Article About Financial Crisis Resulting From Fraud (According to FBI)

Here is an article about the financial crisis and how, I guess, the FBI wanted to investigate some of these banks since 2004 but didn't get the "okay" from Bush, and doesn't have appropriate funding. Which at least tempers my anger after reading. Okay, maybe SOME people in the FBI are trying to do something right, which I know, but I'm too pissed off about my own struggles to care right now.

Corporate crime is HUGE. It is going to be, and has already proven itself to be, probably, the number ONE crime and problem in the United States and it affects a LOT of people. See this article, about how a lot of the financial failure may be directly attributed to crime, to fraud, and how the FBI even believes this may be the case. If that's the case, I like how we just gave away billions to a bunch of corporate criminals:

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Financial crisis prompts worries at FBI
[Posted on October 20, 2008 at 12:56 PM]
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Filed under: Banking | Crisis On Wall Street | History | Law | Regulatory

Anyone looking forward to high-profile "perp-walks" as a result of fraud in the wake of the current financial crisis better consider another form of entertainment because the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the agency taking the lead in the investigations of potential fraud at failed banks, reportedly is finding that its own resources and finances are lacking.

The New York Times citing current and former bureau officials reports that the agency is "struggling to find enough agents and resources to investigate criminal wrongdoing tied to the country's economic crisis."

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the FBI shifted its focus to investigating terrorism and intelligence matters, putting white-collar crime in the background.

Assistant FBI Director John Miller is quoted as saying, "Clearly we have felt the effects of moving resources from criminal investigations to national security." The NYT notes that records and interviews show FBI officials warned of a coming mortgage threat since 2004 and had asked the Bush administration to budget for such nonterrorism probes, but the request was turned down.

According to the paper, fraud prosecutions aimed at financial institutions fell by nearly 50% between 2000 and 2007, insurance fraud cases dropped by 75%, and securities fraud cases declined by 17%. So far this year, bank failures are at a six year high with 15 banks seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. including the largest collapse in history, Washington Mutual Inc., which the FBI is investigating.

More importantly what we should be worried about is systemic fraud in the aftermath of the bailout, FBI officials told the Times:



In addition to the investigations into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the FBI is carrying out investigations of American International Group and Lehman Brothers, and it has opened more than 1,500 other mortgage-related investigations. Some FBI officials worry privately that the trillion-dollar federal bailout of the financial industry may itself become a problem because it contains inadequate controls to deter fraud.


The paper also suggests that the Bush administration was not keen on continuing to investigate businesses after getting hundreds of convictions at bankrupt WorldCom, Enron and Adelphia. - Donna Block