Connections Between the Big Banks and Holder's Justice Department: No Wonder There Aren't Criminal Cases

Eric Holder (from The Guardian)

A story in The Guardian discusses connections that Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer have with a law firm, Covington & Burling, that represents several big banks. The Guardian article gets key information from an NPR story including this connection between Holder and Breuer and the big banks:

“Friends and former colleagues say Holder has made no decisions about his next professional perch,” NPR writes, “but they say it would be no surprise if he returned to the law firm Covington & Burling, where he spent years representing corporate clients.”

A large chunk of Covington & Burling’s corporate clients are mega-banks like JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America. Lanny Breuer, who ran the criminal division for Holder’s Justice Department, already returned to work there. 

The key point is that Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer both worked for the law firm that represented many of the big banks that orchestrated the mortgage meltdown. An investigation by Frontline titled "The Untouchables" (see the few minutes starting around 47:00) suggests that Eric Holder's Justice Department was given many opportunities to pursue criminal cases in the meltdown but failed to take advantage of the numerous opportunities to build a case. A key player in the Justice Department that was identified by Frontline is Lanny Breuer who, as The Guardian quote above highlights, is already back working with his old firm, Covington & Burling.

Lanny Breuer

Given both these key Justice Department players, Holder and Brewer, worked previously with the law firm that represented many of the mega-banks, it makes more sense that nobody from any mega-banks is in jail. These banks appear to be the clients that Holder and Brewer worked for in the past and will be working for in the future. 

I've commented previously on Holder's failure to pursue justice in the mortgage meltdown. For example, in one post, I note that he admitted to being soft on the banks. Instead of putting people in jail for these frauds, Holder's Justice Department has slapped the banks' wrists with large civil fines. The only problem with that approach is the fines are essentially paid by shareholders and the executives who orchestrated the frauds that led to the meltdown keep their massive pay packages and are free to devise schemes to transfer more wealth from others into their pockets. It's no wonder that Occupy Wall Street exists.

Unfortunately, Holder and Breuer have created a world where the executive at a big bank can devise a scheme that puts millions in his pocket with little or no consequences to him or her. Too many people with sociopathic personalities would say: why not?! Unfortunately, the money came from taxpayers and shareholders and the consequences include worldwide economic collapse...However, the big bank executives are still flying in their private jets and buying political influence in Washington.

It appears that because Chicago-style politics have ruled Washington, major frauds with worldwide consequences have gone unchecked. This doesn't bode well for the future, especially when sociopaths make it into the C suites at our too-big-to-fail financial institutions...With justice like this, it's only a matter of time before the next economic meltdown due to massive fraud.