The incredible saga of the Chinese immigrant Sung family, owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York. Accused of mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., Abacus becomes the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The indictment and subsequent trial forces the Sung family to defend themselves – and their bank’s legacy in the Chinatown community – over the course of a five-year legal battle.
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Reviews
I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
How sad is this?
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
You can still get justice in America, but it will cost you 10 million. What I dont get in addition is that the AG and the government did not pay them back, for false accusation and 5 years of work. It's false accsation from the AG for god's sake.
I only got one thought when I watched this film: Suppose your family didn't have that 10 million dollars, or suppose you've only got 8 millions, could you still afford to continue the lawsuit against the American bureaucratic system? Or suppose you didn't have enough financial backbone and your pocket was not deep enough, did it mean that you guys would still have been jailed? So this also means that if don't have enough money to fight in the court, you would have to plead guilty in the end, the injustice would never be overturned? So even you've been exonerated and proved to be innocent, what's next?
UNBELIEVABLE! I have never written a review but feel compelled to by the emotional response and anger this documentary has stirred. It is a well-done documentary, and I guess I am just shocked by its content. I have studied the 2008 financial crisis extensively. I had no idea this happened. The US government and the New York DA's office should be absolutely ashamed. The fact that this happened makes me disappointed in my government. Part of me is holding some hope that the documentary is extremely biased and one sided (though I do not believe this is true). It makes me physically ill to think that the large financial institutions such as Citi Group, Bank of America, JP Morgan, etc., got away with what they did in causing the financial crisis and our government spent its resources persecuting this small family run community bank. Unbelievable.
I want to be careful to ensure my opinion of the doc isn't just my opinion of the subject. I don't think the subjects of the doc are admirable or deserve to be felt sorry for. The doc however, does a good job of introducing the players and explaining each of their association with the bank and family who runs it. I found myself getting distracted by the numerous scenes showing the family talking over each other and communicating nothing. I wanted to know more about the the effect on the trial on the community instead. Although this isn't my favourite doc of the year, I certainly think it's worth a watch.