Shame on Eric Holder, Wall Street's Attorney General [View all]

[rhett o rick]

Shame on Eric Holder, Wall Street's Attorney General Thursday, 23 July 2015 00:00 By Clara Herzberg, Truthout | Op-Ed

"Well, well, well. Eric Holder is returning to his cushy job at Covington & Burling where he reportedly pulled in $2.5 million the last year he was there. "

Can you say "The revolving door of government corruption?"

"Holder had just spent six years in Washington handing out slaps on the wrist to financial institutions that claimed they were "too big to fail" while secretly receiving government assistance. His help almost certainly amounted to billions of dollars of aid to Wall Street. Now he's trotting back on his high horse to go collect millions for his top position in the firm."

"But let's look for a moment at Eric Holder's record during his tenure as Wall Street's attorney general: He never got a single conviction for any crimes that spawned the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Instead, Holder employed some creative lawmaking and created the idea of "collateral consequences," wherein the state could look for alternatives to prosecuting firms if the results were too much "collateral damage." UBS and HSBC were caught manipulating interest rates and laundering money, respectively, and met with no criminal legal action as a result."

While Mr. Holder never got a single conviction against the banksters that crashed our economy and cost the middle and lower classes trillions, we did get some convictions by busting medical marijuana dispensaries in states where dispensing medical marijuana was legal. What a sad legacy for an Attorney General labeled a Democrat who is now headed back to Wall Street to reap his rewards.

Complete article: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/32025-shame-on-eric-holder-wall-street-s-attorney-general