60 Minutes exposes the lack of prosecutorial enthusiasm following the Lehman Bros. collapse - video

[Bozita]

Last edited Mon Apr 23, 2012, 12:55 AM - Edit history (1)

The SEC may be undermanned, but the DOJ has tons of money as witnessed by the current medical marijuana busts in California and elsewhere.

The Examiner's Report to the Bankruptcy Court is 2,200 pages long comprising 9 volumes and it's chock full of actions that in any other business would have incurred the wrath of prosecutors everywhere.

Hello SEC? Hello DOJ?

The segment can be viewed here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57417397/the-case-against-lehman-brothers/?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel


It's hard to overstate the enormity of the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers. It was the largest bankruptcy in history; 26,000 employees lost their jobs; millions of investors lost all or almost all of their money; and it triggered a chain reaction that produced the worst financial crisis and economic downturn in 70 years.

Yet four years later, no one at Lehman has been held responsible. Steve Kroft investigates the collapse of Lehman Brothers: what the SEC did and didn't know about the firm's finances, the role of a top accounting firm, and why no one at Lehman has been called to account.

The following script is from "The Case Against Lehman" which originally aired on April 22, 2012. Steve Kroft is the correspondent. James Jacoby and Michael Karzis, producers.

more at the link above

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Don't miss Steve Kroft's "Overtime" segment, also available at the link above.

BTW, since we have "drug forfeiture" laws, why can't we have similar laws that relate to banksters?

[russspeakeasy]

1. It was a good report. We seem to have leadership that doesn't want to

rock the boat. Afterall, where would they get their donations.

[WillyT]

2. Yep... K & R !!!

The problem is that DOJ and SEC bureaucrats think Wall Street is a bunch of decent people, polished up in pretty clothes and offering helpful information. They think Wall Street is a partner with government in moving the economy forward. They carry out the directions of Wall Street while saluting the electorate. They hide the fact that they are the captives of a corrupting influence behind Sir, Yes Sir.

There is a solution. We put people in charge who think the people on Wall Street are slugs who would wreck the economy if they can make money. There is no reason to respect Jamie Dimon or Lloyd Blankfein or any Wall Street trader or administrative assistant. We need regulators who will cow them into compliance with the law, using the powers they have, including personal liability and criminal charges.

From: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002596920

[sabrina 1]

7. This I completely agree with:

There is a solution. We put people in charge who think the people on Wall Street are slugs who would wreck the economy if they can make money. ]There is no reason to respect Jamie Dimon or Lloyd Blankfein or any Wall Street trader or administrative assistant. We need regulators who will cow them into compliance with the law, using the powers they have, including personal liability and criminal charges.

If we really have elected officials who believe a bunch of crooked Wall Street Gamblers are on their team, then there is really one solution and that is to find out why they are and start replacing them. I especially like the last part of that paragraph, which I highlighted.

[Bozita]

15. Good stuff!

[DeSwiss]

3. K&R n/t

[Marr]

4. The Obama Administration couldn't do anything because of the Republican Congress.

Oh-- they aren't relevant here?

Then eh... YOU JUST WANT PRESIDENT PALIN ROMNEY!

[Dragonfli]

6. No silly, he can't do anything because he is below the AG in rank or something

He can't tell his boss holder anything about where to direct his resources.
He can't fire him and replace him with somebody that would investigate them and how they stole our money, that would be rude.

He sure as hell can't replace any of his financial appointments with ones that don't do what the banks tell them either because someone on the internets said he couldn't.

There is nothing he can do but Hope the guilty bankers will be investigated and that his financial appointments Change their mind and decide to do what is good for the country rather than Wall st.

He promised hope and change, he never said the bankers wouldn't run things.

[SunSeeker]

5. They need to put Eliot Spitzer in charge of DOJ.

He can have all the hookers he wants as long as he kicks bankster ass. I just don't think Holder has much of a fight in him. Sure, it's easy to go after sitting duck stoners. But banksters will fight back with legions of attorneys and start a paper war that will paralyze DOJ unless the Asst. U.S. Attorneys are really on top of their game. I think DOJ knows they don't have that level of talent and resources among their ranks. The only public lawyer that ever had the banksters quaking in their loafers was Spitzer. That's why they destroyed him.

[sabrina 1]

8. What it seems to boil down to is, many of them probably actually do despise 'stoners'

but respect anyone with money who 'looks respectable' and went to Harvard. As Willy's post above says, we need more people like Elliot Spitzer in office, people who are not charmed by criminals with big bank accounts, country estates all over the place, and several yachts.

[SunSeeker]

9. I don't think they despise stoners, they're just easy prey.

The medical marijuana folks have no money. It's easy to beat up on them in court and get a win under your belt. You get a good performance review and you're that much closer to retirement while keeping your blood pressure relatively low. The banksters, on the other hand, will make your life a living hell as an already overworked Asst. U.S. Attorney. The DOJ folks aren't charmed by the banksters, they're intimidated by them.

[2pooped2pop]

10. or just bought by them n/t

[banned from Kos]

11. there were likely some SarBox violations. Thanks for your concern for investors!

Poor investors lost billions!

(of course, there was collateral damage downstream)

[madokie]

12. Actually banksters are more dangerous than drug users

in the whole scheme of things. I'd like to know the number of suicides thats been because of the banking ripoffs. People loosing their homes is pretty stressful. In many cases its been shown that the banks didn't have rhyme or reason for the foreclosures they did

[uponit7771]

13. Bush admin moved 500 SEC investigators to the DHS, not a lot of evidence. Obama is trying to move

...them back...

Obama needs a congress that he can work with

[just1voice]

16. I didn't realize Congress controls the Justice Dept

Sure looks like they're hiring to me:

http://www.justice.gov/careers/careers.html

[just1voice]

17. SEC is hiring too

http://www.sec.gov/jobs.shtml

[banned from Kos]

14. A problem here is that Dick Fuld lost everything he had and never sold a share of Lehman

stock. He was trying to get past a liquidity crisis and save Lehman.

Did he violate Sarbanes-Oxley? Sure he did.

Was he trying to rip people off? He was the largest shareholder. Did he make loans to people on Main St? No.

[countryjake]

18. K&R! We watched that...

and judging that the SEC was set up, right there inside of Lehman BEFORE the bankruptcy, it surely looks to me that they were in cahoots with the crooks, not overseeing them.

I also felt for Matthew Lee, losing his position due to that "grenade" he tossed into the Lehman pot...he is still unemployed.