Abacus: Small Enough to Jail

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Alec B The most interesting thing here is the way the narrative frames the fallout from the '08 Financial Crisis. The public's desire for justice coupled with an unwillingness on the part of the Government to go after those who were really responsible meant that somebody had to be offered as a sacrifice and obviously they targeted people who couldn't really fight back. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/05/24 Full Review Audience Member This doc, part of the superb PBS Frontline presentations, and directed by Steve James, gives us another infuriating example, at times, of the staggering hypocrisy of government prosecutors. Spending years and many millions of taxpayer dollars on building a mortgage fraud case against the family-owned Abacus Federal Savings Bank, in Chinatown, NYC. This, while giving the huge banks, "too big to fail" a $700 billion bailout for their fraudulent loan practices, costing the U.S. economy $22 trillion during the financial crisis beginning in 2008. Abacus Federal, the 2651st largest bank in America, with its "huge" network of 6 branches, still remains the only bank ever indicted as a result of the 2008 crisis. Yes, you can see the bank made some mistakes mostly in their compliance policies, but in the overall scheme of things it was trivial in comparison to what the giant financial institutions were doing. Overall, a most solid documentary which tried to present both sides' cases to the viewer. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member A really good example of how to make a cohesive documentary that touches on so many aspects of a legal case and yet never loses its focus or feels superficial, becoming even quite touching and tense as we realize what is at stake for this family who needs to prove their innocence. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Overprosecution at its finest. Heartbreaking saga. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member While it brings nothing new to the table, "Abacus: Small Enough To Jail" is nonetheless a compelling documentation of a trial meant for the government to scapegoat a small bank for the more severe crimes of banks that are allegedly "too big to fail". Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review s r I want to go visit the bank next time I am in NYC. Despite its hints to try and tie this to the banking crisis, the true issue at risk comes out. Informative and well made narrative. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail

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