Judge Rakoff Tells The SEC and Citigroup He's Had Enough, Refuses To Approve One More Slap On the Wrist

As OS noted last month, the judge seems to have located his huevos.

Today's new's comes as confirmation that, indeed, he has.


From the New York Times, this evening:

Taking a broad swipe at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s practice of allowing companies to settle cases without admitting that they had done anything wrong, a federal judge on Monday rejected a $285 million settlement between Citigroup and the agency. 

The judge, Jed S. Rakoff of United States District Court in Manhattan, said that he could not determine whether the agency’s settlement with Citigroup was “fair, reasonable, adequate and in the public interest,” as required by law, because the agency had claimed, but had not proved, that Citigroup committed fraud. 

As it has in recent cases involving Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, UBS and others, the agency proposed to settle the case by levying a fine on Citigroup and allowing it to neither admit nor deny the agency’s findings. Such settlements require approval by a federal judge. 

While other judges are not obligated to follow Judge Rakoff’s opinion, the 15-page ruling could severely undermine the agency’s enforcement efforts if it eventually blocks the agency from settling cases in which the defendant does not admit the charges. 

The agency contends that it must settle most of the cases it brings because it does not have the money or the staff to battle deep-pocketed Wall Street firms in court. Wall Street firms will rarely admit wrongdoing, the agency says, because that can be used against them in investor lawsuits.

'Well, Duh!' to quote Snookie.  Beside, the lawyers at the SEC, who sheltered Bernie Madoff all those years, were too busy with their online porn to actually check to see if Citigroup were engaging in massive fraud. That would resemble...well...work! Besides, if you want a job at Citigroup or J.P. Morgan after your exhausting five years at the SEC, you best not piss those bankers off by actually doing your job.

In his decision, Judge Rakoff called Citigroup “a recidivist,” or repeat offender, for having previously settled other fraud cases with the agency where it neither admitted nor denied the allegations but agreed never to violate the law in the future.


Citigroup and other repeat offenders can agree to those terms, the judge said, because they know that the commission has not monitored compliance, failing to bring contempt charges for repeat violations in at least 10 years.

Ten years, at least ten years. No attempt to monitor compliance of known fraud artists. Billions lost, businesses and neighborhoods in ruins. Words fail.

It's time for the lawsuits and indictments, ya'll. Somebody needs to go to jail, or we need to apologize to Bernie Madoff and let him go home to Ruth and get back into business. Why the hell not? Either we prosecute massive frauds or we don't. At least, let's be honest and admit that we don't, if we don't intend to.

Here's hoping his ruling stands, and that he doesn't waken one morning with the decapitated head of a horse on the foot of his bed, left as a friendly warning about what happens to uppity judges.

'Turn Back South': Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever Blows The Whistle About DHS Refusal To Enforce The Southern Border

The mail supporting his assertions has been flooding in, and the correspondents tell on consistent story: DHS wants to cook the statistics to make it appear the illegal immigration problem is improving, when in fact it is deteriorating.

An Arizona sheriff says he has been flooded with calls and emails of support from local and federal agents who back his claims that the U.S. Border Patrol has effectively ordered them to stop apprehending illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.

..and later...

Local 2544, the Tucson branch of the National Border Patrol Council union, has also come out in support of Dever, and posted this message on their website after the FoxNews.com report.

“Sheriff Dever is right. We have seen so many slick shenanigans pulled in regards to 'got-aways' and entry numbers that at times it seems David Copperfield is running the Border Patrol. Creating the illusion that all is well and you can start having family picnics in the areas where we work has been going on far too long. Has there been improvement in some areas? Absolutely. Is the border anywhere near 'under control'? Absolutely not. Do some in management play games with numbers and cater to the wishes of politicians like Janet Napolitano and David Aguilar? Resoundingly, yes. Time for the foolish political games to stop.”

There are, of course, the standard spluttering indignant denials from DHS. They are a regular part of the Kabuki Theater that now passes for governance in a country run by children.

The worst damage of all is to the public trust. Every time this happens, the pressure washer of rank dishonesty blows more mortar from between the bricks of the culture.

It's become so common, we've become innured, and that is a dangerous state in which to live.

So, How Did An Iranian Book Celebrating Suicide Bombers End Up In The Arizona Desert Near The Mexican Border?

Is it time to finish building that fence? Deploy active duty military units? Really, finally pay attention to the threat?

One could begin to think that Janet Napolitano and her boss might actually want something horrible to happen inside our borders...our own Reichstag moment, so to speak.

It's either that--or shocking, mindless neglect. Any other explanations?

More News From Mexico: Twenty Police Resign In Colima

Out-manned, out-gunned, and no longer willing to risk their lives against the drug cartel warriors.


The M3 blog translates news sources from south of the border, focusing on stories to do with illegal immigration and the drug cartels war.

It's sponsored by the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers.

Well worth following what they offer.

OS keeps asking the question: What happens when the headless bodies begin to pile up in Kansas City? When the deputies of Christian County, Kentucky decide they are out-gunned and can't survive in their jobs?

Why won't our government enforce the border, instead of suing states who attempt to deal with the fallout of its failure?

Meantime, Back On Our Secure Southern Border...

Two more policeman gunned down on a major thoroughfare in Juarez (just across the border from El Paso, Texas).

That's just the lead story on the front page--links below the story detail ten more murders.

Just another day in Juarez.

Do we need to wait until it becomes commonplace in Lexington, KY before we develop the will to act?

[translation from today's El Diario]

Two members of the Police Ministry were shot and killed this afternoon.

The events took place at the corner of Adolfo López Mateos Avenue and Ejército Nacional.

According to early reports, an armed group attacked the agents while they were on official business.

It is presumed that a third agent was wounded, and dies after being taken to the hospital, but this has not been confirmed.

Dos elementos de la Policía Ministerial fueron acribillados y asesinados esta tarde.

Los hechos sucedieron en la avenida Adolfo López Mateos cruce con Ejército Nacional.

Según las primeras versiones, un grupo armado emboscó a los agentes cuando circulaban en una unidad oficial.

Se presume que un tercer agente resultó herido y falleció al ser trasladado a recibir atención médica, pero no ha sido confirmado.