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Attorney General Holder reportedly avoiding financial fraud cases because of law firm ties
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Fourteen minutes past the hour right now new details on a report that claims the US Justice Department is taking part in selective prosecution.
According to an article in Newsweek the DOJ is intentionally avoiding cases against big Wall Street firms because of Eric -- ties to the attorneys that represent those firms.
Now Peter Schweitzer wrote the article is also the author of throw them all out.
And the president of the government accountability institute which means you good morning to you -- point oh apple apple apple -- let -- work through this -- step by step here.
I think a lot of viewers may not be familiar with the material.
What are holders ties.
The law firms.
Well Eric Holder and the other top five officials -- the Department of Justice all came.
From a large -- for help -- firms that to a lot of business with Wall Street Covington a Merling for example.
Is -- colder sperm he was part of the white collar criminal defense practice.
As was Laney brewer who's the head of the criminal division and others this is a firm that did a lot of business with Wall Street in fact it still represents.
Goldman Sachs bank Bank of America JPMorgan.
MF global.
Etc.
so so with some of the attorneys from these firms go work at the Department of Justice or would it work in reverse or does it work.
It's certain gloved it for that's a great -- it's a revolving door really in fact we are colder became attorney general in 2009 he came over.
And brought over with and five other attorneys two of which have now returned back to Covington.
And are working on white collar criminal defense cases again in some instances involving large financial institutions that your suggestion that is that he does not go after these -- because it's cronyism -- -- we yeah there.
Don't want to bust my friend fat -- your point yeah I think the business model is if you are the attorney general the United States and you start going after the biggest firms.
Then you.
A leave and go back to your initial practice you're not gonna be real popular on Wall Street if you do that so.
He has a very powerful professional financial incentive not to go aggressively on sound like what we heard three and a half years ago what what we heard -- you write about it despite the widespread outrage.
Financial fraud prosecutions -- -- -- Year lows yet that's what stunning I mean you look at any objective measure of the Department of Justice has aggressively gone after civil rights cases.
Cases involving Medicare fraud the one exception.
Is financial fraud involving particularly Wall Street it's -- a twenty year low that's not what we heard.
That's not -- her but that's what's happened but he -- that's right and I think -- the reality is that this administration is trying to on the one hand capture sort of the rhetoric.
Of the 99%.
-- we're gonna hold them accountable if they broke the law the gonna go to jail but in reality.
The way that justice is being played out it's -- justice in the sense that.
They're really favoring -- 1% this this group and justice that looks at financial fraud that your -- ahead of this group has gone after people for financial fraud when you look at though on the web site it's all these sort of regular Americans in fact.
There -- three a middle aged woman from Connecticut who now facing jail time because they were involved in a fraudulent gifting circle.
So this is they're spending their time doing rather than going and -- this is a good point to make it.
And reported your article is not that these lawyers are working -- -- -- justice the question of what.
They're working on I think about the immigration cases the child as a state laws I think about -- right now.
In various parts of the country think -- Roger Clemens.
They're going after Roger Clemens and in in you know and in some of the that the pitching.
You know challenges and and whether he.
You -- perjured himself in front of congress on these are the kind of cases are focusing on not the Wall Street cases the top and you -- the Department of Justice to figure out why would they tell -- They've basically said that they are working very hard and they're trying to do things one of the defense is they make is well.
These firms you know hire a lot of attorneys and so it's hard to bring these cases.
Do you -- that no I -- you know that's the same defense that could have been used against Enron or some of the other corporate scandals ten years ago.
The Department of Justice did go after those individuals -- And they did go to jail it's it's a hard case to make some time that you need to -- that you're seeing -- -- -- -- you get with it thank you David David -- -- -- sharing your story with -- what.
