Eric Holder

U.S. Charges Edward Snowden with Espionage and Theft of Government Property

| Importance: 9/10

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a sealed criminal complaint against Edward Snowden on June 14, 2013, charging him with three felonies: unauthorized communication of national defense information, willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized …

Edward Snowden Department of Justice Eric Holder edward-snowden espionage-act whistleblowing criminal-charges nsa-surveillance
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Holder Testifies Some Banks Are Too Big to Jail

| Importance: 10/10

During a critical congressional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 6, 2013, Attorney General Eric Holder revealed the Department of Justice’s emerging doctrine of ’too big to jail’, acknowledging that prosecuting certain financial institutions could …

Eric Holder Department of Justice JPMorgan Chase Bank of America Citigroup +2 more institutional-capture regulatory-capture corruption financial-crisis bank-prosecution +3 more
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DOJ Criminal Division Chief Lanny Breuer Resigns After PBS Frontline Documentary 'The Untouchables' Exposes 'Too Big to Jail' Policy Resulting in Zero Major Bank Executive Prosecutions Compared to 900+ Convictions in 1980s S&L Crisis

| Importance: 10/10

On January 29, 2013, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer announced his resignation as head of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, just one week after PBS Frontline aired “The Untouchables,” a damning documentary exposing how the Obama Justice Department had …

Lanny Breuer Eric Holder Department of Justice Covington & Burling Barack Obama +2 more financial-crisis accountability-crisis regulatory-capture revolving-door too-big-to-fail +1 more
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BP Pleads Guilty to Felony Charges and Agrees to Record $4.5 Billion Criminal Settlement

| Importance: 9/10

BP reached a landmark $4.5 billion criminal settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, pleading guilty to 14 criminal charges including 11 felony counts of misconduct or negligent homicide related to the deaths of the 11 workers in the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The settlement included $4 …

BP (British Petroleum) Department of Justice Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Donald Vidrine Robert Kaluza +3 more criminal-settlement corporate-prosecution environmental-crime deepwater-horizon doj-enforcement
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25 Billion Mortgage Settlement Provides Banks Immunity for Minimal Payments

| Importance: 8/10

$25 billion settlement with five major banks over foreclosure abuses provides limited relief to homeowners. The agreement settled widespread ‘robosigning’ practices where banks mass-signed foreclosure documents without proper review. While nominally $25 billion, only $1.5 billion went …

Eric Holder Bank of America JPMorgan Chase Wells Fargo Citigroup +2 more prosecutorial-capture settlement-abuse foreclosure-fraud immunity-deal financial-corruption +1 more
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Obama Releases CIA Torture Memos But Promises No Prosecutions for Torturers

| Importance: 9/10

President Barack Obama authorizes the Department of Justice to release four previously classified memos from the Office of Legal Counsel written between 2002 and 2005 that authorized CIA torture techniques including waterboarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation, and confinement in coffin-sized …

Barack Obama Eric Holder CIA John Yoo Jay Bybee +2 more torture cia obama impunity war-crimes +2 more
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Obama Admin Prosecutes Zero Wall Street Executives Despite Crisis Fraud

| Importance: 8/10

Despite widespread evidence of fraud in the 2008 financial crisis, the Obama administration prosecuted zero major Wall Street executives, contrasting starkly with the Savings and Loan crisis when 1,706 bankers were sent to prison. Instead, the DOJ pursued civil settlements totaling tens of billions, …

Eric Holder Department of Justice Wall Street Banks Lanny Breuer Covington & Burling financial-crisis wall-street impunity revolving-door too-big-to-fail
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Senator Ted Stevens Indicted on Seven Felony Corruption Charges

| Importance: 8/10

U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), the longest-serving Republican senator in history and former President Pro Tempore, was indicted on seven felony counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure forms. The indictment alleged that Stevens knowingly failed to report receiving more than …

Ted Stevens Bill Allen Eric Holder congressional corruption republican party alaska prosecutorial misconduct ethics violations +1 more
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