Econintersect: William K. Black, a professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, who is an expert in white collar crime and, in particular, financial crime, has issued a condemnation of the FCIC (Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission). Black asks: “How Can the Architects of Crisis Investigate It?”Black feels that the wrong people were named to the Commission. In an Op Ed posted at the GEI Opinion Blog, Black wrote the following:
The Republican Congressional leadership should have ensured that it did not appoint individuals who would be in the impossible position of judging themselves. Even if the leadership failed to do so and proposed such appointments, the appointees to the Commission should have recognized the inherent conflict of interest and displayed the integrity to decline appointment. There were many Republicans available with expertise in, for example, investigating elite white-collar criminals regardless of party affiliation. That was the most relevant expertise needed on the Commission. Few commissioners had any investigative expertise and none appears to have had any experience in investigating elite white-collar crimes. These Republicans, former Assistant U.S. Attorneys (AUSAs) and FBI agents would have played no role in the financial regulation or deregulation policies in the lead up to the crisis. They would not have had to judge their own policies and they would have brought the most useful expertise and experience to the Commission – knowledge of financial fraud schemes and experience in leading complex investigative and analytical skills.
Source: GEI Opinion
