Documents
Warren Letter to FBI
Sep. 14 2016 — 11:56 p.m.

ELIZABETH WARREN
MASSACHUSETIS
COMMITTEES:
BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS
HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
tinitcd �tatcs �cnatc
ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING
September 15, 2016
UNITED STATES SENATE
WASHINGTON, DC 20510-2105
P: 202-224--4543
2400 JFK FEDERAL BUILDING
15 NEW SUDBURY STREET
BOSTON, MA 02203
P: 617-565-3170
1500 MAIN STREET
SUITE 406
SPRINGFIELD, MA 01103
P: 413-788-2690
www.warren.senate.gov
The Honorable James Corney
Director
Federal Bureau ofInvestigation
935 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20535
Dear Director Corney:
Earlier today, I asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General to
examine the inability ofthe DOJ to successfully prosecute any of the individuals referred to the DOJ by
the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) in 2010. I write to bring this matter to your attention arid to request that you promptly facilitate the release ofany and all materials related to the FBI's
investigations and prosecutorial decisions regarding these referrals.
Established by Congress in the wake ofthe 2008 financial meltdown, the FCIC's statutory
mandate included "refer[ring] to the Attorney General of the United States and any appropriate State
attorney general any person that the Commission finds may have violated the laws ofthe United States
in relation to such crisis." 1 The full archives of the FCIC proceedings have only recently been released.2
My staff has reviewed these records and identified 11 separate FCIC referrals of individuals or
corporations to DOJ in cases where the FCIC found "serious indications ofviolation[s]" of federal
securities or other laws consistent with this statutory mandate. 3 Nine specific individuals were
implicated in these referrals - yet not one ofthese nine has gone to prison or been prosecuted for a
criminal offense. Similarly, my staff identified 14 corporations that were referred to DOJ by the FCIC
for potential violations ofsecurities or other laws. Not one of the 14 was not criminally prosecuted, nor
was any of the individuals responsible for the actions described in the FCIC referrals. Only five of these
14 corporations paid any fine or suffered any additional consequences for their actions. 4
The DOJ's inability to obtain meaningful convictions or settlements in the vast majority of these
FCIC referrals - let alone in any other cases involving senior Wall Street executives - suggests that the
Department failed to hold the individuals and companies most responsible for the financial crisis and the
Great Recession accountable. Releasing additional information may help in the examination of this
failure.
1
PL 111-21, §5(c)(4)
National Archives, National Archives Opens Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Records (March 11, 2016)
(https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2016/nr16-45.html).
3
Letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren to The Honorable Michael E. Horowitz, Department of Justice Inspector General
(September 15, 2016).
4
Letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren to The Honorable Michael E. Horowitz, Department of Justice Inspector General
(September 15, 2016).
2

Your recent actions with regard to the investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
provide a clear precedent for releasing additional information about the investigation of the parties
responsible for the ?nancial crisis. On July 5, 2016, you announced that the FBI would not be
recommending prosecution of Secretary Clinton for actions related to the email system used during her
service.5 As a matter of course, when the FBI makes such decisions, no information is made public.6 In
this case, however, you declined to follow that practice. Instead, you delivered a 2,300 word statement
that included previously undisclosed information about the case and your decision. In addition, you
provided extensive testimony to Congress.7 You explained these actions by noting your view that that
?the American people deserve those details in a case of intense public interest.?8 Earlier this month, you
went further, releasing a slate of additional documents: a summary of the FBI interview of Secretary
Clinton, and a factual summary of the FBI investigation.9 The FBI does not typically release internal
documents from its investigations,10 but you did so anyway, ?making these materials available to the
public in the interest of transparency.?11
These new standards present a compelling case for public transparency around the fate of the
FCIC referrals. If Secretary Clinton?s email server was of suf?cient ?interest? to establish a new FBI
standard of transparency, then surely the criminal prosecution of those responsible for the 2008 ?nancial
crisis should be subject to the same level of transparency. As a consequence of the 2008 crash, trillions
of dollars in American housing wealth was destroyed. Millions of Americans were touched personally as
they lost their homes, their jobs, or both. Hundreds of pension funds were eviscerated, and millions of
retirees saw their ?nancial futures wiped out. Congress created the FCIC to examine what went wrong
and to determine Whether any individuals or entities deserved law enforcement scrutiny as a result of
their actions in this crisis. The FCIC followed the law and sent such referrals to the DOJ, yet not a single
senior Wall Street executive has ever been criminally prosecuted. For the uncounted millions of
Americans whose lives were changed forever and for those who are still dealing with the consequences
of the crash, I can think of no matter of ?intense public interest? about which ?the American people
deserve the details? than the issue of what precisely happened to the criminal referrals that followed the
2008 crash.
5 FBI, Statement by FBI Director James B. Comey on the Investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton?s Use of a Personal E-
Mail System (July 5, 2016)
See, Matthew Miller, James Comey?s abuse of power, Washington Post (July 6, 2016)
c6?88jg?
7 Statement by FBI Director James B. Comey; US. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform, Oversight of the State Department (hearing) (July 7, 2016) Imps: i glistate?
department/)-
8 FBI, Statement by FBI Director James B. Comey on the Investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton?s Use of a Personal E-
Mail System (July 5, 2016)
9 FBI, FBI Releases Documents in Hillary Clinton E-Mail Investigation (September 2, 2016)
1" Washington Post, FBI releases Hillary Clinton email investigation documents, Washington Post (September 2, 2016)
(blips;
le6?8365?b .litlm).
FBI, FBI Releases Documents in Hillary Clinton E-Mail Investigation (Sep. 2, 2016)

For this reason, I am writing to you today to ask that you release all investigative materials
related to the FBI investigations and prosecution recommendations of individuals and corporations
referred to the DOJ by the FCIC. I further ask that you follow the standard you have set for such cases
of ?intense public interest? and include as a part of such public disclosures, at minimum, factual
summaries of the investigations and summaries of all interviews conducted as part of the investigations,
along with detailed explanations of why the FBI did or did not recommend prosecution. I also ask that
you agree to a public hearing so that Congress has the chance to ask questions about the non-prosecution
decisions.
The American pe0ple deserve to understand why no individuals were held appropriately
accountable in these cases. Your release of these documents and your willingness to testify will enhance
transparency and serve the public interest. I therefore ask that you make these documents relating to the
financial crisis public as expeditiously as possible so that Congress and the public may begin to
understand the decision not to prosecute the people who, in the eyes of FCIC, may have been
criminally responsible in the crash of 2008.
Sincerely,
Elizab Warren