Financial Exposure:
Carl Levin’s Senate Investigations into
Finance and Tax Abuse
Good government requires good oversight. Congressional oversight investigations are part of the checks and balances envisioned by the U.S. Constitution. Demand better oversight by Congress now.
At a time when Congressional investigations have taken on added importance and urgency in American politics, this book offers readers a rare, insider’s portrait of the world of US Congressional oversight. It examines specific oversight investigations into multiple financial and offshore tax scandals over fifteen years, from 1999 to 2014, when Senator Levin served in a leadership role on the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), the Senate’s premier investigative body.
Despite mounting levels of partisanship, dysfunction, and cynicism swirling through Congress during those years, this book describes how Congressional oversight investigations can be a powerful tool for uncovering facts, building bipartisan consensus, and fostering change, offering detailed case histories as proof. Grounded in fact, and written as only an insider could tell it, this book will be of interest to financial and tax practitioners, policymakers, academics, students, and the general public.
“Government will never hold itself accountable. Congress today needs more people willing to do the hard work of investigations on behalf of the American people. Elise Bean and Carl Levin made a career out of investigating the big issues and working across the aisle while doing it. Her book is a welcome guide for those looking to strengthen Congress’s constitutional role of oversight.” – Former Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)
"In our current moment, Congress often appears afraid or unwilling to use its oversight powers. It doesn’t have to be that way. Elise J. Bean’s timely and important book shows how Congress can hold powerful interests to account instead of being their handmaiden." -- Jesse Eisinger, Propublica reporter and author of The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives
“Elise's work on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations under Senator Carl Levin laid significant groundwork for journalists around the world who probe the many problems of shell companies and offshore tax havens. Without the clear insights and findings and the deeply-examined case studies in the many reports issued during Elise's time on the panel, I have no doubt that journalists would have had a harder time piercing the veil of wrongdoing by some of the world's most powerful individuals and companies.”
--Will Fitzgibbon, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
This improbable tale defies conventional wisdom about Congress as a gridlocked, inept, and partisan black hole. It is a story about congressional oversight that bared complex truths, exposed wrongdoing, built bipartisan trust, and served as an instrument of positive change, despite widespread distemper in Washington.
The part I played was as a congressional investigator, a job that had never crossed my mind when thinking about a career. I lucked into the oversight world with no notion of the challenges and sheer hard work ahead of me. From the beginning, the job gripped me, stretched me, made me both more cynical and more idealistic. It led me to a deep commitment to Congress, as diabolically frustrating and disillusioning as that institution can be.
My journey began when I got hired by Senator Carl Levin from Michigan. I didn’t know it then, but he was the public servant everyone imagines when thinking of how Congress ought to work. He was tough and shrewd, with the integrity, talent, smarts, and stamina to take on any opponent. His signature image was of a disheveled, avuncular everyman, piercing blue eyes peering calmly over half-rim glasses perched on the end of his nose, refusing to avert his eyes from what he saw. His level gaze, Midwestern decency, and willingness to combat wrongdoing even in the face of long odds inspired the oversight adventures narrated here.
The Levin investigative crew was also right out of central casting – fearless, brilliant, and unrelenting. Folks dedicated to public service despite all the jokes about government and Congress, all the frustrations, all the low pay and disrespect. Colleagues willing to confront powerful interests backed by the biggest lobbyists, law firms, and public relations specialists in town, putting in endless hours to make up for our small numbers and limited resources. And, like many investigators, we relished the battle.
During my time there, I learned how to squeeze the facts out of opponents, overcome dirty tricks, feed the media, take the political heat, and make the case for change. In addition, because Senator Levin’s favorite investigative topic was financial chicanery, I learned more than I ever wanted to about corruption, offshore gimmicks, accounting skullduggery, commodities speculation, and derivatives double-dealing.
Our investigations ranged from company wrongdoing that produced billion-dollar losses, fueled crime, or cheated average families, to dishonest financial practices that led to widescale economic mayhem like the 2008 financial crisis. We followed the money, unraveled the facts, and disclosed troubling practices to policymakers and the public. And we did it while drinking Manhattans with our Republican colleagues.
The Levin team taught me how disclosing the facts – simply bearing witness to wrongdoing – can spark change, how conducting a good-faith investigation can turn a political competitor into an ally, and how congressional oversight can contribute to the common good. It was an education worth sharing.
--Elise J. Bean
In a free online presentation, author Elise Bean explains why Congressional oversight investigations are important, talks about the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), and describes three case studies, taken from the book, of bipartisan PSI investigations into credit cards, hidden offshore bank accounts, and multinational corporate tax dodging.
