Abacus: Small Enough to Jail(2017)

Name: Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Director: Steve James
Genre: Documentary
Released: May 19, 2017
Cast: Thomas Sung, Hwei Lin Sung, Cyrus Vance Jr., Matt Taibbi, Jill Sung

PBS Distribution

1h 28m
- Documentary

Release Date: May 19, 2017

A small financial institution called Abacus becomes the only company criminally indicted in the wake of the United States' 2008 mortgage crisis.

Official Website

Release Details

Original Release | May 19, 2017 | Limited

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$12,528
Total US & Canada:
$113,278
Total Worldwide:
$113,278

Current Showtimes

orround

Tue Aug 25
Wed Aug 26
Thu Aug 27
Fri Aug 28
Sat Aug 29
Sun Aug 30
Mon Aug 31

Director & Top Cast

Steve James
Director

Thomas Sung
Actor

Hwei Lin Sung
Actor

Cyrus Vance Jr.
Actor

Matt Taibbi
Actor

Jill Sung
Actor

Vera Sung

Actor

Heather Sung

Actor

Chanterelle Sung

Actor

Linda Hall

Actor

David Lindorff

Actor

Jiayang Fan

Actor

Polly Greenberg

Actor

Yiu Wah Wong

Actor

Kevin Puvalowski

Actor

Sam Talkin

Actor

Don Lee

Actor

Ti-Hua Chang

Actor

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English,Mandarin,Cantonese

Summaries

Storyline

After the 2008 financial crisis that nearly destroyed the world economy, none of the American financial institutions faced prosecutions for their shady dealings that contributed to this debacle, except one. Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a small Chinese-American bank that catered to the neglected market of their community, was indicted on fraud charges and loan falsifications. As the bank disputed these accusations, many in the mainstream news media noticed that far larger competitors appeared to have committed similar misdeeds without legal consequence; likely because they were "too big to fail." This film explores the history of Abacus and its legal battle for survival against this hypocritical, and likely racist, application of the law that seemed to determined to punish them as a scapegoat for crimes that much larger felons deserve to face. — Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com) Manhattan-based Abacus Federal Savings Bank is a proverbial mom and pop business, its founder, Thomas Sung , a lawyer by trade, starting it solely in seeing an unmet need for someone like him, a first generation American, and his family. He likens himself and the bank to It's a Wonderful Life (1946) 's George Bailey and the Bailey Savings and Loan, his Bedford Falls being New York City's Chinatown comprised largely of immigrant mom and pop businesses similar to the bank. It was the only financial institution that was indicted for the mortgage loan crisis of 2008, while the big banks got away with plea deals, deferred prosecutions, fines or the like in being too big to fail, making a business like Abacus an easy target for prosecution. While the Sung family admits that there were crimes committed by low level employees, primarily loans officers, they dealt with the problems when discovered, and that the district attorney is using them as a scapegoat in the public wanting accountability for the financial crisis, things done to "them" that would not have been done to bigger players, all which did not sit well with the Chinese-American population in the all too familiar feeling of they as a group being disenfranchised. Beyond the arguments on both sides, as well as that provided by those in the middle, such as employees, clients, and jurors in the trial, the negative impact on the Sung family itself is shown in they defending themselves and their good reputation against baseless claims. — Huggo