AOC to Bank Execs: Should More Have Gone to Jail for Financial Crisis?

Firebrand freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., grilled banking bigwigs Wednesday on whether more industry chieftains should have gone to jail for the 2007 financial crisis.

In a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Ocasio-Cortez expressed "concerns about how much things have really changed" since the recession, The Hill reported.

The progressive lawmaker pointed to fines and penalties like Bank of America's $16.5 billion settlement in 2014 over misconduct related to mortgage-backed securities, as well as a $20 million and another $720 million in consumer relief.

She questioned whether they were viewed merely as "the cost of doing business," The Hill reported.

"I represent kids that go to jail for jumping a turnstile because they can't afford a MetroCard," Ocasio-Cortez told Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon. "Do you think that more folks should have gone to jail for their role in a financial crisis that led to 7.8 million foreclosures in the 10 years between 2007 and 2016?"

Dimon demurred, saying it was a question for "legal experts," while asserting no one should be imprisoned for jumping a turnstile, The Hill reported.

The committee summoned CEOs of the nation's largest banks as a group for the first time since 2009 for the hearing — all claiming their companies have become safer and more responsible since they were bailed out during the crisis, The Hill reported.

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