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Geithner: will prosecute Wall Street infractions
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner speaks at a Senate Banking Committee hearing about the Financial Stability Oversight Council, on Capitol Hill in Washington October 6, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
- PARIS |
- PARIS (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday that Americans should "stay tuned" for more prosecutions of Wall Street financiers who break the law.
The U.S. Treasury chief rejected a suggestion, during a CNBC television interview, that anti-Wall Street protests were fueled by anger over a lack of prosecution against those who helped caused the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
"That's not true," he said.
"You've seen very, very dramatic enforcement actions already ... across the U.S. government and I'm sure you're going to see more to come. You should stay tuned for that," Geithner added without elaborating.
He said there was "a lot of resistance" to government efforts to put in place more stringent rules to try to prevent recurrences of the severe crisis that drove the U.S. economy into recession from which it is only slowly recovering.
However, the government was determined to implement reforms that will offer more protection for consumers, he said.
Earlier this week, hedge-fund tycoon Raj Rajaratnam was ordered to serve 11 years in prison, the longest sentence ever in an insider-trading case.
Geithner said the Occupy Wall Street protests, which have swollen in size and spread to other cities, reflect "a general sense across the country of concern that the U.S. economy is not growing faster."
He said the Obama administration was focused on working with Congress to try to get measures passed that will spur growth and hiring while also bringing budget deficits down over time.
(Reporting by Glenn Somerville, editing by Mike Peacock)
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How about changing the Corporate Bankruptcy laws so those with big money (bond/noteholders) don’t get paid out at near 100% while common shareholders are left with nothing (didn’t all investors put their hard earned money in?)? Yes, go after RAJ while the banks keep stealing and continue to say you’re cleaning up Wall St
And the banks that are lowering Credit Limits & using that 2 months later to raise interest rates? (Does Chase ring a bell???} They lower credit limits, then send a letter that you’re a high risk due to percentage of credit outstanding to credit available so they then raise your interest – even with 100% on-time payments in credit file… Either this or you have the option to “Opt Out” and they close your account, thereby killing your credit score anyway and using that as a means to justify higher rates on any other cards or loans. Why not go after them? Or ANY other banks lending at over 19% interest to ANYONE while borrowing from the FED at next to nothing ???
Keep cleaning up Wall St Geithner… We ALL appreciate it
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