As President Obama contemplates who will replace Eric Holder, who announced his resignation last week, some lawmakers and outside groups are urging the president to take a tougher position against the financial sector when selecting the next Attorney General. And for good reason. While large banks have been penalized for their role in the housing meltdown, which led to the Great Recession, not a single senior executive has been criminally prosecuted. This week on Moyers & Company (check local listings), veteran bank regulator William K. Black speaks to Moyers about the fraudulent behavior by senior executives that led to the financial crisis, the lack of government oversight that contributed to the meltdown and the deeply-entrenched culture of corruption that's existed for decades. "I blame Holder. I blame Timothy Geithner," Black tells Moyers. "But they are fulfilling administration policies. The problem definitely comes from the top. And remember-- Obama wouldn't have been president but for the financial contribution of bankers." William K. Black is associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. He is a white-collar criminologist and a veteran financial regulator and author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One. During the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s Black helped prosecutors convict more than 1,000 bankers. Acclaimed as a litigator himself, he exposed five United States Senators - the Keating Five - who helped Keating cover up his crimes after collecting big campaign contributions.
