Thursday, September 11, 2008

What Can the FBI Do?

"Long before the mortgage crisis began rocking Main Street and Wall Street, a top FBI ofifical made a chilling if little-noticed prediction: The mortgage business, fueled by low interest rates and soaring home values, was starting to attract shady operators, and billions in losses were possible. ... But what is also clear is that the FBI failed to avert a problem it had forecast accurately. ... But it wasn't just regulators who were looking the other way. The FBI and [DOJ], which are supposed to police potential illegal activities by bankers and others, were so focused on national security and other priorities that they paid little attention to white-collar crimes that might have contributed to the lending and securities debacle", Houston Chronicle, 26 August 2008.

What can you expect from an FBI and DOJ which are "regulatory capture" victims? When most FBI agents know the DOJ will not prosecute crimes involving politically protected actors, why should they bother exposing crimes as they happen? Consider who might be a co-conspirator.

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