When he was sworn in to be Attorney General of the United States on February 3, 2009, Eric Holder said, "There shall be no place for political favoritism, no reason to be timid in enforcing the laws that protect our rights, our environment and our principles, as long as I have the opportunity to lead this great department.
"This may be a break from the immediate past, but it is consistent with the long history of the Department of Justice.
"I call on every employee of this department, from this moment on, to return to the practices that are the foundation of this entity. It is time, once again, to base our actions on policies that are rooted in fairness and in a desire to ensure a more just America."
One week later, on February 16, 2009, the new administration announced that President Obama would "sign a $787 billion stimulus bill in Denver and fly to Phoenix, where on Wednesday he'll unveil how his administration will spend at least $50 billion of Wall Street rescue money to begin halting mortgage foreclosures nationwide."
If that intent has been fulfilled and $50 billion of the stimulus money has been spent to begin halting mortgage foreclosures nationwide, I haven't seen it and I am an unrepentant news junkie who keeps easily searchable full-text databases on subjects of real interest such as this.
But today, from Reuters, we learn there maybe a reason why there have been no prosecutions of known criminal behavior in the banking and mortgage industries since AG Holder took the oath of office nearly three years ago.
Over at the Columbia Journalism Review where the motto is Strong Press, Strong Democracy , former WSJ reporter Ryan Chittum links to the Reuters investigation that questions whether Eric Holder and the top criminal prosecutor at Main Justice are like Ceasar's wife: are they avoiding the appearance of conflict of interests?
Or, do they flat out have interests that conflict with the public interest?
Reuters reporter Scot J. Paltrow writes:
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, were partners for years at a Washington law firm that represented a Who's Who of big banks and other companies at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud, a Reuters inquiry shows.
The firm, Covington & Burling, is one of Washington's biggest white shoe law firms. Law professors and other federal ethics experts said that federal conflict of interest rules required Holder and Breuer to recuse themselves from any Justice Department decisions relating to law firm clients they personally had done work for.
Both the Justice Department and Covington declined to say if either official had personally worked on matters for the big mortgage industry clients. Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Holder and Breuer had complied fully with conflict of interest regulations, but she declined to say if they had recused themselves from any matters related to the former clients.
Reuters reported in December that under Holder and Breuer, the Justice Department hasn't brought any criminal cases against big banks or other companies involved in mortgage servicing, even though copious evidence has surfaced of apparent criminal violations in foreclosure cases.
The evidence, including records from federal and state courts and local clerks' offices around the country, shows widespread forgery, perjury, obstruction of justice, and illegal foreclosures on the homes of thousands of active-duty military personnel.
In recent weeks the Justice Department has come under renewed pressure from members of Congress, state and local officials and homeowners' lawyers to open a wide-ranging criminal investigation of mortgage servicers, the biggest of which have been Covington clients. So far Justice officials haven't responded publicly to any of the requests.
While Holder and Breuer were partners at Covington, the firm's clients included the four largest U.S. banks - Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo & Co - as well as at least one other bank that is among the 10 largest mortgage servicers.
Read the rest of the Reuters story here --it's got much more in the way of juicy detail. Then realize that if you punch in the phrase "mortgage fraud" into the most popular search engine, more than 41 million hits result.
One of them is the text of the 60 Minutes report where widespread mortgage fraud and related crimes were spelled out in detail last spring. The video is here.
And then take a look at what Joan McCarter had to say earlier today.
How 'bout it, President Obama and Attorney General Holder? How long must we wait for justice?
Where's the $50 billion that was supposed to be applied to mortgages to prevent foreclosures?
As Senator Sherrod Brown and Rep. Brad Miller reminded you with 360,000 signatures they dropped off today, when will this administration begin real investigations of mortgage fraud? Or will President Obama announce a sweetheart deal that will allow bankers off the hook for the fraudulent mortgage paperwork that has been so well-documented by the press?
Will Attorney General Holder continue to protect the clients of his former partners at Covington & Burling, the law firm that represented a "Who's Who of big banks and other companies at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud"?
Is there a two-tier justice at Main Justice, one for the 99 percent and another for the 1 percent?
We are entitled to hear the truth, Attorney General Holder, and we are entitled to know whether you have recused yourselves from anything having to do with the clients of your former law firm where you shared in the profits as a partner for many years?
Why are you hiding behind public relations flaks, Mr. Holder and Mr. Breuer?
Why exactly are your spokespeople refusing to answer forthrightly whether you
personally worked on matters for big mortgage industry clients?
In the absence of clear answers, we can only wonder
What's stinking up the air at Main Justice?
Would a special prosecutor handle this forthrightly?
