Time was, when the crooks, in this case Citigroup (who ripped off everyone in sight, including every taxpayer in the US for generations), got caught and lost their case in court, they appealed their conviction/loss, proclaiming that they were the real victims, etc. etc., and that theft isn't theft because it was done with computers by white people in suits, not black people holding up liquor stores with guns--you know, real criminals, the kind you put in jail, to keep white folk like us safe on the way to the country club...
Them daze iz over, ya'll. Merry Christmas!
OS's readers may remember a couple of earlier posts, here and here, in which he recounts how one federal Judge Rakoff had decided he had had enough, and that he would not rubber-stamp one more sweetheart deal between the SEC Enforcement Division and the banks they were supposed to be, well, enforcing the rules on. His intent, obviously, was for the SEC to go back, and extract real penalties from Citigroup for having blatantly ripped the world off for some 700 million dollars, and come back to him.
To quote John Belushi: 'But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo......'
The SE frigging C plan to lock arms with the crooks, and appeal the judge's ruling!!!
They have no intention of (a) ceasing to make sweetheart deals with crooks, and (b) exposing the inner workings of the machine that makes these sweetheart deals by actually litigating them, because that would open them up to adversarial process, which includes (drumroll please) Discovery!
So, instead of spending their energies enforcing the law, they'll spend their energies arguing that they shouldn't have to enforce the law, even though that's what they were instituted to do, and are paid to do, and (by innocent souls like OS) expected to do.
This is Alice Through The Looking Glass, pure and simple.
It is maddening, but no longer surprising to read of it. We're at the point where the cops don't even need to pretend to uphold the law.
By the way, if anyone thinks those MF Global clients, including all those farmers who didn't even know they were MR Global clients, have a prayer of getting their money back, this should disabuse them.
The cops now protect the crooks--it's the Chicago Way--the world of Al Capone, Eric Holder, Tim Geithner...
Showing posts with label SEC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SEC. Show all posts
Friday, December 16, 2011
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
There Is No Innocent Explanation: The Fall Of The House Of Madoff
It began innocently enough, in the late 1990's. Harry Markopolos worked for a Boston investment firm that kept losing customers to Bernie Madoff. Bernie was consistently, almost spookily, outperforming them, and Harry's bosses wanted him to find out how. They wanted to him to model Bernie's operation, so they could go and do likewise.
In under thirty minutes, Harry had bad news: They couldn't replicate Bernie, because Bernie was running a huge Ponzi scheme.
Thus began a decade-long journey in pursuit of Bernie and his sixty-five billion dollar scam.
Not surprisingly, he's now on a book tour.
Harry is not, shall we say, a riveting interview. He's a nerd, actually. But listen to what he has to say.
No one at the agency tasked with preventing stock fraud could understand the math he presented on four different occasions. No one was fired as a result, only promoted.
Had the meltdown not occurred in the fall of 2008, Bernie would still be at it. He turned himself in to the FBI. When they arrived to interview him, he greeted them with the classic line: 'There is no innocent explanation.'
He was speaking for himself, but as so often happens at crucial moments, his statement took on a universal tone.
In under thirty minutes, Harry had bad news: They couldn't replicate Bernie, because Bernie was running a huge Ponzi scheme.
Thus began a decade-long journey in pursuit of Bernie and his sixty-five billion dollar scam.
Not surprisingly, he's now on a book tour.
Harry is not, shall we say, a riveting interview. He's a nerd, actually. But listen to what he has to say.
No one at the agency tasked with preventing stock fraud could understand the math he presented on four different occasions. No one was fired as a result, only promoted.
Had the meltdown not occurred in the fall of 2008, Bernie would still be at it. He turned himself in to the FBI. When they arrived to interview him, he greeted them with the classic line: 'There is no innocent explanation.'
He was speaking for himself, but as so often happens at crucial moments, his statement took on a universal tone.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Monday Morning Morality Moment
Always good to begin the week with a strong cup of coffee laced with a dose of sober reality.
It's the account of one Harry Markopolos, the financial analyst from Boston who uncovered the Madoff Ponzi scheme a decade before Bernie turned himself in to the FBI.
Culture creates economy...
It's the account of one Harry Markopolos, the financial analyst from Boston who uncovered the Madoff Ponzi scheme a decade before Bernie turned himself in to the FBI.
Culture creates economy...
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Ethical Midgets with Ivy League Degrees
It isn't as if these people didn't know better....
Just because someone has an English surname, a long pedigree, Ivy League credentials, and a respectable job in the financial district doesn't mean they aren't actively participating in organized crime. The code of silence certainly has been in place for years.
How many family fortunes have been devastated while these guys were having Monday lunch, trading stock tips on the firms they were hired to regulate?
Last week, I visited a recently widowed family member at her retirement center. It appears her late husband had everything in cash before the crash arrived. One of her friends, in her eighties, also recently widowed, was not so fortunate. I could feel the worry in her heart. She was wondering if a lifetime of work and saving would be enough to allow her to live out her life in the modest dignity of this facility, where she had the basics of safety, food, and company.
This is the true impact of the hustlers on our culture.
Denninger provides one such example from today's odd-looking activities at Wall Street.
Just because someone has an English surname, a long pedigree, Ivy League credentials, and a respectable job in the financial district doesn't mean they aren't actively participating in organized crime. The code of silence certainly has been in place for years.
How many family fortunes have been devastated while these guys were having Monday lunch, trading stock tips on the firms they were hired to regulate?
Last week, I visited a recently widowed family member at her retirement center. It appears her late husband had everything in cash before the crash arrived. One of her friends, in her eighties, also recently widowed, was not so fortunate. I could feel the worry in her heart. She was wondering if a lifetime of work and saving would be enough to allow her to live out her life in the modest dignity of this facility, where she had the basics of safety, food, and company.
This is the true impact of the hustlers on our culture.
Denninger provides one such example from today's odd-looking activities at Wall Street.
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