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Andrew Cuomo To File Civil Securities Fraud Charges Against Ken Lewis and BofA CFO Joe Price Even As The SEC Proves Its Incompetence Yet Again

Tyler Durden's picture




 

NY AG Andrew Cuomo just announced he would file civil securities fraud charges against BofA ex-CEO Ken Lewis and CFO Joe Price under New York's Martin Act. This blow to Ken Lewis follows hot on the heels of yet another attempt by the ever pathetic and worthless SEC to cover up the whole Merrill mess, this time by proposing yet another settlement with BofA, however instead $30 million this time taxpayers will pay BofA investors $150 million. The fact that there is no change in the SEC's M.O. from before, but merely an increase in the "booty", is sure to anger Judge Rakoff even more. The need for a referendum over the fitness of Mary Schapiro to serve her job as head of the SEC in light of these two diametrically opposing actions is now greater than ever.

 

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Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:30 | 217170 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

The entire BofA/Merrill debacle is almost identical to the Lloyds/Halifax CON here in UK.

It's global, Cuomo.

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:31 | 217172 Handle with care
Handle with care's picture

Lets hope other state AGs pile on to this

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:32 | 217174 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Civil? Howsabout some good old criminal charges?

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 14:18 | 217424 RossInvestor
RossInvestor's picture

Yes, Ken Lewis would look good in some old fashioned Sing Sing pin stripes.

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:32 | 217175 Master Bates
Master Bates's picture

You sure don't like Mary, T.D.!

Maybe if her employees were doing something beside looking at porn all day, we'd have some real regulation!

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:34 | 217182 colonial
colonial's picture

The SEC is a corrupted federal agency.  The corruption takes two forms.

The first is systemic.  Walled off from true Congressional oversight since its inception, the SEC has learned that its responsibilities are so misunderstood on The Hill that it can do virtually anything it wants without scrutiny or rebuke.

Just as markets operated under the Greenspan put, which was instituted in the wake of the 87 crash, the SEC understands that it too has a federal backstop.

Understanding this, individual staffers are free to act without any fear that their actions will be seen as incompetent, biased or arbitrary.  It is an incredibly dysfunctional agency not up to the task of dealing with the global nature of financial markets. 

Yet, we are about to see Congressional Committees, who understand even less about the business and the SEC, provide more money, more staff, more regulations and therefore more power to this fundamentally flawed agency. 

We are witnessing nothing less than the dismantling of a financial market system that was once the envy of the world and responsible for a considerable amount of capital expansion.  And to be clear on this point, we're talking the creation of REAL DOLLARS, not dollars generated in the bowels of the Fed and Treasury. 

 

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:39 | 217193 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

It'll be interesting to see what unravels now that Cuomo is pulling on this thread. Lewis and Price are likely to roll over on Paulson and Bernanke, if only for the publicity to write and sell a book of their own. Could go even deeper. Obama moves to distance himself from all the Bush-era shenanigans, throwing Geithner over, finally, and hopefully Shapiro, too. Puts in Volker at the Fed?

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:43 | 217201 Failure to Comm...
Failure to Communicate's picture

BofA must really need more hush-money.

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:46 | 217209 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

All,

This is a test run on GS. Cuomo will try GS by proxy with ML as well as test out means of attacks, defenses, and hopefully get enough intel into where the real bodies are buried to take on the mothership.

That is, if Cuomo lasts...

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:48 | 217214 Peterpaul
Peterpaul's picture

All,

This is a test run on GS. Cuomo will try GS by proxy with ML as well as test out means of attacks, defenses, and hopefully get enough intel into where the real bodies are buried to take on the mothership.

That is, if Cuomo lasts...

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 16:23 | 217681 swmnguy
swmnguy's picture

Good point.  You don't suppose Andrew has gotten his you-know-what dipped into any honeypots, do you?

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:49 | 217217 RossInvestor
RossInvestor's picture

It would be sweet if federal judge Rakoff threw out this proposed settlement and held Mary Shapiro in contempt.  Now, that would be CHANGE!

