Loretta Lynch is on Capitol Hill today answering the questions of the Republican Senate Judicial Committee. While these Republicans are no doubt grilling Lynch on issues like Fast and Furious, immigration, and national security, what you shouldn’t expect is anything different from Eric Holder on failing to prosecute the criminals on Wall Street.
As we’ve reported on previously, Lynch was a defender of white-collar criminals in the US.
After graduating from Harvard School of Law in 1984, Lynch started working for Cahill Gordon & Reindel as a litigation associate. Cahill is the law firm of renowned First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams who defended the New York Times after publishing the Pentagon Papers.
As much as a step for journalism as that case was, decades later he was part of the Citizens United decision, arguing that “money is speech.” The case effectively put elections into the pockets of corporations. Cahill has defended the dirtiest of Wall Street criminals; AIG, HSBC, Credit Suisse, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and many more.
After an 11 year stint with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, Lynch worked white-collar criminal defense and corporate compliance at a firm then called Hogan & Hartson (recently renamed Hogan Lovells). The firm is based in Washington D.C. and concentrates on corporate and financial law.
She’s also served on the New York Federal Reserve where she continued to maintain the status quo.
Lynch has a long-standing relationship with high-ranking banksters. While on the New York Federal Reserve Board from 2003 to 2005, she served with former Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill and former Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld. Sure, Lynch was a prosecuting attorney during the Citigroup securities fraud case, a $7 billion settlement, she still give the bank a pass with settlements paid by shareholders. No one went to jail and victims were not compensated. Lynch perpetuates the pay-to-play criminality of Wall Street banks.
So while it may be that Lynch is saying nice sounding phrases at her current hearing, let’s not forget where her true sympathies, and interests, lie.
