall Street fraud. Martin Smith, the interviewer, asks:

"We spoke to a couple of sources from within the fraud section of the Criminal Division, and through mid-2010 they reported that when it came to Wall Street, there were no investigations going on; there were no subpoenas, no document reviews, no wiretaps".

---------------------------------------------------------

Frontline Exposes DOJ’s Failure To Prosecute Wall Street
By: DSWright Wednesday January 23, 2013 5:55 am

Last night Frontline aired a program on the Department of Justice’s failure to prosecute Wall Street executives over fraud in the mortgage market that caused the 2008 financial crisis. The program included compelling testimony from the “due diligence underwriters” those responsible for the integrity of the loans that were being originated from firms like Countrywide (now Bank of America) then chopped up into derivatives and sold by Wall Street to the world.

Somehow Frontline was able to get multiple persons involved in fraud in the mortgage market to go on camera while Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who was interviewed for the program, claimed he and the Justice Department could not make a case against Wall Street. Breuer was asked about a speech he gave to the New York City Bar Association in which he claimed to have been worried about the consequences of prosecuting big banks – a concern that seemed to trump his commitment to enforcing the law. Breuer’s FBI counterpart, also interviewed, expressed frustration at the inability to make criminal cases against bankers claiming to have argued continually with Breuer and divulging that on a personal level he felt there was criminal fraud.

What is made extremely clear by the program – aside from DOJ’s outright refusal to prosecute Wall Street despite robust evidence – is the existence of a coordinated effort by Wall Street to drive down loan standards. Wall Street’s system no longer required those making the loans to be responsible for the loan payments, so with the incentive to make responsible loans removed the only remaining interest was in generating loans to sell to Wall Street. This system, not surprisingly, lead to fraud on a massive scale creating a bubble in the housing market that, when popped, brought the entire global financial system to its knees.

And no one responsible has been brought to justice. Is Wall Street above the law?

http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/01/23/frontline-exposes-dojs-failure-to-prosecute-wall-street/

[corkhead]

1. No worry, the invisible hand will punish the wrongdoers, we don't even need a Justice department.

The banks can self regulate, as they have shown.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

2. Sadly, all this was known by many people for a long time.

That fraud was taking place, or that banks were acting irresponsibly was evident to many people who didn't have anything more than personal experience within the mortgage industry.

[annabanana]

3. Every damn DA's office in the Country ought to be charging..

If whole Countries are helpless in the face of banksters, the only recourse will be international revolt.

[KoKo]

5. Agree...I know a few tried from way back...but, it all disappeared with settlements

with the perps. What are they to do? It's up to US Justice Department to support them.

[annabanana]

6. There should be no settlements without HUGE

divestitures of assets.. Enough so that they are no longer, and can never be again "too big to fail".

[tularetom]

4. It really wasn't necessary to duplicate the entire post

Reading it once was sufficient for anybody to determine that this slimy bastard belongs in jail with the other crooks he covered up for.

Hopefully this will not end with his resignation but will speed up the departure of Holder as well.

I'm actually hopeful that somebody will bring malfeasance in office charges against Breuer.

[annabanana]

10. It can't hurt to read it twice...

Once for shock value and once more to give it time to really sink in.

[KoKo]

13. OOPs...sorry I double posted one post...will fix. Thanks for Head Up!

[Auntie Bush]

7. What a snake! He even looks like one! Beady eyes and all!

We even saw him twist like a snake in that interview. Good riddance!

[WillyT]

8. Kick !!!

& Rec !!!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

9. "Ratlike"... an apt descriptor. (n/t)

[indepat]

11. Surely no administration is immune to stains of commission or/and omission: the failure of

AAG Breuer's office to bring charges against numerous Wall Street fraudsters will, imo, be perhaps among the biggest and most damning stain on the Obama Administration, if not the biggest and most damning, in view of the breadth, volume, and scope of the fraud committed, concomitant with the mammoth financial damage/ruin/loss created/caused, all the while many of the perpetrators were being awarded huge bonuses for their outstanding job, in large part, of selling junk securities as AAA securities.

[banned from Kos]

12. When a jury acquitted the two Bear Stearns hedge fund managers

it set legal precedent.

AKA Caveat emptor.

Time worn and still true.

