![]() ![]() ![]() That’s the question at the heart of Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, the newest film from acclaimed documentary director Steve James ( Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters). Why did Abacus face charges, while the biggest banks on Wall Street all avoided prosecution for fraud related to the sale of bad mortgages? ![]() bank to be prosecuted in relation to the financial collapse and the first bank indicted in New York since 1991. The bank’s owners, the Chinese-American Sung family, fired a loan officer - and reported the fraud to their regulators at the federal Office of Thrift Supervision.īut two-and-a-half years later, the bank was accused of mortgage fraud by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office - making Abacus Federal Savings the only U.S. When I first got in the business, I thought there were maybe three people in the world making a living at it.It’s a little-known chapter from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression: In 2009, shortly after the housing market crashed and the markets melted down, the owners of a small community bank in New York City’s Chinatown discovered fraud within their loan department. “I think the most innovative storytelling today is in documentaries.”Īnd, he adds, these days “there are more opportunities for your films to play, and more funding opportunities. “Within the documentary form is every conceivable genre that would apply to fiction films horror, thrillers, comedies, animated, everything, and that speaks to the explosion in the form,” he says. James has not only been lucky with his choice of subjects he came into the documentary field when it was morphing from staid, point and shoot filmmaking about limited subject matter into an exciting form encompassing a wide variety of stories and techniques. They are intimate stories, but I hope the viewer sees their lives in a larger context.” I’m also interested in people who tend to be on the margins of society but whose lives say something about the world we live in. And with the Sungs it’s about what could happen to them, and the bank’s future. Even in the Roger Ebert film it ended up being a film about how he and his wife, Chaz, faced the last month of his life. In ‘The Interrupters’, you have people being part of the problem of violence in Chicago deciding they want to change it. “I tend to follow people facing a significant crossroads in their lives,” says James. The veteran filmmaker likes to tell stories about people facing a turning point in their lives who in some ways are on the margins of society, but have a universal tale to tell. “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” is typical of James’ output. After a four-month trial and a defense cost of $10 million, the bank and family were found not guilty on all counts. Morgan Chase, that were connected to the financial collapse. didn’t have much fear as an elected official going after this bank.” As opposed to the giant Wall Street banks, like Goldman Sachs and J.P. “And the other thing that became clear to me making the film was that the D.A.’s office felt like they were on safe ground putting this bank on trial because the Chinese community in New York is politically disenfranchised. “In many ways, it is a classic story in the way in which if you are not white, there is a different situation regarding justice in this country,” says James. Goliath epic, asking why the Manhattan District Attorney’s office chose, out of all the banks in New York, to pick on this one. The story of its legal troubles is a complex tale involving cultural misunderstanding, possible racism and prosecutorial over-reach. Abacus was founded and run by a tight-knit Chinese American family the bank served an overwhelmingly immigrant constituency. James’ film follows the story of the Abacus Federal Savings Bank, the 2,651st largest bank in the country, which was hit with a 240-count indictment alleging grand larceny, fraud, conspiracy and other crimes. The fact this nomination could allow for a wider audience - I love that.” The Sungs are an example of why this country was built by immigrants, and their story is also what’s wrong with this country in terms of the justice system. “I was just thrilled” to get the nomination, says James, “because this story is so important and so timely, given who we have in the White House. WATCH: Video Q&A’s from this season’s hottest contenders » ![]()
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