The Coming Palmer Raids

"Prosecuting mortgage fraud is their top priority, and it could keep defense attorneys busy for years to come, the four U.S. Attorneys who preside in Texas told a Houston audience Thursday. 'We have all the same initiatives, the policies all come from Washington, D.C., and right now mortgage fraud is No. 1,' Becky Gregory, the Beaumont-based U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas told about 50 lawyers munching their boxed lunches during a white-collar crime seminar at South Texas College of Law. 'On the local level lots of times, the big companies are victims,' said Johnny Sutton [JS], the San Antonio-based U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas. Sutton said the FBI is finding many people who illegally took advantage of the lax mortgage system. He said his office just prosecuted 19 defendants in an Austin mortgage fraud case. ... Donald DeGabrielle [DD], the Houston-based U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, told the group of mostly criminal defense attorneys that 'there will be a lot of work for you'," my emphasis. Mary Flood at the Houston Chronicle, 1 August 2008.

What a rogues gallery, JS and DD on the same platform. Where's a cop when you need one? JS is the clown who has much of South Texas up in arms over his prosecuting the "Border Patrol Two", a gross injustice. What can you expect from the Bush Administration (BA) (In)Justice Department which seeks to ingratiate the BA with Mexico? Why did the FDA take so long to find Salmonella did not come from domestic tomatoes, but Mexican peppers? Michael Savage, radio talk show host, speculated on this a day after the story broke! Get out your crying towel for big company fraud "victims". This is BA policy: make "perps" into victims if well-connected. Ah, DD, another justice seeker. DD is the guy who thinks a $50 million fine will deter BP from future misconduct. What awaits DD when he leave the DOJ? A "Big Law" partnership? See my 13 May 2008 post on DD. Gregory explains where her "initiatives" come from. The same place where Benton Campbell's come from: dare I guess, Henry Paulson.

JS prosecuted 19 people for fraud in Austin. So? Did their collective, much less individual frauds pass my "Blankfein test"? 24 years ago down "heah" in Texas we had a saying about fraud, "A billion dollars of fraud won't take you from downtown Dallas to 635". Now the comparable statement might be, "A billion dollars of fraud won't get you from one floor of 399 Park Avenue to the next", or 85 Broad Street or 250 Vesey Street or ... You get the picture. See my 21 December 2007 post about Ben Stein's 1990 article.