On Tuesday, September 12, FRONTLINE will present the broadcast premiere of “Abacus: Small Enough To Jail” — the underreported story of the only U.S. bank prosecuted in relation to the 2008 financial crisis.
It’s the newest film from acclaimed documentary director Steve James ("Hoop Dreams"), who last worked with FRONTLINE in 2012 on the Emmy Award-winning documentary "The Interrupters."
One of the past year’s most critically acclaimed documentaries during its robust international film festival run and a national theatrical release, "Abacus: Small Enough To Jail" tells the saga of the Sungs — a Chinese-American family who own and operate Abacus Federal Savings in New York’s Chinatown.
"S34 Ep17: PBS Previews: "Abacus: Small Enough To Jail"
"The filmmakers behind "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail" discuss their investigation into the only the only bank to be prosecuted in relation to the 2008 financial crisis."
At the time of the trial, Abacus was the 2,651st largest bank in the United States. It’s founder, Thomas Sung, says he started it with the goal to empower the local community and offer a personal alternative to big banks.
“When we started the bank, it was our motivation to help a lot of people, a lot of immigrants,” says Sung, who sees himself in the image of George Bailey from "It’s a Wonderful Life."
But in 2009, the Sung’s fired a loan officer after they discovered fraud. They reported the fraud to law enforcement, but soon found themselves and the bank under scrutiny.
Two-and-a-half-years later, Abacus Federal Savings and two senior officers were accused of mortgage fraud by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, becoming the only U.S. bank prosecuted after the 2008 financial crash and the first bank indicted in New York since 1991.
“We felt that the provable evidence stopped at a certain level, but that the individuals who were charged were high enough in the corporation to charge the corporation,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. says in the film.
With riveting detail, the film follows how 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.
"Abacus: Small Enough to Jail" examines the case against the bank, hearing from prosecutors, jurors, defense lawyers, and Mr. and Mrs. Sung and their four daughters — whom James filmed for more than a year as they fought to clear their names.
“Tom is not easy to be pushed around, and my girls, they are tough, smart, capable women,” Hwei Lin Sung, Thomas Sung’s wife, says in the film.
REVIEWS:
The result is a dramatic, 90-minute documentary that The New York Times calls “a classic underdog tale,” and The Hollywood Reporter calls “both an affirmation and an indictment of the American Dream.”
“It’s an astonishing, bruising, educative tale for our times.”—Financial Times
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CREDITS:
A Mitten Media, Motto Pictures and Kartemquin Films production for WGBH/FRONTLINE and Independent Television Service (ITVS). It is co-presented with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). The director is Steve James. The producers are Mark Mitten and Julie Goldman. The co-producers are Fenell Doremus and Nick Verbitsky. The executive producers are Gordon Quinn, Christopher Clements, Betsy Steinberg and Justine Nagan. The executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. The executive producer of ITVS is Sally Jo Fifer.
