![]() ![]() This makes their trial all the more disturbing, but not quite enough to sustain it for its 88 minutes. The Bank operates seven branches across New York City, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and primarily serves the Chinese-American community. At a time when larger banks seem to be constantly coming up with new ways to nickel-and-dime away the money of their less affluent customers through fee after fee, Hung reminds the viewer that there are some bankers out there who want to help create better lives for their customers. ABACUS is a federally-chartered deposit and lending institution headquartered at 6 Bowery Street in Chinatown. Nonetheless, it's interesting to see a bank in a documentary being portrayed as "the good guy" in a story bank founder Thomas Hung is frequently compared to George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life -Thomas and his wife Hwei Lin are even shown tearing up while watching a beloved favorite movie of theirs. Even with the subtext of "the little guy" facing the full weight of the law while the real crooks from the biggest banks get off scot-free because they're "too big to fail," there's a dryness to Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. While the subject matter is interesting and timely, there are times when it feels like there isn't enough to the story to make this a feature-length documentary. The Hungs fight back, and in the trial must prove their innocence and restore the good name of their family as well as the bank they created in the interests of serving the Chinese-American immigrant community. The arrests and prosecution of many of the employees reminds them of the persecution they faced while still living in China, and while the Manhattan District Attorney denies the racist and immigrant-bashing subtext of his office's zeal, the residents of Chinatown, the Hungs, and many experienced legal observers don't see it that way. ![]() This was also in the wake of the much larger banks being "too big to fail" despite committing far more damaging crimes that nearly sunk the economy Abacus was the only U.S. Abacus, not even in the top 5,000 largest banks, was taken to trial, its employees taken out handcuffed to each other and paraded before the media in a manner many veteran attorneys had never seen. When they discovered that lower-level employees were engaged in questionable practices, they fired the employees, and the Hungs went to the government to inform them of what happened, even presenting documentation showing the illegal activities and how they rectified the situation. In 1989, Bill became the Branch Manager of Chemical Bank in the Chinatown marketplace, and continued in that role when Chemical Bank and Chase Bank merged. Abacus, a small community bank serving Chinatown in New York City, was started by first-generation Chinese immigrant Thomas Hung, who works with his four daughters to oversee the bank's operations. subsidiary, and trading accounts of Chemical Bank. In ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL, Abacus Bank was taken to trial by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in 2015, charged with dozens of counts of conspiracy, larceny, and systematic fraud.
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