Mar. 04, 2005 - 21:24 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

It Figgers

In mid-paper in this morning's Rocky Mountain News is an short article by Siobhan McDonough of the Associated Press . . . . In full:

Slap on the wallet isn't so fine

White-collar crooks mostly don't pay up, new report reveals

WASHINGTON -- "White-collar criminals have failed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and restitution while continuing to live in luxury, congressional investigators say."

"A Government Accountability Office study released Thursday is the latest in a series pointing to problems with the Justice Department's attempts to ensure criminals pay their penalties."

"The latest investigation looked at five cases that resulted in $568 million in penalties and found only about $40 million actually was paid."

"Because these are ongoing cases, the report did not identify the offenders or give much detail about the cases. All were either high-ranking officials of companies or operated their own businesses."

They pleaded guilty in each instance.

"Besides restitution, prison terms for four offenders ranged from one to five years, followed by up to five years of supervised release."

"All five were wealthy or appeared to be, before the judgments, the GAO said, but they claimed later they did not have the money to pay full restitution to their victims."

"Still, several continued living in million-dollar homes, and two took overseas trips while on supervised release, the report said."

"Prospects are NOT GOOD for collecting additional restitution in these cases, the GAO said, in part because so much time passed between their crimes and the judgment -- five to 13 years."

The report said offenders were able to hide their assets before penalties were established and there is not much incentive to go after them bacuse willfully failing to pay restitution is not a crime in itself."

"The report follows two others by the GAO. In July 2001, the office reported on the growth of criminal debt and pointed out inadequacies in the collection system."

"As year ago, a follow-up report found the Justice Department had implemented half the recommendations of the previous inquiry but lagged in coordinating debt-collection efforts with other agencies."

"The department says it is organizing an interagency joint task force on the matter.

"Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., called Thursday for immediate action by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales."

"Being tough on crime doesn't mean very much if we aren't serious about enforcing court-ordered fines and restitution," Dorgan said."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My opinions ? What the heck is Justice doing besides warming the seats of government with their backsides ? Be hard on the petty offender when government rules are violated and no victims exist. Guess that is one thing they have down pat.

Remarkably, after the fact it was discovered that "offenders were able to hide their assets before penalties were established." Now how the heck can that happen with all the high powered investigators and lawyers of our government paying strict attention ?

In this small selection of five offenders $40 million was paid by them leaving government coffers short $528 million. So, how much is really owed by well off criminals in total if that is just for five cases ? I wonder how those due restitution from the biggies are faring now ? How many are homeless, ill and needing medical attention they don't have the money to cover ? As far as penalties, perhaps if they were forced to pay the penalties that money could be put in the Social Security fund for one thing.

Gets my nanny that even through it all they either went back to their million-dollar homes or went back to them after a short prison term. And one taking an overseas trip while under supervised release. Who the heck was supervising that ? I wonder, was that supervisor making sure that the travelers were paying up on penalties and restitution ? Hah.

In the case of these rich folks the mills of the powers that be deliberately "ground so slowly" that the grist was hidden away and the statute of limitations covers all their behinds. Hah again.

So the Department of Justice is organizing an "interagency joint task force" on the matter ? So now we have agencies shifting blame on each other back and forth a la Yogi Berra "deja vu all over again" type thing. I would guess. I think that restitution will not be paid without our government paying out zillions of tax dollars to get what is truly owed.

So like in other things like the Indians being shorted and foot dragging continuing and other things like that it looks to be the same-o, same-o stuff . . . . . . It Figgers . . . . . . . . . .

Blog