Does crime pay?
During Bill Clinton’s presidency, Eric Holder helped Marc Rich, international commodities trader, get a pardon. Rich avoided paying $48 million in income taxes. Just before the pardon, Rich’s ex-wife donated $450,000 to the Clinton library.
In 1999, as deputy U.S. attorney general, Holder wrote a memo indicating that big banks are too large to prosecute. After the 2008 economic crisis, only one top banker went to jail. Does crime pay if you’re wealthy and politically connected?
John Nicholson
Hilton Head Island
This story was originally published October 18, 2017 at 3:55 PM with the headline "Does crime pay?."