Crooked Bankers and Financiers: Prosecute Them to Save Our Union

Many Americans harmed by crooked bankers and financiers are hearing various "fixes" in the law to prevent similar events in the future.  Emerging evidence over the past several years shows, to a person who is not a legal expert, there may be a basis for criminal prosecution of felonies not normally associated with these behaviors.

FEDERAL CRIMINAL STATUTES

Potentially Applicable to Emerging Evidence

U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 1, Sec. 4:
Misprision of Felony

Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

 U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 19, Sec. 371:

 Conspiracy to Commit Offense or Defraud United States

If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. 

 U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 11, Sec. 201:
 Bribery of Public Officials and Witnesses

This section is too long to quote here.  It has many elements applicable to emerging evidence.  It has elements which some members in government, if evidence were discovered, would be subject to this statutes.  Those who have covered acts subject to this statute would be subject to felonies related to conspiracy and obstruction.

 U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 15, Sec. 286:
Conspiracy to Defraud the Government with Respect to Claims 

Whoever enters into any agreement, combination, or conspiracy to defraud the United States, or any department or agency thereof, by obtaining or aiding to obtain the payment or allowance of any false, fictitious or fraudulent claim, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

 U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 15, Sec. 287:
False, Fictitious or Fraudulent Claims 

Whoever makes or presents to any person or officer in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States, or to any department or agency thereof, any claim upon or against the United States, or any department or agency thereof, knowing such claim to be false, fictitious, or fraudulent, shall be imprisoned not more than five years and shall be subject to a fine in the amount provided in this title.

 U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 41, Sec. 873:
Blackmail 

Whoever, under a threat of informing, or as a consideration for not informing, against any violation of any law of the United States, demands or receives any money or other valuable thing, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

 U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 47, Secs. 1001-1014, 1018, 1027, 1029-1032, 1037-1038:
Fraud and False Statements 

The emerging evidence applies to many of these statutes, which are too long to quote here.  E.g., Sec. 1001:

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully— 

 

(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact;

(2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or

(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry;

shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both. If the matter relates to an offense under chapter 109A, 109B, 110, or 117, or section 1591, then the term of imprisonment imposed under this section shall be not more than 8 years.

 U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 63, Secs. 1341, 1344-1351:
Mail Fraud and Other Fraud Offenses  

Bank fraud and securities fraud are included here.  The statute should be read carefully.  Its applicability is specific and extensive.

U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 73, Secs. 1505-1506, 1511, 1512-1513, 1516-1521:

Obstruction of Justice 

Again, there is so much in this statute applicable to emerging evidence.  E.g., Sec. 1505:

Whoever, with intent to avoid, evade, prevent, or obstruct compliance, in whole or in part, with any civil investigative demand duly and properly made under the Antitrust Civil Process Act, willfully withholds, misrepresents, removes from any place, conceals, covers up, destroys, mutilates, alters, or by other means falsifies any documentary material, answers to written interrogatories, or oral testimony, which is the subject of such demand; or attempts to do so or solicits another to do so; or 

Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress— 

Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.

U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 79:
Perjury 

Readers should read the full entries on perjury, subornation of perjury, and false declarations before grand jury or court.  There can be no doubt that this statute has many applications, though the difficulties of acquiring evidence for conviction may or may not be severe.

U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 93, Sec. 1909:
Public Officers and Employees 

Whoever, being a national-bank examiner, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation examiner, or farm credit examiner, performs any other service, for compensation, for any bank or banking or loan association, or for any officer, director, or employee thereof, or for any person connected therewith in any capacity, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 95, Secs. 1954, 1956-1957:
Racketeering

Section 1956, "Laundering of Monetary Instruments," is specifically applicable to some activities, though proof of "knowledge" is the linchpin here.

