Abacus federal savings bank chinese9/27/2023 ![]() This one takes the position that this prosecution was more a persecution and was a travesty. One takes a position and one tries to remain neutral. As Director James told the audience, “There are 2 kinds of documentaries. ![]() Mark Mitten read the Matt Taibbi investigative pieces and contacted Steve James, a Chicago native whose documentaries “Hoop Dreams” and “The Interrupters” are well-known. The New York Times only wrote 2 stories about it: one when it began and one 5 years later when the trial ended.” As he said during the Q&A that followed the screening, “This was an atrocity. I was present through much of the trial and it just smacked of hypocrisy.” I threw in the term “scapegoat” and Mark Mitten vigorously agreed that the Sungs were intended to be the victims thrown under the bus by the U.S. I had known Vera Sung (one of the Sung daughters who worked in the bank and was also an attorney) for years. (At the time he was a Producer in New York on TV’s “The Apprentice,” which got a big laugh when he admitted it during the Q&A after the documentary showed.) Mark said, “I knew the Sungs and they were trying to do something good for their community. Talking with Producer Mark Mitten on the Red Carpet, I asked him how he became involved in the story. ![]() As one expert witness says, “If every bank had underwritten as well as Abacus, we wouldn’t have had a financial crisis.” Only 30 loans sold to Fannie Mae by Abacus had faulty documents, and some of that occurred because Ken Yu falsified some documents using his Chinese name (Chi Ben Yu) when everyone in the bank knew him as “Ken.” (He also lied repeatedly on the stand, proven by tapes introduced.) ![]() You really root for David to beat Goliath and, although it took 5 years and $10 million, justice does prevail.Ībacus wrote 3,000 mortgages in a 5-year period only 9 of those loans ever defaulted during a period in time when the foreclosure rate, nationwide, went up 555%. It is quite clear that the Sungs were being persecuted rather than prosecuted. Thomas’ wife, Hwei, has gone on record as not being in favor of founding the bank, but Thomas wanted to serve his community. Banks would take deposits from their Chinese customers, but they would not loan to them. Vera Sung, Hwei Sung and Thomas Sung.Thomas Hung had a successful practice as an immigration lawyer when he decided it would be helpful to his Chinese-American community to have a bank where they could secure loans so they could own their homes. Both men were scrupulously honest and were trying to do something good for their communities. My father had to sit up all night with a shotgun inside the Fairbank, Iowa, bank when the banks crashed in 1939. Thomas Sung once had to go outside in the streets of Chinatown and reassure panicked customers when there was a run on his bank caused by the arrest of a teller at one of Abacus’ branches in the eighties. Maybe it’s because this bank had, at its core, a man of the highest integrity in his community, Thomas Sung. Maybe it’s because the specter of the accused Chinese tellers being linked together in a sort of “chain gang” fashion and led into court was so unnecessary, abhorrent and unfair. Maybe this documentary resonated with me so much because I am the daughter of a scrupulously honest man who founded a bank in 1941, a bank that just celebrated its 75th anniversary October 7th. It’s about exonerating our entire community.” I remember reading the Matt Taibbi investigative piece on this case when it came out, which is in his book “The Divide.” ( Taibbi’s last investigative work gave birth to the film “War Dogs.”) As local Chinatown activist said, “This case is about an attack on a community. This is a saga of the Chinese immigrant Sung family who own and run the Abacus Federal Savings Bank in New York’s Chinatown.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |