| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (45 min. 14 sec.) ; 274186257 bytes |
| Summary |
This PBS-Frontline investigation asks why the US Department of Justice has failed to act on credible evidence that Wall Street deliberately packaged toxic loans and sold them to investors.It's over four years since the global financial crisis began. We now know the crisis that took the world to the brink of financial meltdown - throwing millions of people out of work and devastating entire communities - began on Wall Street.In the wake of the crisis, the newly elected President Barack Obama promised to make greedy bankers pay for their crimes. Four years on, not a single senior Wall Street executive has faced criminal prosecution. The question is why? Are they simply too big to jail?"I think prosecutors around the country... should speak to regulators, should speak to experts, because if I bring a case against institution A, and there is some huge economic effect... it's a factor we need to know and understand." Senior Federal ProsecutorThese allegations don't simply come from disgruntled investors. In this investigation we hear from industry whistleblowers who were forced to approve loans they felt would almost certainly fail.We also hear from financial experts hired by the banks to assess the quality of loan portfolios that would later be resold. They tell how they were ordered by their bosses on Wall Street to approve the purchase of portfolios that clearly contained loans based on flawed assumptions. In effect, they were being asked to overlook fraud. In one case, one due-diligence underwriter became so alarmed he wrote to the chairman of the bank employing him. His warnings were ignored.Legal experts claim these testimonies should have provided the basis for Justice Department prosecutions. In this brutally frank expose, prosecutors and Government officials explain how the hard decisions were not taken, and how Wall Street was allowed to get away with one of the biggest frauds in history."So you are telling me that not one banker, not one executive on Wall Street... committed provable fraud? I mean I just don't believe that." Former Federal Political Advisor |
| Event |
Broadcast 2013-03-18 at 20:30:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Bankers -- Malpractice.
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Criminal justice, Administration of.
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Securities industry.
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Whistle blowing.
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Global Financial Crisis (2008-2009)
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New York (State)
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
O'Brien, Kerry, host
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Smith, Martin, reporter
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Boies, David, contributor
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Bowen, Richard, contributor
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Breuer, Lanny, contributor
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Buhl, Teri, contributor
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Connaughton, Jeff, contributor
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Cruise, Christopher, contributor
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Grassley, Charles, contributor
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Holder, Eric, contributor
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Kaufman, Ted, contributor
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Moulton, Geoff, contributor
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Palmer, Mark, contributor
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Perkins, Kevin, contributor
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Spitzer, Eliot, contributor
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Verbitsky, Nick, contributor
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Winston, Michael, contributor
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