Government bodies actively shielded financial wrongdoers from investigation.

Evidence

Various governmental forces also acted to protect possible wrongdoers. There were reports that some lawmakers used their influence to abort committee hearings related to corporate fraud, and memos from the Justice Department telling the FBI not to shift agents to mortgage fraud cases. These reports were met with the usual denials and collective memory losses of those involved. Eventually Congress allocated funds so that the FBI could investigate mortgage fraud, but the amount was insufficient to do the job. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1560