For those of you that did not see it yet, please take the time to watch the PBS Frontline show entitled The Untouchables that addresses the lack of prosecutions of the key players in the mortgage and financial meltdown. Watch it here.

One of the “stars” of the show is Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Criminal Division. A recent blog post from former Senator Ted Kaufman, who also appears in the show, discusses Breuer with the following:

“In a speech he gave last fall, the retiring head of the Criminal Division in the Department of Justice, Lanny Breuer, explained that position:

‘To be clear, the decision of whether to indict a corporation, defer prosecution, or decline altogether is not one that I, or anyone in the Criminal Division, take lightly. We are frequently on the receiving end of presentations from defense counsel, CEOs and economists who argue that the collateral consequences of an indictment would be devastating for their client. In my conference room, over the years, I have heard sober predictions that a company or bank might fail if we indict, that innocent employees could lose their jobs, that entire industries may be affected, and even that global markets will feel the effects.’

‘Sometimes – though, let me stress, not always – these presentations are compelling. In reaching every charging decision, we must take into account the effect of an indictment on innocent employees and shareholders, just as we must take into account the nature of the crimes committed and the pervasiveness of the misconduct. I personally feel that it’s my duty to consider whether individual employees with no responsibility for, or knowledge of, misconduct committed by others in the same company are going to lose their livelihood if we indict the corporation. In large multi-national companies, the jobs of tens of thousands of employees can be at stake. And, in some cases, the health of an industry or the markets are a real factor. Those are the kinds of considerations in white collar crime cases that literally keep me up at night, and which must play a role in responsible enforcement.’

From my point of view, this is certainly a novel approach to prosecutorial decision-making.”

We need more Ted Kaufman’s in the U.S. Senate.

Breuer’s evasive answers in the PBS interviews are hard to stomach. In response, the folk at maxkeiser.com produced this video about what Lanny Breuer really meant to say:

UPDATE: Lanny Breuer has gone back to work for a law firm that represents the very people he was supposed to be prosecuting while at the DOJ. The press release announcing his hiring by the law firm he now works for is here.

That’s what an Alameda County Superior Court judge said last month about our lawsuit against  our mortgage brokers and lenders. The judge agrees with the defendants that forging and backdating of a loan application, although it could be a criminal act, and concealing that fact and other information from the borrowers, does not give the borrower recourse in civil court.

This blog will discuss how we got to this point and just how crazy this whole thing is. How the government and the courts claim to care, but if they did we would not be having to fight the way we are to get justice when there was clear fraud. Why would someone forge and backdate your loan application and fail to provide all the required disclosures during the loan process when they were legally required to do so? Because they wanted a fat commission on the sale of the mortgage loan. If they had been honest, the deal would have fallen apart, denying them their fat cut of the action.

As you will see, the mortgage industry was, and still may be, a fat swine, eating borrowers and defecating worthless crap to sell to ignorant investors, getting fatter with each deal. Lehman Brothers, Countrywide and the other purveyors of this excrement knew exactly what they were doing, and still none of them are in jail. After chasing our mortgage story we can tell you the incredible truth that they do not know where your mortgage note resides, and the courts do not care. If there was fraud is was just a normal part of business and no reason for anyone to go to jail.

As our late friend Jane Powell said, “200 years of property law straight down the tubes.”