简体中文
A documentary about a Chinese underdog, which took on the US government, is up for an Oscar. “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” is the story of a family-owned bank in New York’s Chinatown – the only bank prosecuted following the financial crisis 10 years ago.
It’s been 10 years since the financial crash that began in the United States but was felt across the world. Bad banking practices were blamed – specifically, the selling of toxic mortgages – with billions of US dollars lost and a huge spike in home repossessions and foreclosures.
Yet, no single bank has ever been prosecuted. Except one.
With many decrying the lack of legal action being down to a ‘too big to fail’ attitude (the idea that prosecuting huge banks with trillion dollars businesses would lead to more financial turmoil), anger was leveled at the perceived lack of justice.
And New York’s District Attorney decided to go after a federal bank based in the city’s Chinatown district.
Thomas Sung, the founder and chairman of Abacus Bank.
The film, ‘Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,’ tells the story of that bank’s fight against prosecutors. It’s hoping to win Best Documentary (Feature) at this year’s Academy Awards in Hollywood.
Abacus Federal Savings Bank was founded by a Chinese immigrant, Thomas Sung. He runs it with the help of his daughters. For years, they helped provide mortgages to Chinese immigrants and those working in a cash economy in and around Chinatown. It had one of the lowest default rates in the country.
When they discovered that one of the bank’s loan officers was allegedly committing fraud, he was fired. The bank’s management reported the issue and undertook a full investigation. They brought in outside investigators and reported the findings to both regulators and law enforcement.
The District Attorney was also taking an interest – and after five years, it launched an indictment against the bank, claiming management must have been complicit.
Director Steve James followed the family’s journey, spending almost every day with them as they prepared for the fight of their lives to clear their names.
“I think the DA’s vision in terms of deciding to prosecute this case was clouded by ambition. Ambition to be the guy who actually brought a bank to its knees in the wake of the 2008 crisis because no big bank, that had happened to, so I think that clouded his understanding of what was going on, really, here,” James said.
(CGTN)
