The financial meltdown of 2008 was caused, basically, by the greed of the nation’s big banks, the complicity of the Wall Street bond rating firms, and the malfeasance of Federal regulators. All of the Big Boys were in on it, the mortgage industry imploded, and the American Taxpayer had to bail out the perpetrators to the tune of $7oo billion.
The entire U.S. economy took a shot to the groin, and it took almost ten years to recover.
And, yet…none of the culprits were punished, despite the corporate criminal behavior. In essence, the greedy super-banks (like Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, etc.) and complicit Wall Street brokerages were considered “too big to fail”, so government prosecutors conveniently looked the other way. The big shots who orchestrated the catastrophe continued to enjoy their mansions, yachts, mistresses, and $100 cigars.
Charlie and I saw a PBS documentary last night about the slimy effort of a New York District Attorney named Cyrus Vance Jr. to make political hay off of the scandal.
Vance, of course, wouldn’t offend his Wall Street buddies by taking them to task, so, like a schoolyard bully, he picked on the smallest target he could: a mom-and-pop savings and loan in Chinatown.
He and his staff of prosecutors drummed up a list of 80 charges against the Abacus Federal Savings Bank, basically accusing them of phonying-up mortgage applications in order to qualify customers for home loans.
This would be a serious charge, if true, I suppose. But, considering the fact that the nation’s largest banks had been given a free pass (by Mr. Vance’s office) on a massive scale for exactly the same thing, the question was obvious: Why was the District Attorney picking on these small fry?
Because they probably couldn’t fight back, I guess, and he wanted New York voters to think he was a crusader for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.
Mr. Dudley Do-Right picked the wrong people to bully. Probably the only reason that Abacus didn’t fold to the pressure was that its founder, and three of his four daughters, were smart, tenacious attorneys.
And, they knew, as did the Chinatown community, that their bank was being railroaded. And, the jury agreed. After five years of effort, costing taxpayers $10 million, Abacus Federal Savings Bank was vindicated of all 80 charges.
I felt sorry for Chinese-American family that owned the small bank. The needless trial consumed five years of their life, nearly bankrupted them, soiled their reputation in the community, and humiliated some of the employees, who had done no wrong.
The whole unnecessary drama was engineered by a hypocritical political hack, trying to look like a hero; a guy too timid to confront the real crooks.
Amazingly, Cyrus Vance Jr. is still the incumbent Manhattan District Attorney.
And, he continues his cozy/sleazy dealings with New York big shots. Mr. Vance has been publicly criticized for not pressing criminal charges against famous New Yorkers accused of crimes, including serial pervert Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump Jr., and his sister, Ivanka Trump…after which he received campaign contributions from their attorneys.
Vance’s father, a former Secretary of the Army, Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of State, would be ashamed of his son, I’m sure, if he were still alive.
That’s not to say, of course, that D.A. Vance’s political star is dimmed in any way. American voters love hypocritical sleazeballs, particularly big, flashy ones from New York City.