When Banksters Scam, Swindle and Steal, It's Legal.

The Justice Department won't be pursuing criminal charges against Goldman Sachs or its employees over its deceptive practices in marketing mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations (CDO).

In April 2011, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a voluminous report on the role of major banks, federal regulators and credit rating firms in the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and ensuing financial crash of September 2008. 240 pages of the 640 page report examined the role of Goldman Sachs (GS) in selling securities that they were betting would fail.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, said the panel’s two-year probe had found “a financial snake pit rife with greed, conflicts of interest and wrongdoing". He went on to say, "In my judgment, Goldman clearly misled their clients and they misled Congress.”

On Thursday, despite the massive amount of evidence - 56 million pages of memos, documents, prospectuses and emails - against Goldman Sachs, the DOJ concluded that "there is not a viable basis to bring a criminal prosecution with respect to Goldman Sachs or its employees in regard to the allegations set forth in the report.”

Moreover, on the same day that the DOJ decided not to pursue criminal charges against GS, the SEC, in a totally separate investigation of a $1.3 billion subprime mortgage deal from 2006, also decided not to take any action against GS. And the largest transfer of wealth from the public to private sector continues on.

What happened to President Barack Obama's Justice Department task force to investigate banking practices in the mortgage industry?

"On the sixth month anniversary of the announcement of the so-called financial crisis task force, the twin announcements yesterday that Goldman Sachs and its executives will not be charged by either the Sec or DOJ for conduct directly related to the toxic assets at the heart of the crisis is a stark reminder that no individual or institution has been held meaningfully accountable for their role in the financial crisis. And without such accountability, the unending parade of megabanks scandals will inevitably continue," - Neil Barofsky

Links:

Goldman Sachs and Control Fraud

Five Senior Goldman Sachs Execs Gave $130K To 'Obama Victory Fund' WHILE Eric Holder Was Deciding Whether To File Criminal Charges