Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is making new calls for explanation on why the Wall Street executives at the center of the 2008 crash were never prosecuted, and she is pointing out the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) handling of the Hillary Clinton e-mail server probe to bolster her case.
According to a Bloomberg report, Warren sent a letter to Michael Horowitz, inspector general for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), demanding to know why no one mentioned in the 2011 Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report for possible prosecution was ever brought to trial. Warren said the lack of indictments was “outrageous and baffling” and added that the “DOJ record of action on these individuals, nearly six years after DOJ received the referrals, is abysmal.”
Warren also noted the statute of limitations on many financial crimes is 10 years, and she urged Horowitz to “act quickly to open an investigation.”
Warren also wrote to FBI Director James Comey for the release of “any and all materials related to the FBI’s investigations and prosecutorial decisions regarding these referrals.” Warren defended her call for this information by noting Comey’s decision to release a statement that included hitherto unknown information about Clinton’s private e-mail server.
“Your recent actions with regard to the investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton provide a clear precedent for releasing additional information about the investigation of the parties responsible for the financial crisis,” Warren wrote.
To further push her case, Warren used a rare media interview to call attention to the issue. Speaking with Bloomberg Businessweek, she expressed outrage over the DOJ and FBI’s failure to see prosecution for those at the center of the financial meltdown.
“There’s a clear public interest in finding out why none of these individuals or corporations were held responsible,” she said. “The public outrage is still there. This is about reminding our government officials who they work for.”
