Former Attorney General Eric Holder at the annual meeting of attorney generals, May 7, 2013. Advocates hoped that Holder would pursue charges against individual Wall Street executives, but he left office without much progress on that front. (Photo: US Embassy)

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Three months ago, then-Attorney General Eric Holder gave his prosecutors 90 days to determine whether they could charge individual Wall Street executives with crimes related to the 2008 financial crisis.

“I’ve asked the US attorneys … over the next 90 days to look at their cases and to try to develop cases against individuals and to report back in at 90 days with regard to whether or not they think they’re going to be able to successfully bring criminal and or civil cases against those individuals,” Holder said in a Feb. 17 speech at the National Press Club.

Holder is gone now, and this week that deadline passed. The Justice Department, however, is dodging questions about the former attorney general’s pledge.

“It is our policy not to publicly discuss on-going investigations,” said Justice spokesman Patrick Rodenbush.

In the seven years since the financial crisis, none of the top executives at the giant Wall Street banks that fueled and profited from the housing bubble have been personally held to account. These bankers, who were the architects and major traders in mortgage-backed securities, have been largely immune to criminal charges and personal liability even as their institutions have admitted wrongdoing and paid billions in fines and restitution.

A review by the Center for Public Integrity of the enforcement actions and civil lawsuits filed by the Justice Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that these agencies have been far more likely to charge or sue individuals who work at small and medium sized banks, and foreign financial firms, than those that work at domestic banking giants such as JP Morgan Chase & Co. or Citigroup.

Of the criminal cases tied to the financial crisis that the Justice Department lists on its web site, none are related to the five biggest US banks. Two defendants who were unsuccessfully prosecuted ran a hedge fund for the now-defunct investment bank Bear Stearns. About a dozen others are from smaller banks or foreign institutions. Of the more than 100 bank executives named in lawsuits by the Securities and Exchange Commission, only four were from the top five banks, according to cases listed on the SEC web site.

“There’s no question that these banks have admitted that they’ve violated laws and regulations,” said Camden Fine, president and CEO of the Independent Community Banker of America, a trade group that represents more than 6,000 small- and medium-sized banks.

Fine says executives and directors of community banks have been routinely targeted by the FDIC and Justice. The FDIC has sued 1195 bank executives and directors to recoup money for bank failures since 2009. A handful are from major banks such as Washington Mutual. None come from the Wall Street giants, all of which were saved by a federal bailout. Dozens more have been targeted by the inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the bailout watchdog.

“These guys on Wall Street get their checkbooks out and write a check,” he said. “This is an issue of unequal enforcement. It just drives me crazy.”