Koutoulas: Holder's DOJ "Biggest Enabler Of Financial Crime In U.S. History" http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/08/23/lawyer_tells_santelli_he_plans_to_pursue_criminal_charges_against_corzine.htmlSANTELLI: Boy, this is a story that never goes away. And, in some respects, I think there's a lot of people that are happy about that, actually. James Koutoulas, lawyer who represents thousands of customers of MF Global. James, last week when word came out that the Department of Justice basically didn't see any crime, I called you up and you said, 'I believe unequivocally that fraud and crime were committed.' Can you expand upon that?
KOUTOULAS: Sure, Rick. According to the trustee's report, MF Global was routinely using customer funds to fund intraday operations as far back as August, months before the bankruptcy. That's a violation of the Commodity Exchange Act. Then, once their credit rating was downgraded, they just outright took those funds and wired them to JPMorgan to meet house margin calls, which is also a violation of the Commodity Exchange Act. It is a felony, and it bears a penalty of 10 years in prison per offense.
SANTELLI: Now, the Department of Justice obviously doesn't see it that way, and everything you've talked about we've discussed ad infinitum, and it doesn't seem to make a difference. Now we see that PFG has come into the blend. Is there really a lot of difference between PFG and MF?
KOUTOULAS: No, not at all, Rick. If you read Russ Wasendorf Sr.'s suicide note, he talks about the fact that he had the choice between going out of business or cheating. And he just decided to cheat for 20 years and steal customer money. Sure, he put it in his own account. MF Global, same decision. Senior management says, 'Do we go out of business or do we cheat?' And they cheated. They broke the law. And they took these customer funds to meet margin calls.
SANTELLI: You know, Edith O'Brien supposedly has information. Yeah, you must have information if you want to be protected to give it. You told me they never even really went that route. They didn't give her any immunity. So they don't care that she knows something that probably isn't very good? That's it?
KOUTOULAS: Right. By not giving her immunity, it's a way to stalemate the case and say, 'Well, we don't really have enough evidence to prosecute it. But Attorney General Eric Holder's Department of Justice is the biggest enabler of financial crime in U.S. history, and that's why, way back in January, we went to Congressman Grimm, and we asked him to write a letter demanding that independent counsel be appointed for this case. And 65 congressmen agreed with him.
SANTELLI: Well, I'm sure this isn't going to be the end of this. And the final question I'm going to ask you, again, I know you believe crimes were committed there, you're not going to let up no matter what happens at the Department of Justice, you're going to move forward for criminal prosecution?
KOUTOULAS: That's right, Rick. We've got 50 states in this country, and each of them has an attorney general. I will go to each and every one of them, be it New York, Illinois, Iowa, Idaho, and I will explain to them how to prosecute this case, how to cut through the jargon and the confusion that try to distract people, and we will win. We will get a conviction. And the next time a sociopath CEO says, 'Do I go out of business or do I cheat,' he's going to think about the president's biggest fundraiser in an orange jumpsuit in state prison.