INSIDE JOB
Movie Details: INSIDE JOB, directed by Charles Ferguson (2010)
This film covers the global financial crisis that came to a head in 2008 but began decades earlier through
deregulation of the financial markets. Below are questions to ponder that we will discuss after we finish
watching the movie. Many of these topics and issues will arise throughout the semester and we revisit
them with the benefit of studying caselaw interpreting relevant statutes and rules.
As you contemplate the questions below during the film, please make notes that you can refer to later
when answering the 6 questions (in bold below)
Part I: How We Got Here
1. The first part of the movie covers the Savings & Loan Crisis of the 1980’s that arose after deregulation of the Savings & Loan industry. Many of the actors in that crisis were criminally prosecuted. Nevertheless, by the late 1990’s to early 2000’s the financial industry had engaged
in numerous activities that fall within the White Collar Crime studies. Identify the names of these companies and the activities they engaged in that may be considered white collar crimes.
2. The movie describes deregulatory policies that began in the early 1980’s. Is there a need for
criminal prosecutions when there are regulatory agencies charged with oversight? Is regulatory oversight an effective means to control financial fraud and other white collar crimes? What are the challenges to effective regulatory oversight? Do deregulatory policies suggest that oversight in the financial sector is unwarranted?
Part II: The Bubble
3. The movie characterizes the activities leading up to the financial crisis of 2008 as a “global Ponzi scheme.” Identify potential crimes that could be charged based on the described activity, and who is eligible to be prosecuted for those crimes—individuals, corporations, or both.
4. If you were a government prosecutor, would you prosecute any of the above, identified in question 3? What are the challenges to prosecution? In investigating the crimes, what tools are available to the prosecutor to uncover fraudulent activity? Should the prosecutor use subpoena power? Search warrants?
5. What defenses might be raised by defense counsel?
6. If government regulators do not step into stop misconduct, then is it appropriate to criminally charge individuals who engage in that misconduct?
