21 jaw-dropping crimes committed by Wall Street banks

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Some will rob you with a six-gun,
some with a fountain pen.
Or a credit default swap.

Here is a selection of crimes by banks that have gone pretty much unpunished. Oh, the banks did pay to settle prosecutors' charges, but that amounted to a cost of doing business. The person who should have prosecuted the banks for their crimes just left the U.S. Department of Justice for a $4 million-a-year job at a lobbying firm.

And because the banks weren't prosecuted, they've gotten too big to prosecute. The crime spree continues.

Here, then, is a sampling of ways the criminal enterprises known as banks are destroying America. (Hat tip to <="http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/03/how-the-banking-system-is-destroying-america/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBigPicture+%28The+Big+Picture%29">Washingtons Blog and <="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/25/why-occupy-wall-street-hates-the-big-banks.html">The Daily Beast.)

1. Charging <="http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Banks-allegedly-charged-vets-illegal-mortgage-fees-2328659.php">illegal mortgage fees to about a million military veterans.
2. Stealing billions from U.S. taxpayers by<="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/01/calif-counties-suing-big-banks-for.html"> illegally manipulating interest rates. 
3. Charging millions in storage fees to store gold bullion <="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/06/12/morganstanley-suit-idUKN1228014520070612">without buying or storing any gold. 
4. <="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/bank-of-america-whistleblower-idUSL2E8E804820120308">Cheating homeowners from the government help they were entitled to by pretending to lose homeowners' documents, failing to credit payments and lying to them.
5. <="http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-hsbc-senate-20120717,0,3041182.story">Laundering money for terrorists.
6. Stealing money from companies by <="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-20100405?page=3">diverting cash to the CEO (i.e., bribery) during initial public offerings. 
7. <="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/25/why-occupy-wall-street-hates-the-big-banks.html">Forging foreclosure documents in order to evict people from their homes.
8. <="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/bny-mellon-case_n_1172575.html">Stealing from pension funds by charging for phony transactions.
9. Stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers by<="http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/8145-matt-taibbi-bank-of-america-is-a-raging-hurricane-of-theft-and-fraud"> rigging bids for bond issues.
10. <="http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/09/credit-rating-agencies-took-bribes-for-higher-ratings.html">Bribing credit rating agencies for higher ratings.
11. <="http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/8145-matt-taibbi-bank-of-america-is-a-raging-hurricane-of-theft-and-fraud">Systematically evading payment of fees to local governments, forcing them to cut services or raise taxes.
12. Cheating pension funds of hundreds of millions of dollars by <="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-20100405">telling them crap products were solid investments and then making money by betting against the crap products. 
13. <="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/25/why-occupy-wall-street-hates-the-big-banks.html">Kicking 54 military families out of their homes (it's illegal).
14. <="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-04/jpmorgan-faces-sanction-for-refusing-to-provide-madoff-documents.html">Abetting Bernie Madoff's fraud and then withholding evidence from prosecutors. 
15. <="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/business/22sec.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=edward%20wyatt%20JPMorgan%20Magnetar&st=cse">Lying to investors about a complex securities transaction.
16. <="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/25/why-occupy-wall-street-hates-the-big-banks.html">Overcharging 10,000 military families for their mortgages. 
17. <="http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/09/associates.shtm">Stealing millions from homeowners by adding credit insurance to their loans without telling them.  
18. <="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/business/citigroup-to-pay-285-million-to-settle-sec-charges.html?_r=1&ref=business">Defrauding investors by selling them investments designed to fail and then betting on their failure. 
19. <="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/for-bank-of-america-a-looming-50-billion-claim-of-havoc/">Lying to pension funds and other investors about the financial problems of a pending acquisition. While the pension funds lost money, the <="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/25/why-occupy-wall-street-hates-the-big-banks.html">CEO got a $64 million retirement package.
20. <="http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-01-10/4-week-manipulated-move-oil-prices-criminal">Manipulating the oil market to raise prices.
21. <="http://www.iol.co.za/business/business-news/goldman-sachs-role-in-greece-a-real-scandal-1.1258930#.UVWZH1vF36k">Conspiring with Greece to hide its debt and then betting that Greece couldn't repay the debt.

And guess what. There's more.