SIGTARP Barofsky - Investigating New York Fed for Criminal & Civil Charges

Wow. Bloomberg has interviewed SIGTARP inspector General Neil Barofsky. Buried at the bottom of the story is this:

Barofsky says the question of whether the New York Fed engaged in a coverup will result in some sort of action.

“We’re either going to have criminal or civil charges against individuals or we’re going to have a report,” Barofsky says. “This is too important for us not to share our findings.”

He won’t say whether the investigation is targeting Geithner personally.

(h/t ZeroHedge)

That would be amazing is any of the architects of this disaster, including now Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, would be held publicly accountable.

Meanwhile, you might be aware the Audit the Fed provision is not in the Senate Bill. There is now momentum to get the House provisions into the Senate Financial Reform Bill.

Sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the language is modeled after an amendment that passed the House, sponsored by Reps. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas).

Sanders is joined by four Republicans of varying politics: John McCain (Ariz.), Jim DeMint (S.C.), David Vitter (La.) and Sam Brownback (Kan.). If Democrats in the Senate back the measure, it would have at least 63 votes, but Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is opposed and has argued against a broad audit.

The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), is also a cosponsor, as is Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.). The group is actively gathering cosponsors as the Senate continues to vote to break a GOP filibuster which is preventing debate from beginning.

Seems almost everyone who is not a bought and paid for, from the most conservative to the most progressive, believes auditing the Fed is a good idea. Where exactly did $2 trillion in Federal Reserve loans go to?

Of course Senators have to invoke Cloture, now being blocked.

Subject Meta: 

Forum Categories: