France May Criminally Indict a Big Bank, Why Can't the US?

[marmar]

(BuzzFlash) Since the great Wall Street bank and financial firm swindle that led to a crash of the US economy in 2008, BuzzFlash has published many an article about the failure of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to criminally charge banks or executives for practices that led to the economic meltdown.

Yes, the Department of Justice has levied several of the "too big to fail banks" with large fines. But these fines, even if they are over a billion dollars in some cases, are written off by the banks as the cost of doing business - and in many cases, they are literally written off as tax-deductible expenses for the year that they are paid in. Although the Department of Justice has also negotiated companion agreements to curtail harmful banking practices (in addition to the fines), it is not yet clear how vigorously it will enforce them.

In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has levied fines against Wall Street banks in relation to the economic crash and ongoing violations of banking regulations, but the SEC is limited by law to civil - and not criminal - enforcement.

In short, Wall Street emerged from the 2008 near-collapse of the US economy more profitable than ever as a result of a taxpayer bailout - and then what amounted to a financial slap on the wrist from US government enforcement agencies. .............(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/france-criminally-indicts-a-bank-why-can-t-the-us

[drray23]

1. partly because of the way the political system is run

In France you do not have to be beholden to wealthy donors to be elected. If you gather enough signatures to run (from mayors, you need 5000 signatures and that is to weed out wackos) and then enough vote in the first round (>5 % I believe) your campaign is funded by the government.

There is also no such thing as lobbying firms. Of course, the financial sector or the industry is not without its influence on politicians but it is nowhere near as blatant as in the US.

[Egnever]

2. France has different laws?

[Hoppy]

3. Simple: We're stuck with Eric Holder.

[BainsBane]

4. DOJ has carried out civil prosecutions

and won some enormous verdicts. You can criminally prosecute an individual, but how do you put a bank in jail? They would have to prosecute certain bankers, which means proving individual, not just institutional, legal violations.