When the Federal Crisis Inquiry Commission wrapped up their report last week, Wall Street executives came out as the culprit and news outlets went wild. We took a closer look and asked if it could be any of the many who were involved ranging from politicians to NAR to LPS.
The Attorneys General in New York and Delaware have pressed to seek criminal charges for Wall Street executives individually rather than continue the route of suing banks and corporations. Now, California’s Attorney General joins the ranks of those seeking to penalize those who allegedly knew of the risks involved yet chose to drive their companies and investors into the ground.
Because California represents a disproportionate number of homeowners harmed by the crash, the addition of this state strengthens the probe for political reasons but mostly because of the sheer number of individual cases they are able to point to.
Subpoenas have already been served by New York and Delaware to 13 financial firms, according to the LA Times, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase.
The FCIC findings have not launched any official Department of Justice investigations and no charges have been made yet in regard to the report but analysts suspect they are coming which could potentially strengthen the states’ cases.
Bankers claim they are attempting to settle but with dozens of federal agencies, state agencies and individuals coming after them, they say settling is impossible as it could open them up to double or even triple jeopardy.
While this sentiment makes sense, some believe it to be a convenient excuse in light of massive governmental disorganization with no clear leadership. Perhaps the FCIC report will organize the movement to punish whoever is responsible for the housing crash, but for now agencies pursue bankers who say they want to settle but claim they cannot.
This article published on Monday, July 18th, 2011 at 6:00 am | Contact the editor Tags: featured, mortgage crisis, real estate economy, Real Estate NewsCategory: Economy
Tara Steele is the News Director at AgentGenius, covering real estate news, technology news and everything in between. If you’d like to reach Tara with a question, comment, press release or hot news tip, she frequently checks her email, simply click the link below.
Email Tara Steele
No comments:
Post a Comment