Revolving Door Rewards Regulators following Weak Foreclosure Crisis Response

From right to left, Attorney General Eric Holder, former Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, and former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, are sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. (AP PHOTO/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS)

Two recent Obama-appointees, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer and SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, have decided to cash out through the revolving door. As explained in a National Journal article:

As head of the Securities and Exchange Commission for the past four years, Mary Schapiro failed to win a major civil action against any Wall Street executive connected to what may be the worst financial fraud in history, the subprime-mortgage scam that led to the 2008 crash. As head of the Justice Department’s criminal division for the past four years, Lanny Breuer failed to accomplish the same with criminal action. And now both are headed back over to the other side: deep-pocketed firms that earn their keep largely from Wall Street.

According to a Democracy Now report on Mary Schapiro’s SEC departure, “The former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission has joined a Wall Street-tied consulting firm just months after stepping down. Mary Schapiro headed the SEC for four years before resigning in December. She is now joining the Washington-based Promontory Financial Group, which helps major financial firms navigate government regulations;” and according to a separate Democracy Now report on Lanny Breuer’s DOJ departure:

 The former Justice Department official who led the agency’s investigation of Libor and the financial crisis is taking a post at a law firm that represents Wall Street firms who have faced federal scrutiny. Lanny Breuer left as head of the Justice Department’s criminal division last month. In the latest sign of the revolving door between Wall Street and agencies that purport to oversee it, Breuer is returning to his former employer, the law firm Covington & Burling, where he is expected to defend corporate clients and receive a salary of $4 million a year.