On 8th Anniversary of Lehman Bankruptcy, Senator Warren Calls for IG Review of DOJ's Failed Response to Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Referrals
Senator also asks FBI to release related investigative materials, citing precedent set by release of Sec. Clinton email investigation records
Review of recently released archives shows no DOJ criminal prosecutions of FCIC-referred individuals or companies
Text of letter to DOJ IG available here (PDF)
Text of letter to FBI Director Comey available here (PDF)
Washington, DC - On the eighth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to conduct an investigation into the inability of the DOJ to prosecute any of the individuals referred to the agency by the FCIC for potential law-breaking related to the 2008 financial crisis. Recently-released documents revealed that the FCIC referred nine individuals and 14 corporations to the DOJ in 2010 based on "serious indications of violation(s)" of federal securities or other laws. But none of these individuals or corporations has been criminally prosecuted.
"The outcome of the referrals by the FCIC to the DOJ represents an abysmal failure. It means that key companies and individuals that were responsible for the financial crisis and were the cause of substantial hardship for millions of Americans faced no criminal charges. This failure is outrageous and baffling, and it requires an explanation," Senator Warren wrote today to the OIG.
The senator's letter provides details of the FCIC's referrals and the alleged misconduct by these nine individuals and 14 firms, and calls for an IG investigation of DOJ actions taken in response to the FCIC referrals.
Senator Warren today also wrote to FBI Director James Comey to request that the FBI release its materials related to the investigations and prosecutorial decisions of the companies and individuals named in the FCIC referrals.
The senator's request comes after Director Comey took the unusual step of releasing records related to the investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's email system, citing "intense public interest."
The senator wrote, "These new standards present a compelling case for public transparency around the fate of the FCIC referrals. ... I can think of no matter of ‘intense public interest' about which ‘the American people deserve the details' than the issue of what precisely happened to the criminal referrals that followed the 2008 crash."
Read a PDF copy of Senator Warren's letter to the DOJ here, and a PDF copy of her letter to FBI Director Comey here.
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Photo credit: Rev Stan, licensed under Creative Commons.
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