But most of all, this case is a damming indictment of the concept of “settlement justice.” When law enforcement reaches agreement with a bank on a settlement, for the bank that’s clearly the beginning and not the end of the story. As we see with Wells Fargo, they will continue to fight to limit their losses, and law enforcement will take little or no action in response. If it wasn’t for an inquisitive defense attorney, we wouldn’t know the extent of the abuses here. And the Wells Fargo case is only one example. In the year since the Justice Department made a ballyhooed “$13 billion” mortgage settlement with JPMorgan Chase, only 2,633 borrowers received principal reductions on their loans. JPMorgan has satisfied the majority of the “consumer relief” in that settlement by making loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers. In other words, JPMorgan profits off their “penalty.” This is like sentencing a shoplifter to opening a lemonade stand. That’s why there’s no substitute for exacting justice on the perpetrators of the crimes directly, so everybody knows such conduct will not be tolerated. “Settlement justice” does not work, not for the criminals, not for the victims, and not for the safety of the financial system from future frauds. salon/2014/10/14/we_hope_they_were_duped_how_prosecutors_gave_banks_the_best_penalty_ever/
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 15:35:15 +0000
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