Are they going to pay it to the Clinton Foundation? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. /snark
No wonder Heidi Cruz took a leave of absence, the bonus pool just took a hit.
$5 Billion is less than they thought it would cost them if they didn’t settle now. Price of doing business. Consider that for a moment.
And breaking up the banks wouldn’t have stopped the practice of selling “liar loans”. Tougher regulations, OTOH, would have gone farther.
I’d personally rather see these billions than years long trials that end in possible acquittals. This way, everybody wins.
But I thought breaking up the banks was the solution for dealing with them? And since so many snark meters have been tossed in the trash this year I’ll include the handy dandy /s tag.
Also, Justice on Friday announced that Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $1.2 billion to settle similar charges.
Claims were also against Wells Fargo executive Kurt Lofrano.
Also, for those interested here is a recent list of actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
What’s important is that lengthy jail sentences were handed down to send a strong message that … oh, never mind.
an additional $1.8 billion in relief to underwater homeowners and distressed borrowers,
Yeah, I can see them licking a stamp and mailing that check:
To>
John Doe
Sleeping Under a Bridge Blvd.
Dubuque, Iowa 52001A major reason why much broader civil litigation, and criminal investigation referrals to the Justice Department - especially in the case of the sale of the bundled securities packages with bad mortgages and good investments - could not be brought is the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which deregulated the over-the-counter sale of just these types of mortgage securities and credit default swaps.
As a member of the House, Bernie Sanders voted in favor of the bill. As such, he helped enable the fraud he is now so willing to denounce.
Although it’s not clear from this story, it probably goes into a pool funded from multiple settlements. The story here said the Goldman Sachs settlement was “over the sale of mortgage-backed securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.”
But still no jail time.
The real hit to the company cold be much less – often, in cases like this, the value of loans to “underwater homeowners and distressed borrowers” has already been written down by the company.
Can you tell me what the EXACT LAW was that they broke prior to 2008 that lead to the financial crisis that would incur jail time? And no, I’m not being nasty or facetious.
The Justice Department announced a $5 billion settlement with Goldman Sachs over the sale of mortgage-backed securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.
Just for comparison how much did they make in profits on the sale of mortgage-backed securities during that time period?
No, no jail time. As I noted, a series of measures to deregulate the finance sector rendered a lot of what caused the financial collapse perfectly legal.
Also, the preference to pursue civil charges rather than criminal charges follows a longtime trend that predated the Obama administration. And in order to charge people with a crime, one needs facts and a law, or a set of laws, under which the given facts are evidence of criminal wrongdoing by a particular individual, setting a high legal bar.
The fact remains, however, that the Obama administration has levied more fines and penalties against the financial sector than any other – well over $100 billion – and instituted the toughest financial regulations since FDR.
Restrict closing costs on refinance to less than 1 % of the amount financed. And no more than 2500 dollars.
Allow principal adjustment to actual value and toss all financial assessments not linked to brick a mortar.
Stop all foreclosure proceedings as soon as impropriety or error is suspected. Suspend obligation to pay until the bank has met all its obligations legally. If the bank or mortgage institution is found to have done anything illegal, no matter how slight, forgive all payments due during the foreclosure interval and wipe the credit reporting slate clean.
The government should get none of this settlement money. They made out on inflated property values that led to inflated property taxes. All of it should go to homeowners.
I’m not sure, but I remember a few years ago when a $25 to $35 billion damage pool was established through multiple settlements, a portion went to debt relief, mortgage modifications, etc., and also included new rules governing lending guidelines.
Agreed. The only crimes they committed are predatory practices and amoral behavior, neither of which is illegal in the financial sector, even for self avowed xtians.