[JDPriestly]

14. Finally, this is stated in a national venue.

That is precisely what happened. No document reviews. And it is probably too late now.

What they needed to look at were internal e-mails and the credit reports and other financial information on individual home buyers. It's a big job, but they could have found enough cases without too much work to make a credible case against the bankers.

Was this laziness or was it buying a future job?

I have no idea.

[KoKo]

15. I go back to the old "Who Coulda Known...we Couldn't Anticipate" defense of

Condi Rice and others over "9/11"...which may sound harsh but its like no one seems to ever know that "something terribly wrong happened under their charge that deeply affected the American People.

They shrug it off. "Too Big Too Fail...who Could have Anticipated that "this' could have happened.?"

[WinkyDink]

16. So are the crimes past the Statute of Limitations?

[KoKo]

17. From what I've read on Financial Sites...some of the SEC violations are past

"Statutes of Limitations" which is probably why there was the rush for them to settle since they didn't have time to prosecute since no one had started an investigation. There are still some investigations which could go on in the states like NY...but, times running out. They hope we will all lose interest...and in fact most of the country has. That's why at least the "Frontline" update is worthwhile...although not much will come of it...at least it's more documentation of what went on and who knows...someday some changes will be made because of the documentation.

DOJ should have at least made more of an effort though, even if it was all dumped on Obama...and hard for him to deal with as new President ...it's not like he didn't come in with a good staff of Dems from Clinton days helping him to understand what was going on so that more could have been held accountable to stop furture Wall Street Crooks along with the ones still there from doing it all again. Which is my fear... they will DO IT AGAIN...since they got away with it before.

[WinkyDink]

21. I can't imagine what life has been like for the illegally-foreclosed.

[hopemountain]

30. a few stories were shared tonight on current tv

on the war room with jennifer granholm.

[WinkyDink]

33. Another reminder of what we ALL lost without Pres. Gore.

[Magleetis]

18. His job is done

No investigations, no indictments, no convictions. Now he will collect his reward from his criminal buddies on wall street.

[sally5050]

19. Frontline Needed to Go to the Top with This Interview Lanny is an obvious yes man

Obama's key contributor and Valeri Jarrett's connect is to CEO level Citigroup.

Obama and Eric Holder were protecting their donors plain and simple.

Lanny Breuer had instruction from on top.

What I'd like to do is corner Eric Holder. Is his firm only interested in prosecuting occupy protesters and small mortgage originators? and slaps on the hand for folks like Bank of America?

We need to escalate this to the man who bears all responsibility, you betcha, POTUS.

and like we did under Bush, we need to presure Holder to resign to get a true bulldog willing to prosecute wallstreet in there. Obama is not running for re-election he can do these things now.

nothing stopping him.

the time is NOW! to hold these criminals accountable or have a chapter of american history go down in such a way that shames all 300 million of it's residents.

[bvar22]

26. " true bulldog willing to prosecute wallstreet"

How does Special Prosecutor Eliot Spitzer sound?

[hopemountain]

31. no, we need holder to

go after the gerrymandering conspiracy before the next election.
priorities. we can go after the banks by continuing to do exactly what pbs just did:continue to demonize them in the media until the people are so fed up and vocal legislators will have no choice but to enact legislation to restrict the banks.

interesting about valeri jarret's connection w/citigroup. where did you find this info?

[sally5050]

32. Quick Valerie Jarrett History

quick Valerie Jarrett History. Mind you, I have great respect for this woman, but the Citigroup connection cannot be underestimated as being a blocker to Obama going after any of the banks (the same net will eventually scoop up Citigroup which was caught in much the same mortgage mess).

from wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Jarrett

Relationship with President Obama
Obama speaks with Jarrett in a West Wing corridor.

In 1991, as Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Richard Daley, she interviewed Michelle Robinson for an opening in the mayor’s office, and offered her the job immediately.[23] Michelle Robinson asked for time to think and also asked Jarrett to meet her fiancé, Barack Obama. The three ended up meeting for dinner. After the dinner, Michelle took the job with the mayor's office, and Valerie Jarrett reportedly took the couple under her wing and “introduced them to a wealthier and better-connected Chicago than their own.” She later took Michelle with her when she left the mayor's office to head Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development.[24

Valerie Jarrett ran the finances for Obama’s 2004 Senate bid and served as treasurer of Obama’s HOPEFUND.

