Holder: Feds still investigating 2008 economic crash

Eric Holder Jr. ’73CC, ’76LAW / Photograph by Eileen Barroso

Would you like to see more white-collar criminals hauled into court?

So would Eric Holder Jr. ’73CC, ’76LAW. In a February appearance at Columbia, he talked up the recent creation of a federal task force aimed at rooting out the perpetrators of the fraudulent lending and investing practices that led to the 2008 financial crisis. Holder, the US attorney general, addressed 400 students, faculty, and alumni as part of the University’s World Leaders Forum.

The new task force brings together officials from several regulatory agencies “to strengthen current state and federal efforts to investigate and prosecute abuses” in the mortgage-backed securities market, Holder said.

“Believe me, I understand the public desire to, as one pundit put it, ‘see the handcuffs come to Wall Street,’” he said before sitting down for a Q&A with President Lee C. Bollinger. “So let me assure you: whenever we do uncover evidence of criminal wrongdoing, we will not hesitate to bring prosecutions.”

To watch video, visit news.columbia.edu/oncampus/2695.