“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail is a 2016 American documentary film by Oscar-nominated documentarian Steve James. The film centers on the Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a family-owned community bank situated in Manhattan's Chinatown in New York City which, because it was deemed "small enough to jail" rather than "too big to fail", became the only financial institution to actually face criminal charges following the subprime mortgage crisis.
The film premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was first runner-up for the People's Choice Award in the documentary category. It aired on the PBS documentary series Frontline in 2017.
Born in Shanghai, Thomas Sung founded the Abacus Federal Savings Bank in Chinatown in 1984, hoping to make it easier for Chinese immigrants to get loans. The bank became a community hub, but in 2012, the Manhattan district attorneys office charged it with mortgage fraud, also indicting 19 of its former employees.
This documentary raises many questions, such as was the government giving a pass to big fish and picking on a small one perhaps with racism in its motives? Why are bigger banks protected? Are some more worthy than the American Dream than others?
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