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 13:00 | 217243 velobabe
velobabe's picture

Italy seizes Bank of America, Dexia Assets in Derivatives Probe

from Bloomberg

they misled the region about the economic advantage of the package. Banks skewed the swaps to their advantage to hide fees

In Milan, prosecutors seized assets from four banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and UBS AG and requested they stand trial for alleged fraud. Hearings started in Milan this month...

courts are busy around the globe.

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 13:04 | 217253 deadhead
deadhead's picture

but merely an increase in the "booty", is sure to anger Judge Rakoff even more.

Gotta believe that this is the case....so, another $117 million is supposed to make a difference???

 The need for a referendum over the fitness of Mary Schapiro to serve her job as head of the SEC in light of these two diametrically opposing actions is now greater than ever.

I don't think a referendum is the appropriate suggestion TD.  The President of the US should ask her to resign....today.

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 13:05 | 217255 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Either Lewis has an "accedent" or cuomo get's spitzer'd the wall street gangsters won't allow this to go anywhere, the curruption goes all the way to the top...It would not shock me for obamanation to run interfernce of some sort if needed. All things being equal this may just be a dog and pony show or being NY is a financial black hole perhaps this is just a shakedown of the wall street gangsters, of course there is the slim chance cuomo is for real..

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 13:45 | 217351 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Why doesn't Cuomo look into the servicers? Especially this one...

They are padding fees and costs...

Anyone having problems with AURORA LOAN SERVICES?

You are not alone...

Here is a lady who has started a class action suit please get in touch with her. We are having all the same problems. http://www.auroraloanvictims.com/

Read the comments.scroll down.....they string you along as they take your payments:

http://www.afscanhelp.com/companies...

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 13:46 | 217357 Commander Cody
Commander Cody's picture

There are two sets of laws: One for the banksters, corporate heads and their government enablers; the other for everyone else.

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 14:32 | 217448 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Derivative Fraud? Where Are OUR Cops?

Where does it end in this country folks? There's more than enough evidence that "a river (of corruption) runs through it" - "it", of course, being our economic and banking system. Look at the update this morning out of "Biggovernment" related to the story I discussed yesterday with the AIG "takeunder" by The NY Fed:

The FRBNY wanted more than just a standard debt deal; it wanted absolute control and ownership of AIG. But, it was illegal for the FRBNY to hold equity and the Treasury Dept. did not yet have the legislative authority, later granted under EESA, to do so. But this didn’t stop then-President Geithner or his general counsel Thomas Baxter. They crafted the AIG Trust to accomplish the same goal. But the Trust was transparently invalid and illegal for two fundamental reasons: One, the FED maintained absolute control over the Trust’s existence, its terms, and the Trustees through Section 1.03 of the Trust Agreement. This, as we explain in our Response papers attached, invalidates the trust; yet the government continues to speak about this as an “independent” Trust.

That's a raw allegation of unlawful conduct, coming from a bar-admitted attorney.

WHERE ARE THE DAMN COPS AND WHY AM I HEARING HANDCUFFS CLANK SHUT IN THE UK AND EUROPE GENERALLY, WHILE HERE ALL THE COPS ARE IN THE DONUT SHOP SWILLING THEIR COFFEE?

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1933-Derivative-Fraud-Where-...

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 17:00 | 217753 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Since mr. hankey forced the deal down lewis's throat, I would imagine there is some jeopardy for him down the road.
This whole deal stunk up the joint when it went down. The Obama administration made itself an accessory after the fact by covering up this festering root canal, and the entire real causes of the meltdown..
They should have come in guns blazing and casting light on this whole mess...
Instead, we bought aig and covered the asses of the bush administration.

If Holder doesn't have a perpwalk in Manhatten this summer, all of this populist crap will stain him into one term.

Thu, 02/04/2010 - 17:09 | 217785 myshadow
myshadow's picture

 Since mr. hankey forced the deal down lewis's throat, I would imagine there is some jeopardy for him down the road. 
This whole deal stunk up the joint when it went down.  The Obama administration made itself an accessory after the fact by covering up this festering root canal, and the entire real causes of the meltdown..
They should have come in guns blazing and casting light on this whole mess...
Instead, we bought aig and covered the asses of the bush administration, and the banksters.

If Holder doesn't have a perpwalk in Manhattan this summer, all of this populist crap will stain him into one term.

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