the bizarre answer to the central question of the day: "why is no one in jail for defrauding the country?" is that someone is, just a small fry who probably did nothing wrong. It is redundant to note that the CEO crooks who created the mess have no fear whtasoever of anything other than a slap on the wrist.
If you have any inkling or thought that our political and legal system is not wildly out of control, you must read this absolutely astonishing and disgusting story from the NYTimes today. It is about the federal government going over a small fry who supposedly committed mortgage fraud while it continues to ignore the actual crooks who destroyed the financial and mortgage systems.
"On Valentine’s Day, the elder Mr. Engle said, his son had entered a minimum-security prison in Beaver, W.Va., to begin serving a 21-month sentence for mortgage fraud. He then proceeded to tell me the tale of how federal agents nabbed his son — a tale he backed up with reams of documents and records that suggest, if nothing else, that when the federal government is truly motivated, there is no mountain it won’t move to prosecute someone it wants to nail. And it was definitely motivated to nail Charlie Engle.
Mr. Engle’s is a tale worth telling for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its punch line. Was Mr. Engle convicted of running a crooked subprime company? Was he a mortgage broker who trafficked in predatory loans? A Wall Street huckster who sold toxic assets?
No. Charlie Engle wasn’t a seller of bad mortgages. He was a borrower. And the “mortgage fraud” for which he was prosecuted was something that literally millions of Americans did during the subprime bubble."
The story gets more insane as you read it, and the punchline at the end would be funny if it wasn't such a clear sign that this country is politically and morally bankrupt in addition to the financial bankruptcy.
If you have any inkling or thought that our political and legal system is not wildly out of control, you must read this absolutely astonishing and disgusting story from the NYTimes today. It is about the federal government going over a small fry who supposedly committed mortgage fraud while it continues to ignore the actual crooks who destroyed the financial and mortgage systems.
"On Valentine’s Day, the elder Mr. Engle said, his son had entered a minimum-security prison in Beaver, W.Va., to begin serving a 21-month sentence for mortgage fraud. He then proceeded to tell me the tale of how federal agents nabbed his son — a tale he backed up with reams of documents and records that suggest, if nothing else, that when the federal government is truly motivated, there is no mountain it won’t move to prosecute someone it wants to nail. And it was definitely motivated to nail Charlie Engle.
Mr. Engle’s is a tale worth telling for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its punch line. Was Mr. Engle convicted of running a crooked subprime company? Was he a mortgage broker who trafficked in predatory loans? A Wall Street huckster who sold toxic assets?
No. Charlie Engle wasn’t a seller of bad mortgages. He was a borrower. And the “mortgage fraud” for which he was prosecuted was something that literally millions of Americans did during the subprime bubble."
The story gets more insane as you read it, and the punchline at the end would be funny if it wasn't such a clear sign that this country is politically and morally bankrupt in addition to the financial bankruptcy.
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