We are facing the largest banking scandal that the world has ever seen.
What about prosecuting these guys under RICO? It’s a federal law that has been used to prosecute Mafia and other criminals, but it could also be used in a civil action against corruption on Wall Street… you only have to prove a pattern of illegal acts over a 10-year period… and you can freeze their assets so they don’t move them around in their shell games while they’re under investigation… and you can recover treble the amounts that they stole from you.
I don’t know why RICO wasn’t used against BCCI when Congress investigated it several years ago. As far as I know, nobody was ever prosecuted in that banking scandal.
A noble idea, but there is no way that we could get RICO convictions. RICO requires that you commit 2 offenses within a ten year period. Those offenses are: gambling, murder, kidnapping, extortion, arson, robbery, bribery, dealing in obscene matter….you get the idea. The only one of the RICO crimes that is remotely possible is money laundering, bt that’s not what these guys were doing. I’ve said it here many times before, these guys did nothing illegal. It wasn’t right what they did, but there’s a big difference between a civil tort and crime. That’s why we need tougher regulations on these financial institutions so that they can’t keep doing to us what they did the last time. Next time you hear a politician say we need fewer regulations, keep that in mind.
Guys are blinded by greed—It all started when Jimmy Carter had the thought that everyone should own a home—then people like Barney Franks got involved, and this created an opportunity for unscrupulous mortgage brokers to falsify buyers’ incomes and hire appraisers themselves. They all got their fees and commissions and closing costs and they were very happy!
It is truly shocking to me that so many of you disagree with the notion that we need tougher regulations to prevent another financial crisis. Apparently, you like the idea of these financial companies taking us to teh cleaners again.
You people whined and moaned that Wall Street got away without any convictions. Then when the feds decide to bring actions against these individuals you whine and moan that they shouldn’t be doing that. Can you make up your minds what you want please? It’s getting confusing.
The Rico statutes should be used against the Government for abuse of power with the Justice Department, Holder. This administration attacks people based on party affiliation and political contributions to the opposing RNC party.
Case in point – Gibson Guitars, They have been prosecuted for importing illegal wood from india. Every other musical instrument company uses the same wood as Gibson. It is just that the CEO is a donator to the RNC and a Tea Party supporter. This is the Union Boss, Mob mentality of this administration. They should be prosecuted themselves.
Abuse of power is not a crime under RICO. Murder, gambling, kidnapping, extorsion, arson, robbery…etc… these are the RICO crimes. Which two of these crimes has Eric Holder committed?
And do I understand your position correctly that it’s OK to violate the law if everyone else violates the law?
Wall Street COMPLETELY took over and controled the mortgage loan market. The BIG BANKS collected the money for them so they could package them as AAA rated “mortgage backed securities”. Didn’t the S&P give this toxic junk AAA Rating? Then, when Wall Street knew the “party” was over (at the end of the Bush admin)… they had the AUDACITY to hedge their bets on the downfall of the very mortgage backed securities that they PROPPED UP and SOLD… They made BILLIONS on the fall as well. IF THIS IS NOT COLLUSION, COMPLICITY, and YES… RACKETEERING than what is???? HEADS SHOULD ROLL, when that happens, MAYBE I and other HONEST HARD WORKING AMERCIANS and the rest of the HONEST HARD WORKING WORLD just MIGHT start to TRUST OUR,OVERRUN WITH THIEVES, economy again!
Laissez-NOT SO FAIR to all of you REPUBS that think regulation is not needed. How much did you make on your REAL ESTATE “PONZI SCHEME” FLIPS. If you made money, it was only because you were “in the know” and new a Wallstreeter or big banker, the rest of us TOOK A FINANCAIL BATH!
Bail them out the attack them? Why didnt they just let all these companies and their CEO’s fail and be replaced by leaner meaner competitors. What happened to survival of the fitest.
Yes we need fewer regulations and yes we should let them fail if they have flawed business practices.
What do the feds intend to do about Franks & Dodd. Their the ones that were smack dab in the middle of promoting & authorizing the loans to persons that any prudent banker knew could not afford to pay back. All at the direction of Bill Clinton & Obama. Obama later rushed the bail out through probably to protect or bail out all the politicians responsible for the bad loans being promoted.
Jerry, please go back and read the time line of events. The bottom dropped out and the economy crashed long before Obama took office and the bailout, TARP, well, sorry to burst your bubble but that was the work of George W Bush. It occurred during Bush’s final year in office. I love how you blame Clinton and Obama but conveniently leave out the fact that theeconomy tanked under Bush and his policy of turning a blind eye to regulation of Wall Street.
OPV…thanks for fighting the good fight, but regardless of how much good sense you make or how many true facts you provide, you will never change the opinion of the ideologues who take every opportunity to dump on our President, on “liberals” in general, and any one else that does not share their narrow minded point of view…commonsense, fairness, rational thought, and any kind of human equity notwithstanding.
Please keep plugging away and presenting the “other point of view”
The solution for the foreclosure crisis right now is in a prosecution of all those banksters who brought us here, not making a deal with the same people who are responsible for a demise of America’s homeowners!
Prosecuting Wall Street investment banks and their “geniuses” is not only a matter of democracy, but more importantly, it is about survival of America that we all love…and the only path for our kids’ future. Please read about MA Register of Deeds – the first in the nation to say NO to BofA, foreclosure fraud, MERS. Would you like to see how 20,000+ fraudulent, robosigned docs look like?! Be my guest – http://tinyurl.com/3qsu87x
We are facing the largest banking scandal that the world has ever seen.
