U.S. Banks Shortchange Justice | Afro:
In the case of Wells Fargo, bank executives agreed to pay a $1.2 billion fine for hiding their bad loans leading up to the 2008 housing market debacle. The bank admitted certifying that thousands of faulty home mortgage loans were eligible for Federal Housing Administration insurance when, in fact, they weren’t. “Wells Fargo enjoyed huge profits from its FHA loan business, the government was left holding the bag when the bad loans went bust,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement Friday announcing the settlement. “Today, Wells Fargo, one of the biggest mortgage lenders in the world, has been held responsible for years of reckless underwriting.” Not really. What the settlement does is extract a large fine, but let the culprits personally responsible escape punishment. For example, Wells Fargo executive Kurt Lofrano acknowledged hiding bad loans, but was not fined and will not face any criminal charges. We can safely infer that the deal cut with Wells Fargo was done to get the case resolved. I get that. But despite former presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s claim that corporations are people, a corporation did not commit these crimes – people did. And those people should be held accountable for violating the law. -
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