As the U.S. DOJ steadfastly looks the other way and other state Attorneys General prepare to settle all potential charges in exchange for payment of woefully inadequate "cost-of-doing-business" fines, Schneiderman is doing the opposite, aggressively expanding his investigation in a way that could single-handedly sabotage the efforts to permanently protect this industry from accountability:Pretty incredible stuff in this climate.
The New York attorney general has requested information and documents in recent weeks from three major Wall Street banks about their mortgage securities operations during the credit boom, indicating the existence of a new investigation into practices that contributed to billions in mortgage losses.The investigation is still in its early stages but, at least preliminarily, it seems clear that Schneiderman is unwilling to permit the type of impunity that has been granted over the last decade to lawbreaking telecoms, Bush officials, NSA eavesdroppers and CIA torturers to be quietly extended to Wall Street tycoons, whose plundering precipitated a massive worldwide financial crisis, only to be even more enriched and empowered by the political response. Earlier this month, Scheinderman also issued broad and sweeping subpoenas to two large multi-billion-dollar investment funds and their lawyers at the heart of the mortgage fraud scandal, independently jeopardizing the collective efforts to shield those culprits from accountability:
Officials in Eric T. Schneiderman’s office have also requested meetings with representatives from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley . . . The inquiry appears to be quite broad, with the attorney general's requests for information covering many aspects of the banks' loan pooling operations. . .
The requests for information by Mr. Schneiderman's office also seem to confirm that the New York attorney general is operating independently of peers from other states who are negotiating a broad settlement with large banks over foreclosure practices.
By opening a new inquiry into bank practices, Mr. Schneiderman has indicated his unwillingness to accept one of the settlement's terms proposed by financial institutions -- that is, a broad agreement by regulators not to conduct additional investigations into the banks' activities during the mortgage crisis. Mr. Schneiderman has said in recent weeks that signing such a release was unacceptable.
As state attorneys general work on a potential settlement of the nationwide probe of home-loan servicers, Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat, has expressed concern that a deal could let the companies escape liability for future legal claims.
"We believe it's critical that attorneys general retain their ability to conduct comprehensive investigations of the mortgage crisis and follow the facts wherever they lead," a spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman said.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Eric Schneiderman For President
Espcially after the previous post, it's also very important to point out when elected officials are kicking ass and taking names. Glenn Greenwald:
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I think the AG was the only truly contested vote in my district (in NY) in 2010. If I remember correctly, the NYT endorsed his opponent. Glad to see the part of my vote that mattered the most is making a difference.
ReplyDeleteWooo! That's awesome.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought when I read about him: How was this allowed to happen?