Wall Street investment firms made billions of dollars off of the subprime mortgage market, only to receive a bailout from the government while millions of Americans suffered through the Great Recession. Those who made the decisions that led to the crisis not only got off scot-free, but also became rich off of the spoils. The criminal justice system looked the other way because there was no mechanism to prosecute decision-makers.
Instead, financial crimes should be treated the same way as any other crime. Those perpetrating it should go to jail, and their punishment should reflect the amount of damage they’ve done to the economy and individuals they’ve defrauded.
Problems to be Solved
- checkPeople committing mass fraud are currently able to profit off of their crimes with limited repercussions.
- White-collar financial crimes are often treated as if they don’t have any victims, when in reality they tend to have the largest number of victims in terms of people whose savings and lives are impacted. The financial crisis in particular was egregious and crashed our economy and destroyed communities that are still digging out today. If someone is making millions of dollars as CEO, they should be ready to step up and take responsibility if their company acts in a way that harms the public interest. We need to ensure that large institutions will not abuse the public trust, which requires real accountability for leaders.
Goals
- checkPrevent Wall Street from profiting from predatory and illegal or unethical behavior
- checkHold those who defraud Americans criminally accountable for their behavior
As President I will...
- Propose and promote the Public Protection Against Market Abuse Act, calling for mandatory minimum jail sentences based either on the size of the fine levied against financial institutions, or the amount of money involved in the fraudulent or unethical transactions. These sentences will be served by the CEO and largest individual domestic shareholder.
- Direct my Department of Justice to enforce laws against financial institutions to the fullest extent of their power.