Sufficiently Armed: The Federal Toolbox for Punishing Criminality in the Subprime Market

Sufficiently Armed: The Federal Toolbox for Punishing Criminality in the Subprime Market, Stephanie Martz and Tiffany Joslyn, NACDL. It should come as no surprise that the current market crisis has given rise to a fierce outcry for heads to roll and “greedy corporate executives” to be thrown behind bars. In this heated environment, Congress is likely to see itself as compelled to enact new criminal statutes that supposedly would have prevented the crisis. However, Congress has already enacted all of the tools prosecutors need (and far more) to prosecute any criminal activity associated with the subprime market. Congressional action in this arena would be redundant at best. This paper briefly sets forth the federal criminal statutes that are currently in place and available for prosecutors to use to pursue whatever criminal activity allegedly occurred. The paper begins with a list of the relevant charging statutes that already exist in the United States Code for financial and related crimes. Then, in varying depth, we discuss each statute’s individual coverage, elements, and application. This analysis takes a neutral perspective and explains the current state of the law without advocating for a particular application. Nothing in this paper should be interpreted as advocating for the enforcement of the criminal law in the current circumstances in general, or in any case in particular.