The Justice Department Unleashes A Godzilla On Business

By IBD Editorials  |  June 26, 2014

Politics: After she destroyed Arthur Andersen in a flawed and subsequently overturned prosecution, the Senate has confirmed Leslie Caldwell to lead the DOJ's criminal division, giving her a mandate for even more mayhem.

You'd think someone who had thrown 85,000 people out of work, as this former Enron task force chief prosecutor did in her indictment of Arthur Andersen, before the whole thing was thrown out by a 9-0

Supreme Court, would go quietly from the public spotlight. Not so with Caldwell, a notoriously anti-business activist who in concert with the Obama White House is instead failing upward.

Her appointment over 700 Justice Department lawyers is bad news for an already beleaguered private sector, given her "wise guys" view of Wall Street.

Sidney Powell, former Justice Department counsel, sounded the alarm first. "Americans should brace themselves for an unprecedented assault on businesses, banks and political opponents of this administration — regardless of law or facts," he says in the New York Observer.

"Expect increasing use of the Department of Justice as an instrument of 'terror' to extort large civil penalties or fines from businesses under the threat of criminal prosecution and the death penalty that Ms. Caldwell and her cronies dealt Arthur Andersen."



It's not just that the woman has a record of doing anything for a conviction — including concealing exculpatory evidence, as her task force did in the Enron case. She's also a political animal who specializes in high-profile cases and handles political pressure with no sweat.

Combine that with recent statements by Attorney General Eric Holder, who vowed he would not leave his Justice Department post until he can prosecute Wall Street over the 2008 financial crisis, as has long been demanded by Occupy and other elements of the far left.

The five-year statute of limitations for such prosecutions is set to run out in the next few months — making Caldwell so valuable.

It doesn't help that Kathryn Ruemmler, until recently a White House counsel who helped select and vet Caldwell, was also an Enron task force member whose prosecutions of four Merrill Lynch officials were
thrown out because the task force hid evidence.

Another task force member that Caldwell mentored, Matthew Friedrich, led the baseless prosecution of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. That case was also thrown out but not before the Republican lost his seat.
All in all, it looks like Obama, Holder & Co. are lowering a political blunderbuss at the private sector as the election season heats up and the White House pulls out all the stops to whip up populist support.