Damn the Evidence! No Prosecutions for Citi

Bowen FCIC Pic — Richard Bowen is testifying before the FCIC

On several occasions, my colleagues and I have stated that the payment of the large bank settlements that were the outcome of the 2008 financial crisis were merely payments of extortion to the Department of Justice. The motive we believe was to lock up the evidence they had discovered so Americans and the world would not see how pervasive and widespread was the fraud committed by the too big to fail banks in question against the public, their shareholders and customers.

I questioned what I perceived to be a smokescreen declared by Eric Holders’ successor, Loretta Lynch, regarding how serious was their intent to prosecute the executives involved.

Well, I am sad to say I was right. Sad as the recent decisions made by our government have, from my perspective, decidedly paved the road for another financial debacle. A recent Reuters article, “Exclusive: Citigroup executives avoid U.S. charges over mortgage bonds – document,” says:

U.S. authorities have decided not to pursue criminal charges against any Citigroup Inc executives or employees involved in packaging and selling mortgage-backed securities at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis, a government report shows. The decision, which followed Citigroup’s $7 billion settlement in 2014 resolving federal and state civil claims related to mortgage bonds, was described in a November report obtained by Reuters in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Its release marked the first public acknowledgement by U.S. authorities that executives at a major bank linked to the financial crisis would face no criminal charges for their involvement in selling billions of dollars of toxic mortgages and securities. The report, by the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General, one of the agencies in the Citigroup probe, said following the settlement, prosecutors reviewed the evidence to see if any individuals could be charged and determined “there was not enough compelling evidence.”

This “Report of Investigation,” issued by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, upholds my claim that the bank settlements were indeed payments of extortion:

…the totality of the evidence and testimony obtained showed that Citigroup knowingly and purposefully purchased and securitized loans that did not meet representations and warranties or in many cases were outright fraudulent loans. And eventually these tainted securitized loans were sold to investors that included the GSE’s, federally-insured financial institutions, as well as a host of states, cities, public and union pension and benefit funds, universities, religious charities, and hospitals, among others [sic] investors.

I also believe that this is why the 1,000+ pages of documents that I gave the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) evidencing Citi’s behavior in July 2008, three months before the bank bailouts with Citi receiving over $350 billion in capital and toxic asset guarantees, shows the US Government had to have known what was going on at Citi before the bailouts, and thus was buried.

The SEC has yet to release any of the documents in question despite many FOIA requests. Why? Because my testimony definitively shows that the government knew about Citi’s fraud before the bailout and bailed them out anyway. It also explains why the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) forced me to remove from my written testimony the fact that I had given the SEC the documents before the bailouts as well as my telling the FCIC about the false representations given to the purchasers of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).

[tweetthis]“The #FCIC forced me to remove important disclosures from my testimony.” ~ @RichardMBowen #SEC #tbtf #citi[/tweetthis]

This new decision by the so called U.S. authorities to not hold executives at a major bank linked to the financial crisis accountable and not face criminal charges, comes about in spite of the evidence. In spite of Holder’s announcement in early 2015 giving federal prosecutors a 90 day deadline to develop cases against individuals related to the financial crisis selling of mortgage bonds and securities. In spite of President Obama’s demand to “hold accountable those who broke the law” and “help turn the page on an era of recklessness.”

Folks, we have just changed the rule of law this country has operated under since its inception. This is outrageous.

[tweetthis]”We have just changed the rule of law this country.” ~ @RichardMBowen #DOJ #SEC #wallstreet #citi #tbtf #rmbs[/tweetthis]