Ever since the crisis arose in 2008, a familiar lament has been how there is no real accountability and no one has gone to prison for tanking the economy. And it's true; by the standards of the S&L crisis - where hundreds of bankers went to prison - prosecutions thus far have been few and far between. But that doesn't mean there haven't been any. And SIGTARP is just getting warmed up.
A bank executive in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison. Another from Orlando received eight years. In Stockbridge, Ga., a top bank officer is serving 12 years.At a time when the government is being criticized for not holding senior bank executives liable for crisis-era crimes, a little-known federal agency is compiling a growing list of criminal convictions.
What's SIGTARP, you ask? It's the office set up to root out TARP fraud in the wake of the crisis, and based on the numbers they've thrown up so far, there's been a lot of it. Sure, they've concentrated on the little guys like community banks up to now, but how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
And the sentences they've racked up are pretty stout. Their average conviction has carried a sentence of 5 years and 9 months in prison. Most of the convictions have come from bank executives defrauding the FDIC to conceal the ill health of their institution. The knucklehead who was behind Virginia's largest bank failure has been sentenced to 23 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $333 million to the FDIC (that is, you and I).
So the next time someone tells you that no one has gone to prison you can set them straight. SIGTARP has another 120 cases on their docket, and they're looking for more. Maybe one of these days they'll be able to take down one of the architects of this whole mess.
Would love to see orange Angelo from Countrywide added to this list
Second this. Have you read The Lost Bank by Kristen Grind? It's about the fall of WaMu and talks a lot about Angelo from Countrywide. Really good read on how greed became so rampant at WaMu.
@Winning Since 1776 I've seen excerpts but haven't read the book. It's just amazing how fast and loose they gave out mortgages (including to my in-laws, lol) . Even after the SEC fine, I'd say Angelo came out ahead pretty nicely.
By the way, I like the 'Merican name and avatar.
Good. Now the rest of us that aren't crooks can get back to business. There are plenty of countries that torture and execute people for financial crimes, especially if they affect the larger country, and in old Rome they'd go after your family too. So a few years in the clink isn't unreasonable. Make a buck, throw your lame boss to the wolves, crush your competitors and consume their souls. Break your neck and ball out. I'm all for slashing and burning your way to your own business empire: but don't dick the customer, they're the ones paying your bills.
I'm really glad you posted this because I've been too busy to read much news lately. I get into a lot of arguments here over ethics and I think a lot of the younger folks miss the point of what I'm saying. Back when restaurants were my thing, I was just as political as any of the other workers and made my share of enemies but I never screwed the customer. If their meal came out burned or you skimped on the booze, they'd demand their money back and threaten to sue if you didn't. The reputational damage just wasn't worth it, just do the right thing and keep moving. It's really not that different in finance, and now that the industry is becomming so commoditized your reputation is really all you have. Lately this whole sector is the whipping boy for so many things and everyone's like "these liberals hate us because XYZ blah blah blah". Weak sauce. And this will pass. In a couple years, people will bitch about something else. In truth, most Americans love business and Wall Street did this to itself. Even John Mack said "we can't stop ourselves and need good oversight."
Hampton Roads is a fucking cesspool. No surprises there.
Glad they got the bad guys. Time to put all of this behind us now.
The irony of this is that there are far more outlandish crimes committed on the street every day.
That Romero chick from SIGTARP is totally hot.
Totally hot for a regulator? I'll allow it.
I think I will accomplish a lot more in life before I learn how to embed on WSO.
Anyone know where Mozillo is lately? I mean, if there's one guy we wouldn't feel bad for it's him. I'm sure there's some money we could ahem relieve him of
That scumbag is probably sitting on a beach somewhere. Do you think the Justice Department will reopen his case? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-06/is-this-the-road-map-to-prosec…
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