The SEC has a lot of 'splainin' to do; This time to explain how a $50 billion dollar fraud scheme involving one of Wall St’s biggest movers and shakers could have happened right under their noses.
The full story is HERE but here are some highlights:
Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement attorneys were in federal court on Friday to seek emergency relief for investors, including an asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver for Madoff's firm, in an alleged $50 billion fraud that could be the largest ever pinned on an individual.
"If the SEC didn't come in and inspect (the Madoff hedge fund), then they have a hell of a lot to answer for," said James Cox, a Duke University law professor and securities law expert.
Other SEC critics questioned how Madoff could pull off, without the agency's notice, such an audacious fraud that prosecutors said amounted to a giant Ponzi scheme.
"Someone should have asked harder questions, but I'm not really sure" it was the SEC, said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University who was an SEC enforcement attorney. "Their hands were tied" by not initially having oversight of the Madoff hedge fund, he said.
The investors in Madoff's business were not asking questions while the fabulous returns were coming in — and maybe they should have, Henning said.
So much corruption has been allowed for so long that there is no way these financial big wigs can behave with honesty and integrity. I think the exotic trips and obscene severence packages have proved that!
We need to let the new administration know that enough is enough. No more wholesale bailouts! Whatever money is left when Obama finally takes office should be used with plenty of oversight and accountability and make sure the SEC is NOT a part of it. If those getting money don’t like it, screw ‘em; let them go home empty handed!
If you want to tell the Obama administration your ideas about restoring sanity to our economic crisis let them know HERE.
Good evening, Rocky. How unfortunate to have another corruption scandal at a time when we need to restore confidence in financial markets. One more reason to be pissed off: Madoff.
ReplyDeleteAbout Robert's online event on Monday, too bad the forum got sidetracked on show-off stuff. What I presented was data to show that there has been a long term trend towards fiscal irresponsibility and poor leadership since the Reagan era. A prediction: Trickle-down is dead.
You asked what needed to be done to restore confidence. My answer: A return to regulatory controls, fiscal discipline, massive stimulation with better oversight,, economic fairness and justice for the middle class (the engine of economic recovery), and no more guns and butter politics.
Most importantly, there is a profligate consumer attitude that equates freedom, abundance, and consumption in a never ending spiral; securing those resources will bankrupt us in the long term.
The time is long overdue to encourage conservation of resources, fund r&d for alternative energy technologies, and reverse the consumerism mentality. Zero GDP may become a fact of life: uncomfortable but sustainable given projected demographic and consumption trends worldwide.
Hope I didn't bore you with this.
First, 8pus, I am hardly bored and thank you for remembering what I had asked. What happened was I lost my internet connection for a few minutes and then was unable to rejoin the discussion.
ReplyDeletePlease copy and paste over at the transition website. Answers like yours need to be presented.