She is also Vernon Jordan's Great niece..


“We have kind of a mind meld,” Jarrett said of herself and the President. “And chances are, what he wants to do is what I’d want to do.”

** here is how citigroup was benefited by Obama in 2011 http://www.progressive.org/obama_soft_on_citi.html

This is the same Citigroup, remember, that got $45 billion in bailout money, along with a $220 billion backstop from the Fed for any losses it incurred—get this—on its mortgage-backed investments.

** Jacob Lew , White House Chief of Staff.. a former COO of Citicorp (after taking 900K in bonuses and billions in tarp money).
Lew's nomination was followed with criticism[33][34][35][36] after renewed reports that he received over $900,000 in bonuses while working as COO of Citigroup, following the company's $45 billion in TARP rescue funds, after it saw $27.7 billion in loses, a 90% depletion in value.[37][38]

** SO yeah, I would say that Valerie with her slumlord housing history and requirement to work closely with banks as Chairman of the Chicago Fed.. she first introduced Obama to Citicorp as it was her preferred bank and then he let Citicorp folks infiltrate his cabinet, and they remain one of Obama's largest donors.

I don't have exact link about the day Jarrett introduced obama to citicorp but I will look more studiously for the link... it was first formed when she ran his campaign in 2004///


With the SEC settlement, Citigroup didn’t have to admit any “intentional or reckless” misconduct, much less criminal activity.

[johnnyreb]

20. shuffleboard

JOHN PISTOLE, Dpty. Director, FBI, 2004-10: After 9/11, we moved almost 2,000 criminal investigative resources over to national security matters.

TED KAUFMAN: He said what happened was that the government had transferred a great deal of the FBI agents over to anti-terrorism, but they didn’t replace them.

"9/11 changed everything."

At least we're safe.

[renate]

22. he looks like that sweaty lawyer Martin Short used to do on SNL

[just1voice]

23. Evidence doesn't matter in a system where the elites are above the law

This article is further proof as if any was needed.

[Left Coast2020]

24. I wonder if this is the begining of something?

It should be. Its now or never.

[KoKo]

27. Hope is Eternal...I've got Hope...but, damn...it's a Long, Long Slog.

..nevertheless...it's work forward. Work Forward... my hope, anyway. Just identifying the PROBLEM is often the start of transformation?

[colsohlibgal]

25. Good!!!!

What a slimy toad tool for the Top Wall Street Execs. No proof of fraud? Give me a break.

You can't sell those crap investments to clients with one hand while shorting them with the other. That's textbook fraud.

I do hope this is the start of some real action, we are overdue for a mass Wall Street Exec perp walk.

Love me some "Frontline", they do what mainstream news once did but do no more - actually challenge people and ask tough questions. I still get nauseous thinking about the cheer-leading all the news networks did, including MSNBC, in the lead up to the Iraq War. If they had done their jobs so many US men and women may not now be dead or maimed, we'd have created many fewer future terrorists, and our budget deficit would be much smaller. Oh, and Cheney and his buddies could not have war profiteered.

[KoKo]

28. +1...MSNBC is now our FAVE...but, we shouldn't forget the shilling that went on there

for Bush's Belt/Crotch or whatever was lauded to keep that twerp on top. Even Bernie Kerick was lauded by Christ Matthews...and Phil Donahue and Keith Olbermann along with Cenk.

So much for that. Remember when Geraldo Rivera defended Clinton nightly and then moved over to FOX NEWS?

Some of us Older DU/Dems remember all that crap.

Damned Media is NO MEDIA except PROPAGANDA! Switch Sides according to the Funding and Sentiment..and nothing is REAL or with PRINCIPLES that go FOR "WE" the PEOPLE.

Alternative Media is the way to go. The rest is corrupted so far it's not worth redeeming. IMHO...of course.

[saidsimplesimon]

29. KoKo, the House is stone walling the funding of vital national security interests.

That includes the State Department, and the DOJ. It is our job as Democrats, reasonable Republicans, Greens and Independents to defeat all these nut case Republican libertarians in gerrymandered districts. It will not be easy. Let's pick off as many as we can in 2014.