Goldman Sachs Pleads Guilty — Shareholders Pay $5bn to Keep Bankers out of Prison

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Goldman Sachs has agreed to plead guilty again and will pay $5.06 billion for its role in the 2008 financial crisis. The settlement, over the sale of mortgage-backed securities from 2005 to 2007, was first announced in January. Of course, none of the bankers will ever go to prison and the shareholders pay to protect the individuals who actually act in a criminal manner. This is really fraud upon the shareholders who have to pay fines to keep the bankers out of prison.

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Again, it's a two-tiered justice system. The big banksters always grease the palms of the bigwigs in both parties so they're always covered with a "Get out of jail free" card. The people at large are at the mercy of the bullies in "law" enforcement, but the big boys walk away with a slap on the wrist and the shareholders pick up the tab.

 

Not good enough. So if a thief promises to pay some restitution there shouldn't be any thieves in jail? These people are criminals, and need to be treated as such. Forfeiture of assets both personal and business, and hard time is the right path.

 

i agree 100%, but our justice system is tilted in favor of those in power and wealth.

 

Not according to them. The rich/elites think they should be the only one's allowed to vote, have an education, own land, and should never be held accountable for their actions the way the peasants are.

 

And that's what this election is all about. The people are voting for Trump on the GOP side and Sanders on the Democrat side because they're sick and tired of political insiders controlling everything. Grant you, the Sanders supporters are misguided in a lot of ways, but they do realize at the very least that the system doesn't answer to them.

 

To big to jail.

 

..and it seems so obvious. The people are finally seeing the truth about the two party scam. Now they need to put somebody in charge who will start prosecuting the criminal politicians in both parties, and the wealthy corporate elitists that are corrupting them.

 

Yup, they should be charged as terrorists, anti-American economic terrorists.....but wealth gives them power and with that they escape by paying out a little pocket change.

 

Is that the Goldman Sachs that Mrs. Ted Cruz is an executive of - something you'll never hear the media breathe a word of?

The media has made it clear that Ted Cruz is the perfectly flawless true Conservative for which their is nothing to criticize him for and John Kasich is the only person more perfection - while Trump is nothing but scandals and hated by everyone as the media tells it?

 

What law(s) were actually broken by an individual at Goldman-Sachs? I keep hearing the media talking heads ranting about how these big banks have gotten away with no one going to jail, but have yet to hear anyone mention the actual law that applies.

 

Well, I agree with that. I want to see Franklin Raines, Jim Jordan, Jamie Gorelick and the other fraudsters at Fannie and Freddie who got huge bonuses while cooking the books go to jail. They are also the ones who created the CDOs that took the shaky loans off the banks books, put them into securities and sold them to the public. I want to see the ACORN activists and the compliant ideologues in Justice who sued the banks and mortgage companies under the CRA and forced them into stopping the "redlining" process and forced them to make loans to people with bad credit in bad neighborhoods that was the impetus for the need for Fannie and Freddie to take the loans off the banks books and put them in CDOs.

I want Bawney Fwank and Maxine Watters in jail for stopping the Bush Admin from changing the rules and stop Fannie and Freddie from guaranteeing zero down payment loans.

Lets get all the crooks and enablers in jail.

 

Yes if they committed fraud or allowed fraud to be committed, they all need to be in jail.

 

Check this video out for starters:

[video=youtube;-zzSAoD2mzU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zzSAoD2mzU[/video]

Also go rent "The Big Short" if you haven't seen it yet. It shows how the SEC is in bed with the big banks (literally in one scene) and how the ratings agencies simply comply with the bank's wishes in order to get paid.

 

Don't refer to a movie as being actual facts please. I don't watch crap on youtube. Just tell us the actual legal statute that applies.

 

The movie was based on a true story and contains quite a few documented facts. The book cites these as well.

This is idiocy. It infers everything on youtube is "crap" which is ridiculous on its face. Look, if you're not interested in the truth, then just say so.

You go look up the damn statutes. Go to the court's website. I'm not here to hold your hand. The info is easily available. Stop being lazy and go get it if you want it.

 

Then don't (*)(*)(*)(*)ing reply to my post. If you want to spew bull(*)(*)(*)(*), go ahead, but don't get pissy when you can't back up your statements.

And ANY idiot can make a youtube video. It's like Wikipedia, which is why I don't bother with it.

 

Dude, I don't have to back up any statements. This is a mainstream reporting of a court verdict. All the info you need will be on the public record. And you're claiming you're somehow being misled or kept in ignorance? You're delusional. Go get a life.

And a knowledgeable genius can also make a youtube video. You don't bother with it because apparently you don't have any damn patience.

 

A big financial institution pleading guilty does not necessarily mean they are guilty. They basically have to plead guilty, otherwise the prosecutor effectively has the power to destroy the business. Billions of dollars. The financial institution cannot take that risk.

There has been a lot of criticism over this, that a single prosecutor can have too much power and influence over such a large corporation. The judge could probably just sign off on an order that would result in the institution going bankrupt and never face any consequences for the decision. These businesses are at the mercy of the courts, that's why they have to spend so much money on lawyers.

 

The issue was banks with no CRA obligations...fanny and Freddy just suffered because the entire industry suffered

 

Again, get your panties out of a wad. I just ask what laws have been broken, if any. I don't know if there were actual laws that covered the cause of the crisis and if there were, was there enough evidence to charge the parties involved.

Everyone keeps saying that people should be put in jail, but I have seen nothing that says they should have been. Is the media just refusing to cover this massive scandal? Did the Bush and Obama administrations BOTH help cover it up?

Here is an idea, maybe you can watch the movie Wall Street(first one or second, doesn't matter) and find something that applies. Or better yet, keep searching those youtube videos. Everyone knows that's hard evidence that holds up in court.

 

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My sources say about the same thing; Vampire Squid Goldman Sachs Gets Away with $5 Billion 'Non-Punishment'. The feds are tooting their own horn. What they are not telling people is that the US DOJ will negotiate the fine and Goldman Sachs will end up paying pennies on the dollar...if even that.

 

Exactly how I see it. These large corporations will usually just settle if it will cost them less than fighting it. Guilt is not actually part of the equation, just the cost.

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Excellent point, I didn't even think of that. You are probably right.

 

Rich don't answer to we the little people.

Rich bankers, rich Democrat politicians.

Laws are for you and I not for the elite.

 

Does anyone know where the fine money is going?

 

Now there is abuse by prosecutors in this country, no doubt about it. But how often do you see other people in their cross hairs getting deals that include no jail time? Go check out the documentary "After Innocence." There are thousands of innocent people in our prison system. Prosecutors should definitely be held accountable for this, but they're not. The government is corrupt and self-serving, and that's the main reason why you have this type of thing going on.