40 The Solari Report / 2018 Annual Wrap Up / Part Two VII. The Financial Crisis (January 2006– November 2009) “I really didn’t believe the figure [of total commitments made during the financial crisis] until I saw the backup documents that had been provided by each of the agencies themselves. This total commitment was almost double the entire economic output of the United States. If there were ever a single number that demonstrated the panic felt by the regulators during the financial crisis, it was that $23.7 trillion.” ~ Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General to the TARP Program, U.S. Department of Treasury H amilton Securities settled outstanding civil litigation with the Department of Justice and HUD in January 2006. With the settlement completed and the monies owed Hamilton returned, less attorney fees, I began the process of cleaning up the mess created by my descent from wealth to poverty as a litigant and social outcast with high regulatory and corporate litigation expenses and no income. The first step was to pay Hamilton’s taxes. I called our CPA and told them I wanted to pay the taxes immediately—I did not want to wait for the tax due dates. I would be paying out significant amounts to those who had helped me survive—lending either time or money—and I wanted to make sure I took care of any taxes first. My CPA called me back and said, “You are not going to believe this, but your files have disappeared.” Missing money, missing tax files—I lived in a world where things just kept going missing. During the settlement negotiations, my attorneys had informed me that the Department of Justice had re- peatedly underscored that the settlement did not constitute a waiver of their right to pursue Hamil- ton on issues related to taxes. I found the fact that Hamilton’s Northern Virginia CPA reported our files missing to be a remarkable coincidence. Thus began a long, slow, and extremely time-consuming and expensive process of finding and reassembling our financial and tax records. These events constitute another long shaggy dog story.