page_title: Jenny Durkan
section_title: Washington Mutual criminal investigation
hierarchical_section_title: Jenny Durkan / Controversies / Washington Mutual criminal investigation
caption_attribution_description: English: Washington Mutual Bank Español: Banco Washington Mutual
context_page_description: Jenny Anne Durkan is an American attorney and Democratic politician serving as mayor of Seattle. She is the daughter of Martin Durkan, who was once considered one of the most powerful politicians in the state. After earning her J.D. degree from University of Washington School of Law in 1985, Durkan began practicing law as a prosecutor; she had many prominent cases both on behalf of the government and for private parties. During this time she also worked for many nonprofits and advocacy groups, and was briefly Governor Mike Lowry's chief lawyer. In October 2009, President Barack Obama appointed her United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington. She held that position until September 2014.
  Durkan was elected the 56th mayor of Seattle in 2017, becoming the city's first female mayor since the 1920s and its second openly LGBT elected mayor. She took first place in the nonpartisan August primary and defeated urban planner and political activist Cary Moon in the November general election, with over 60% of the vote. She and her partner, Dana Garvey, have two sons.
  Durkan's legal career and mayoralty have garnered controversy.
context_section_description: In 2008, Washington Mutual (WaMu) was the biggest bank failure in US history. It was seized by federal regulators and sold to JP Morgan Chase. The U.S. Attorney's office for the Western District of Washington state announced an investigation in 2008, but in 2011 Durkan announced that no charges would be made against the defunct company, stating "Based upon its investigation, the Department of Justice has concluded that the evidence does not meet the exacting standards for criminal charges in connection with the bank’s failure." Durkan received criticism for not prosecuting WaMu and during a Senate panel investigating banks Senator Carl Levin called WaMu "one of the worst" banks issuing subprime mortgages.
caption: A Washington Mutual bank in 2007, a year before it went bankrupt during the Financial crisis of 2007–2008
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