Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2016)

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail is a documentary film about a family-owned bank in China Town in New York City; the only US bank that had to face criminal charges after the economic crisis of 2008.

The large financial institutions are often described as “too big to fail.” Abacus Federal Savings Bank was small enough to be targeted: it was “small enough to jail.” 

 

Here is some basic information about this film which premiered in 2016 at the Toronto International Film Festival:

** Director: Steve James

** Shown on US television (PBS – Frontline) in 2017

** Available via Amazon Prime Video (2018)

** Run time: 90 minutes

Several persons are interviewed in the film. I will not mention all names, because the complete list is too long. Here are the most important names:

# 1. The family

** Thomas Sung – father – founded Abacus Bank in 1984

** Hwei Lin Sung - mother

** Chantarelle Sung – daughter

** Heather Sung – daughter

** Jill Sung – daughter

** Vera Sung – daughter

# 2. Reporters

** David Lindorf – an investigative reporter

** Jiayang Fan – a reporter (The New Yorker)

** Matt Taibbi – a reporter (Rolling Stone)

# 3. Attorneys

** Kevin Puvalowski – attorney for Abacus Bank

** Sanford “Sam” Talkin – attorney for Abacus Bank

** John “Rusty” Wing – attorney for Abacus Bank

# 4. The prosecution

 ** Neil Barofsky – attorney – US Treasury Department Inspector General 2008-2011

** Cyrus Vance, Jr. – District Attorney, NY

** Polly Greenberg – Major Economic Crimes Bureau, the District Attorney’s office, NY

Shortly after the economic crisis of 2008, the Sung family realised that something was wrong in their bank. Some members of staff were breaking the rules. The most important offender - Ken Yu – was forging bank documents and stealing money from the bank.

The Sung family fired those who were responsible for the violations. They reported the case to the authorities (the DA’s office). And they handed over several folders with bank documents in order to help the DA’s office study the case.

However, the DA’s office did not wish to prosecute the individuals who had broken the rules. Instead the DA’s office went after the bank itself. And Ken Yu - the man who had forged bank documents, who had stolen money from the bank, and who had been fired by the bank - became the prosecution’s star witness when the case went to trial.

The DA’s office began building a case in 2009 and 2010. An official indictment was announced in 2012. The case was tried in a court of law in 2015. After a trial, which lasted several weeks, the jury found the bank not guilty of all charges.

In this film, we follow the case, step by step. We also learn about the role that the bank has played (and still plays) in the local community.

What do reviewers say about this film? 

 

Here are some results:

** 72 per cent = IMDb

** 73 per cent = Meta

** 86 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 94 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

The reviews are quite good, as you can see. But if you ask me, they are not good enough. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

PS # 1. Matt Zoller Seitz offers a rating of 100 per cent (4 of 4 stars) on the Roger Ebert website.

PS # 2. Steve James (born 1955) is the director of several documentary films, including the following:

 

** Hoop Dreams (1994) 

 

** Life Itself (2014)

 

** A Compassionate Spy (2022)

PS # 3. Matt Taibbi writes about the Abacus Bank in his book The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap (2014)

 

*****