The U.S. Court of Appeals threw out the $1.3 billion judgement against BofA – here is the story behind it:
If I’m ever dragged into court for a financial fraud, I want to throw myself on the mercy of Judge Richard C. Wesley.
Wesley is the U.S. appeals court judge in New York who, with his colleagues Reena Raggi and Christopher F. Droney, found a loophole in federal fraud law big enough for the nation’s second-largest bank to fit through without even scratching a fender.
In a ruling written by Wesley and issued Monday, the three judges tossed out a $1.3-billion judgment against Bank of America for stuffing thousands of lousy mortgages into the portfolios of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2007 and 2008 by pretending they were high-quality loans. Their ruling turned on the curious question: “When is a fraud not a fraud, but just, sort of, a lie?”
Anyone concerned about white-collar crime should find the appellate court’s logic appalling. One who does is Dennis Kelleher, a former corporate lawyer who is now CEO of the financial watchdog group Better Markets.
“You wonder why the American people are so cynical,” he told me after the decision came down. “It’s because there’s an endless reservoir of ways to figure out how to hold no one accountable for illegal conduct.”
Read the full article here:
I want to be furious, but I’m so used to stuff like this happening, I just don’t have the energy.
– Rob a bank with a gun and get 20 years. (probably netting 2-4k)
– Rob a bank with a pen and never do jail time. (probably netting 100k to 50million+)
It’s become the American way. Fortunately the American tax payer bails the “too big to fail” entities out.
I believe the logic used in the opinion is as follows: Big Dogs playing with other Big Dogs sometimes get bit, and hard. Caveat Emptor and all of that stuff.
The Orange Man should be in prison. He is no better than Bernie Madoff the pyramid king.
Reminds me of slick Willy: “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”
The current 2 Parties have completely failed the American people–>the 94%. We need at least 5 or more national Parties to represent the diverse interests of modern America and then we need to decide do we want to be a bunch of individuals who happen to live on the same turf or a nation with common interests. If it’s the former, we might as well break up the union and go our separate ways. If it’s the latter, we need to get on with the adult business of finding real leaders who represent ALL of our interests and not just those of the 6% & big corporations.
JD:
“The current 2 Parties have completely failed the American people–>the 94%. We need at least 5 or more national Parties to represent the diverse interests of modern America and then we need to decide do we want to be a bunch of individuals who happen to live on the same turf or a nation with common interests. ”
I don’t see that proceeding towards the balkanization of america would ever lead to a satisfying outcome. Historically, that’s never worked out well, so I don’t get the feeling it could work now.
Google:
1. The Fall of Rome
2. The Balkans
3. WWI
4. WWII
That’s enough to get you started.