Wall Street Thieves Should Be Ashamed& and Shamed

One reason he could be so blasé is that our Justice Department’s prosecutors filed no criminal charges in Citigroup’s blatant, gargantuan theft – not against the bank itself, nor against any of the bankers who plotted, executed, and profited from the theft. They certainly had evidence of criminal fraud – in one internal email, a Citigroup executive essentially admitted that the package of loans sold to investors as solid, were in fact crap: “[I] think we should start praying,” he wrote to his higher ups, “I would not be surprised if half of these loans went down.” But the bank peddled the packages anyway.

Another reason the chief wasn’t fazed by the government’s big fine is that neither he – nor any Citigrouper – would personally pay a penny of it. Rather, the tab would be handed to the bank’s shareholders.

Justice Department honchos proudly held a press conference announcing their “punishment” of Citigroup. Missing entirely from the picture, however, was Citigroup’s CEO or any of the bank’s executives who participated in the fraud. If they don’t go to jail and don’t pay a dime – shouldn’t they at least have to show up and have their pictures in the paper and on TV? At minimum, let’s start publicly shaming these Wall Street thieves.

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This has been reposted from Jim Hightower’s website.