What about prosecuting these guys under RICO? It’s a federal law that has been used to prosecute Mafia and other criminals, but it could also be used in a civil action against corruption on Wall Street… you only have to prove a pattern of illegal acts over a 10-year period… and you can freeze their assets so they don’t move them around in their shell games while they’re under investigation… and you can recover treble the amounts that they stole from you.
I don’t know why RICO wasn’t used against BCCI when Congress investigated it several years ago. As far as I know, nobody was ever prosecuted in that banking scandal.
A noble idea, but there is no way that we could get RICO convictions. RICO requires that you commit 2 offenses within a ten year period. Those offenses are: gambling, murder, kidnapping, extortion, arson, robbery, bribery, dealing in obscene matter….you get the idea. The only one of the RICO crimes that is remotely possible is money laundering, bt that’s not what these guys were doing. I’ve said it here many times before, these guys did nothing illegal. It wasn’t right what they did, but there’s a big difference between a civil tort and crime. That’s why we need tougher regulations on these financial institutions so that they can’t keep doing to us what they did the last time. Next time you hear a politician say we need fewer regulations, keep that in mind.
Guys are blinded by greed—It all started when Jimmy Carter had the thought that everyone should own a home—then people like Barney Franks got involved, and this created an opportunity for unscrupulous mortgage brokers to falsify buyers’ incomes and hire appraisers themselves. They all got their fees and commissions and closing costs and they were very happy!
It is truly shocking to me that so many of you disagree with the notion that we need tougher regulations to prevent another financial crisis. Apparently, you like the idea of these financial companies taking us to teh cleaners again.
You people whined and moaned that Wall Street got away without any convictions. Then when the feds decide to bring actions against these individuals you whine and moan that they shouldn’t be doing that. Can you make up your minds what you want please? It’s getting confusing.
The Rico statutes should be used against the Government for abuse of power with the Justice Department, Holder. This administration attacks people based on party affiliation and political contributions to the opposing RNC party.
Case in point – Gibson Guitars, They have been prosecuted for importing illegal wood from india. Every other musical instrument company uses the same wood as Gibson. It is just that the CEO is a donator to the RNC and a Tea Party supporter. This is the Union Boss, Mob mentality of this administration. They should be prosecuted themselves.
Abuse of power is not a crime under RICO. Murder, gambling, kidnapping, extorsion, arson, robbery…etc… these are the RICO crimes. Which two of these crimes has Eric Holder committed?
And do I understand your position correctly that it’s OK to violate the law if everyone else violates the law?
Wall Street COMPLETELY took over and controled the mortgage loan market. The BIG BANKS collected the money for them so they could package them as AAA rated “mortgage backed securities”. Didn’t the S&P give this toxic junk AAA Rating? Then, when Wall Street knew the “party” was over (at the end of the Bush admin)… they had the AUDACITY to hedge their bets on the downfall of the very mortgage backed securities that they PROPPED UP and SOLD… They made BILLIONS on the fall as well. IF THIS IS NOT COLLUSION, COMPLICITY, and YES… RACKETEERING than what is???? HEADS SHOULD ROLL, when that happens, MAYBE I and other HONEST HARD WORKING AMERCIANS and the rest of the HONEST HARD WORKING WORLD just MIGHT start to TRUST OUR,OVERRUN WITH THIEVES, economy again!
Laissez-NOT SO FAIR to all of you REPUBS that think regulation is not needed. How much did you make on your REAL ESTATE “PONZI SCHEME” FLIPS. If you made money, it was only because you were “in the know” and new a Wallstreeter or big banker, the rest of us TOOK A FINANCAIL BATH!
Bail them out the attack them? Why didnt they just let all these companies and their CEO’s fail and be replaced by leaner meaner competitors. What happened to survival of the fitest.
Yes we need fewer regulations and yes we should let them fail if they have flawed business practices.
What do the feds intend to do about Franks & Dodd. Their the ones that were smack dab in the middle of promoting & authorizing the loans to persons that any prudent banker knew could not afford to pay back. All at the direction of Bill Clinton & Obama. Obama later rushed the bail out through probably to protect or bail out all the politicians responsible for the bad loans being promoted.
Jerry, please go back and read the time line of events. The bottom dropped out and the economy crashed long before Obama took office and the bailout, TARP, well, sorry to burst your bubble but that was the work of George W Bush. It occurred during Bush’s final year in office. I love how you blame Clinton and Obama but conveniently leave out the fact that theeconomy tanked under Bush and his policy of turning a blind eye to regulation of Wall Street.
OPV…thanks for fighting the good fight, but regardless of how much good sense you make or how many true facts you provide, you will never change the opinion of the ideologues who take every opportunity to dump on our President, on “liberals” in general, and any one else that does not share their narrow minded point of view…commonsense, fairness, rational thought, and any kind of human equity notwithstanding.
Please keep plugging away and presenting the “other point of view”
The solution for the foreclosure crisis right now is in a prosecution of all those banksters who brought us here, not making a deal with the same people who are responsible for a demise of America’s homeowners!
Prosecuting Wall Street investment banks and their “geniuses” is not only a matter of democracy, but more importantly, it is about survival of America that we all love…and the only path for our kids’ future. Please read about MA Register of Deeds – the first in the nation to say NO to BofA, foreclosure fraud, MERS. Would you like to see how 20,000+ fraudulent, robosigned docs look like?! Be my guest – http://tinyurl.com/3qsu87x