'Stay tuned' for a new round of 'dramatic enforcement actions' against Wall St., says Geithner. Geithner: Wall St. action coming

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner suggested Friday that a new round of “dramatic enforcement actions” against Wall Street wrongdoing is coming.

“Stay tuned for that,” Geithner said.


Asked on CNBC about the Occupy Wall Street movement’s frustrations over the lack of criminal charges related to the financial crisis, Geithner said action is on the way.

“You’ve seen very, very dramatic enforcement actions already by the enforcement authorities across the U.S. government, and I’m sure you’re going to see more to come. You should stay tuned for that,” he said.

Progressive groups have often pushed for Wall Street CEOs to be prosecuted for the financial crisis of 2008.

“I think there are some investigations — hopefully, they will lead to criminal charges, but what I think the average American is saying is that if a kid smokes marijuana, that kid could end up in jail. These people [on Wall Street], because of their activity, destroyed the economy. Millions of people lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings, and now they’re making more than they ever did before,” said independent Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) last month on CNN.

Geithner Friday said the Obama administration had moved swiftly after the crisis to put into place new protections for consumers and investors.

“We moved very quickly to put in place a much stronger set of rules of the game across the financial sector. Now, we’re now facing a lot of resistance to those rules, but we’re going to make sure that we deliver the promise of those reforms, which is a much tougher set of rules across the system against risk-taking and much stronger protections for consumers,” he said.

Geithner responded to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations by asserting that their unhappiness was due to the sluggish pace of overall economic growth.

“What you see is a general sense across the country of concern that the U.S. economy is not growing faster, you’re not seeing incomes rise more rapidly, and people want to make sure that the government, Washington, is acting to make things better now. As part of that, they want to see us deliver much stronger protections for consumers and investors as an economy as a whole,” Geithner said on CNBC.

The Treasury Secretary added that the domestic focus was to ensure that Congress would take steps that would encourage economic growth and lower the deficit.

“What we’re focused on is trying to make sure that we are doing everything to encourage Congress. … to take some steps now that can make growth stronger in the United States, and tie that to reforms to bring down our long-term deficits,” he said.

Geithner’s comments about a new round of “enforcement actions” comes as Raj Rajaratnam, the former head of the Galleon Group hedge fund, was sentenced to 11 years in prison Thursday for insider trading — the strictest sentence ever for that crime.