Notes below from my FNC colleague Mike Levine:
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DOJ has announced that “after a careful review” and more than a year of “thorough investigation,” it has determined that “based on the law and evidence as they exist at this time, there is not a viable basis to bring a criminal prosecution with respect to Goldman Sachs or its employees in regard to the allegations” set forth in Levin-Colburn report on financial meltdown.
“The department and investigative agencies ultimately concluded that the burden of proof to bring a criminal case could not be met based on the law and the facts as they exist at this time,” DOJ said.
DOJ commended “the hard work of those involved in preparing the report and thank the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for its cooperation in regard to the criminal investigation.”
“If any additional or new evidence emerges, today’s assessment does not precent the department from reviewing such evidence and making a different determination, if warranted,” DOJ said.
(BACKGROUND: Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla) released their report into financial crisis in April 2011. Per their websites, the conducted a “two-year bipartisan investigation” into “key causes of the financial crisis.” “The report catalogs conflicts of interest, heedless risk-taking and failures of federal oversight that helped push the country into the deepest recession since the Great Depression,” they said. Speaking of Goldman Sachs specifically, they said the bank created and sold “structured finance products that foisted billions of dollars of losses on investors, while the bank itself profited from betting against the mortgage market.”)
