FBI files into the firms that contributed to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression should be released because of the public interest in understanding why no senior executives were charged, a U.S. congressman from New Jersey says.
Democrat Bill Pascrell asked FBI Director James Comey for witness interview transcripts, notes, reports and memos from the agency’s probes into the 2008 financial crisis, according to a letter dated Tuesday. Pascrell said the FBI initiated criminal inquiries into at least 14 companies as part of its investigation into the origins of the crisis, which was ignited when prices of subprime-mortgage bonds plummeted after home-loan defaults soared.
While the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission “have secured financial settlements from several major financial institutions in recent years, the investigations into potential criminal activity remain hidden from the public,” Pascrell said in his letter, which was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.
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