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Policing Wall Street

The hype surrounding the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” – which chronicles the rise and fall of broker-turned-investment swindler Jordan Belfort – shines yet another spotlight on the inner-workings of Wall Street and, specifically, what is and isn’t being done to protect investors from fraudsters like Belfort.

Last year, Frontline addressed this very subject in a documentary to mark the fifth anniversary of the global financial crisis of 2008. Titled The Untouchables, the documentary explored a number of questions. Among them: Why had no major bank or top executive been found criminally liable and prosecuted for the crisis or the fraud tied to the sale of toxic mortgages? Why were federal prosecutors so reluctant to act on credible evidence that Wall Street knowingly packaged and sold bad mortgage loans to investors? Are banks simply too large to prosecute and therefore too big to jail? Will Wall Street ever be held accountable for its wrongdoings and excessive risk taking?

Following interviews with top prosecutors, government officials and industry whistleblowers, Frontline reveals that many Wall Street bankers ignored pervasive fraud when buying pools of mortgage loans. Tom Leonard, a supervisor who examined the quality of loans for major investment banks like the now-defunct Bear Stearns, said bankers instructed him to disregard clear evidence of fraud. “Fraud was the F-word, or the F-bomb. You didn’t use that word,” said Leonard. “By your terms and my terms, yes, it was fraud. By the [industry’s] terms, it was something else.”

Former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) was one of the individuals who was determined to see bankers punished for their bad behavior and their involvement in the financial crisis.  “I was really upset about what went on Wall Street that brought about the financial crisis,” Kaufman recalls. “That doesn’t happen if there isn’t something bad going on.”

As the documentary shows, Kaufman became increasingly frustrated by the lack of criminal prosecutions and left office in 2010.  Meanwhile, Jeff Connaughton, Kaufman’s chief of staff, remains convinced that the U.S. Department of Justice never made prosecuting Wall Street one of its top priorities. “You’re telling me that not one banker, not one executive on Wall Street, not one player in this entire financial crisis committed provable fraud?” asks Connaughton in the documentary. “I mean, I just don’t believe that.”

Given the heightened attention that the movie, The Wolf of Wall Street, is creating about the greed and excesses of Wall Street, if you missed The Untouchables last year, it may well be worth your time now. You can view it online here.

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