![]() The DA, Cyrus Vance Jr., brands the bank "a criminal conspiracy fueled by greed." The New York district attorney's office-which had been unable (or unwilling) to bring any of the "too big to fail" banks to heel for their behavior-digs in on Abacus, indicting the bank and 19 of its staffers and humiliating many of them with a chain-gang parade that looks like it could have been from O, Brother, Where Art Thou?. When various managers at the bank realize an employee named Ken Yu has been taking bribes and falsely inflating customer income claims, the bank reports itself to the authorities. Intercutting his interviews with scenes from Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, James clearly tries to draw parallels between Sung and Jimmy Stewart's good natured, small-town banker in the classic film.Īt the film's start, Sung is 80 years old and still running the bank when the trouble begins. 12 September 2016.Founded in 1984 by Thomas Sung-a Shanghai-born lawyer who grew tired of the traditional banking system's reluctance to lend to Chinese Americans-Abacus is one of Chinatown's most significant financial institutions. ^ "After the Crash, Big Banks Got Bailouts.^ After 2008 financial crisis, only one bank faced criminal charges." 'The Divide': A Startling Portrait of U.S. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013. "Mortgage Fraud Prosecutors Pounce on a Small Bank". "A Tiny Bank's Surreal Trip Through a Fraud Prosecution". "Abacus Bank Found Not Guilty of Mortgage Fraud and Other Charges". ^ "REFILE-UPDATE 1-Abacus bank acquitted of all charges in N.Y. ![]() "Abacus Federal Savings Bank indicted for mortgage fraud". Abacus: Small Enough to Jail was nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. ![]() It was broadcast nationally on PBS Frontline on September 12, 2017. The story is told in Steve James's feature-length documentary Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, which had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, September 11, 2016. Jill Sung criticized the disparate treatment, including a perp walk, as blatant racism against Asian Americans. It was criticized by journalist Matt Taibbi in his 2014 book The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap. The aggressive prosecution of Abacus, in contrast to the relatively lenient treatment received by large banks, was questioned and criticized by various media outlets. The bank, along with its former Chief Credit Officer and its former loan supervisor, were acquitted of all charges brought by the New York prosecutors in a jury trial in New York Supreme Court on June 3 and 4, 2015. It also said it was not involved with the fraudulent packaging of subprime mortgage securities and had a mortgage default rate of 0.5%, a tenth of the national average. Abacus argued that it uncovered the improper behavior itself, reported it to the regulator, and fired the employee in question. The bank was accused of falsifying loan applications so that borrowers would qualify for mortgages. In May 2012, New York prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney's office indicted the bank and 19 of its employees on charges of fraud in relation to hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of mortgages that had been sold to Fannie Mae between 20. Its mortgage and other services extend to all states in the United States. (AIAC), which provides life, health, accident, and annuity insurance. Other services Ībacus has a wholly owned insurance subsidiary, the Abacus Insurance Agency Corp. The bank has locations in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The aggressive prosecution of Abacus, in contrast to the relatively lenient treatment received by the large banks, was questioned and criticized by various media outlets.Ī documentary about the prosecution and exoneration of Abacus, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, was nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. bank prosecuted in relation to the 2008 financial crisis it was exonerated of all charges following a jury trial in 2015. Abacus Federal Savings Bank ( Chinese: 國寶銀行) is an American bank founded in December 1984 by a group of business leaders from the Chinese American community in New York City.Ībacus was the only U.S.
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