In a letter to SEC Chair Mary Jo White, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a key member of the Senate Banking Committee, asked for an analysis and/or internal research the Commission has done on trade-offs to the public between settling an enforcement action without admission of guilt and going forward with litigation necessary to obtaining such an admission.
In an earlier letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder,
Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Robert Corker (R-TN), also key members of the
Banking Committee, voiced their concern that the DOJ is restricting its
enforcement actions based on the size of the culpable financial institution,
that is to say that DOJ is indicating that large, complex financial
institutions will escape prosecution because their size indicates that an enforcement
action against them will negatively impact the U.S. economy. The Senators ask
if it is the position of the DOJ that some financial institutions are large
enough that their management is above prosecution in the case of a serious
crime.