Financial Crime Kingpin Statute

IN RESPONSE to the late 1980s savings and loan scandal, where the largely unregulated savings and loan industry nearly collapsed after approving billions in insider loans for dubious projects, President George H.W. Bush signed the Crime Control Act of 1990. Title XXV of the Crime Control Act, the Comprehensive Thrift and Bank Fraud Prosecution and Taxpayer Recovery Act of 1990 (the Bank Fraud Act), criminalizes the concealment of assets from a bank conservator, obstruction of a bank examination, and administration of a continuing financial-crimes enterprise.

The last of these crimes creates a “Financial Crime Kingpin” statute. If convicted under the statute, individuals involved in a “continuing financial crime enterprise” who gross more than $5 million over 2 years may be subject to imprisonment from 10 years ...