Abacus: Small Enough to Jail

Manhattan-based Abacus Federal Savings Bank is a proverbial mom and pop business, its founder, Thomas Sung, a lawyer by trade, starting it solely in seeing an unmet need for someone like him, a first generation American, and his family. He likens himself and the bank to It's a Wonderful Life (1946)'s George Bailey and the Bailey Savings and Loan, his Bedford Falls being New York City's Chinatown comprised largely of immigrant mom and pop businesses similar to the bank. It was the only financial institution that was indicted for the mortgage loan crisis of 2008, while the big banks got away with plea deals, deferred prosecutions, fines or the like in being too big to fail, making a business like Abacus an easy target for prosecution. While the Sung family admits that there were crimes committed by low level employees, primarily loans officers, they dealt with the problems when discovered, and that the district attorney is using them as a scapegoat in the public wanting accountability for the financial crisis, things done to "them" that would not have been done to bigger players, all which did not sit well with the Chinese-American population in the all too familiar feeling of they as a group being disenfranchised. Beyond the arguments on both sides, as well as that provided by those in the middle, such as employees, clients, and jurors in the trial, the negative impact on the Sung family itself is shown in they defending themselves and their good reputation against baseless claims.