STOP THE F*%KING PRESSES!!! Let’s go back just two years ago when Obama and the Democrats were calling for investigations of Halliburton, AIG, Citibank, Bank of America, Exxon-Mobile, Chevron, etc.- promising to prosecute these “criminals” who were guilty of “ripping off Main Street”, price fixing, unfair trade practices, deception… Now let’s fast forward to the present and…
1. No investigations of Halliburton- In fact, Halliburton continues to be awarded no-bid contracts by the Obama Politburo.
2. No prosecutions of any bank executives who we were told over and over again committed crimes.
3. No investigations or prosecutions of any American oil company who we were told were “price fixing” and “engaging in manipulation of oil futures”.
4. And what about AIG- do all of you recall Obama and the Democrats promising to prosecute executives involved in the credit default swaps? Guess what? The US Justice Department dropped the charges. Why? There was NO evidence of Joseph Cassano, who ran the financial products unit, and Andrew Forster, his deputy, of knowingly misleading investors about the company’s accounting losses on its credit default swaps portfolio.
Let me be clear, I’m not upset at all that we haven’t seen investigations of Halliburton, Citibank, Exxon-Mobile, etc. What I am upset about is how Democrats demonize these companies in an effort to gain political points and then either don’t follow through investigating these allege crimes or knowingly falsely accuse corporations of wrongdoing where none exists.
Sadly, with Democrats in charge, US corporations are considered guilty until proven innocent while Obama and Pelosi protect the rights of terrorist who they consider innocent until proven guilty.
(Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department has dropped a probe of American International Group Inc executives involving the credit default swaps that sent the insurer to the brink of bankruptcy and forced a huge taxpayer bailout, lawyers for the executives said on Saturday.
The investigation had centered on AIG Financial Products, which nearly brought down the giant insurer after writing tens of billions of dollars on insurance-like contracts on complex securities backed by mortgages that turned out to be toxic.
The U.S. government stepped in with a $182 billion bailout to avert a bankruptcy filing by AIG.
The criminal probe had focused on whether Joseph Cassano, who ran the financial products unit, and Andrew Forster, his deputy, knowingly misled investors about the company’s accounting losses on its credit default swaps portfolio.
“Although a 2-year, intense investigation is tough for anyone, the results are wholly appropriate in light of our client’s factual innocence,” F. Joseph Warin and Jim Walden, Cassano’s lawyers, said in a statement.
Forster’s lawyers also confirmed the probe had been dropped.
“We were very pleased but not surprised to hear from the DOJ late yesterday that they were dropping the criminal investigation of our client,” David Brodsky, one of Forster’s lawyers, said in a statement. “In the end, the facts were stronger than the emotions surrounding AIG’s problems.”
The Department of Justice declined to comment.
AIG said in a statement it welcomed the decision’
The Wall Street Journal first reported on Friday that the two-year investigation, one of the highest profile of the various probes stemming from the 2008 financial meltdown, had been dropped.
The FBI and other government agencies had been looking into whether Cassano misled investors with overly optimistic forecasts about the extent of the firm’s exposure to securities backed by risky subprime mortgages.
Investigators were said to have focused on a December 2007 investor presentation at which Cassano played down the market value of losses on the credit default swaps.
Over the course of the next year, AIG took writedowns of more than $40 billion on the swaps and had to put up billions more in collateral to counterparties like Goldman Sachs.
Cassano resigned under pressure in March 2008 as AIG’s financial situation began to weaken.
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