U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 101, Secs. 2071, 2073, 2075:
Records and Reports

[E.g., Sec. 2073]  Whoever, being an officer, clerk, agent, or other employee of the United States or any of its agencies, charged with the duty of keeping accounts or records of any kind, with intent to deceive, mislead, injure, or defraud, makes in any such account or record any false or fictitious entry or record of any matter relating to or connected with his duties; or

Whoever, being an officer, clerk, agent, or other employee of the United States or any of its agencies, charged with the duty of receiving, holding, or paying over moneys or securities to, for, or on behalf of the United States, or of receiving or holding in trust for any person any moneys or securities, with like intent, makes a false report of such moneys or securities— 

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

U.S. Criminal Code, Title 18, Part I, Ch. 115, Sec. 2384:

Seditious Conspiracy 

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
[Bold added]

Black's Law Dictionary opens the definition of force: "Power dynamically considered, that is, in motion or in action; constraining power, compulsion; strength directed to an end.  Usually the word occurs in such connections as to show that unlawful or wrongful action is meant."  And later in the entry, "Power statically considered; that is at rest, or latent, but being capable of being called into activity upon occasion for its exercise."   It would seem that some bankers and financiers have used force in ways applicable under this statute.

THE PROBLEM

The corporations involved number in the hundreds, if not thousands.  These companies all have internal legal teams.  The collective billions of dollars dedicated to legal defense are incomparable to the personnel and budgets of the U.S. Departments with legal teams of interest on the crimes that, in this American's uninformed and inexpert opinion, did occur.

Nevertheless, throughout the U.S. government, past and present, there is evidence that:

 

(1) members of the U.S. Congress;

(2) former members of past Presidential cabinets;

(3) former and current personnel in multiple U.S. departments which had oversight authority; and,

(4) former and current members of federal and state judiciaries,

knew the practices now under investigation and public scrutiny.  There is therefore, another profound difficulty.  With such widespread knowledge on these practices for so long, which U.S. agencies and employees will want to pursue the applicability of any criminal statutes?

To "follow the money" or the spiderwebs of self-interest, as thousands of persons in federal positions of authority were enriched by practices from which they profited, or which they knew but did not act, is a nearly impossible scenario for Americans to expect justice.  There is, in a perverse and immoral sense, thousands of people with "conflicts of interest."  Of course, there are many federal statutes on that, if provable.

On March 27, 2009, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, following one of the bank presidents' statements, "We're all in this together."

Back in the 1980s, I remember seeing a front page story of two crimes.  In one, an average American was sent to prison for several years for stealing stereo equipment.  Next to that was a conviction of a "white collar" criminal who was given a fine.  I never forgot that graphic illustration.

The wonderful Harvard psychologist, now mainly forgotten, Rollo May wrote that the sources of group violence often were found in anxiety, which pressurized people to the point they lashed out against the persons and institutions they rightly or wrongly blamed for their pain.   During the French Revolution, millions of people became so angry at the royals they set up a guillotine and executed both the guilty and the innocent.

It is my understanding that the United States government has a plan in place for domestic unrest, to be managed by The U.S. Northern Command.  It is my belief, based on thirty years of study in the history of violence, that unless the current White House and U.S. Congress fully investigate, charge, prosecute, convict, and imprison all who have contributed to the coming Depression, NORTHCOM will be used against Americans who have been destroyed by overseers above the laws of this nation.

There now are pockets of small groups dedicated to the overthrow of the government.  Shall we wait until a complete Depression occurs and millions of good, decent people are driven by hunger, homelessness, and unjust uses of their laws, to arise en masse in violence, lashing out against anyone employed by, defensive of, a government that did not enforce laws and punish severely the crimes committed against them with "justice for all."

Let our democracy try to stabilize, let us dilute the forces of impending violence, through the most rigorous and just enforcement of the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Criminal Code.  Yes, the U.S. Department of Justice, all interested agencies, and the courts, will be pitted against billions of dollars in resources, including manipulation of public perceptions through propaganda.  Yes, there will be, as there always have been, cries of "anti-American...witch hunts...abuse of power."

Nevertheless, if we look at the dynamics of anxiety and violence, if we combine what appears to be widespread immunity from criminal prosecution because of the power of money and political corruption, then the message sent to average Americans is that money purchases freedom for those who have proven themselves enemies of the State, though the federal code on treason never will be applied to them.