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Bank Of America (And Its Executives) To Be Tried By Jury
In an ominous, one sentence disclosure just filed in Southern District Court of New York, the SEC has advised that it will demand a trial by jury for "all issues so triable." It appears the common man will finally have his say. Woe to ex-CEO Ken Lewis.
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Interesting...wonder where this will lead...
It will probably shoot BAC's share price into the 30's
Ken will plead entrapment. Paulson was given a "get out of jail free card", and "act like an asshole card" by the white house prior to being sicced on Lewis. Anything Paulson had, Bernanke will have as well.
In the end, Ken will still not have a job, Paulson and Bernanke will reveal as little as possible having no fear of anyone.
Maybe, but it will do wonders for the public to hear Paulson and Bernanke say: "Executive Privilege". There's a video snippet that's short enough to make the MSM evening news.
This is meaningless unless Paulson and Bernanke are tried too.
Unemployed people who've lost their homes won't take kindly to some overprivileged asshole wearing French cuffs saying "I don't need to answer your questions". We need to corner them into providing us with video moments like these. This is important motivational material.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtmgQ2W3lhM
Fish, excellent post but sadly very true.
entrapment = stupidity in Ken's case and as you aptly point out, Hank has had the deck stacked in his favor since summer 2008 or even earlier.
What's the over/under on Monihan getting the top spot at BAC now? Maybe fry cook at BK
TD, a jury of their peers - correct.
Ghost, if you would be so kind to compile a list of wannabe jury members who are peers of Ken Lewis.
Qualifications - you understand corporate finance, basic understanding of securities laws, capital markets and accounting.
Sign me up.
Full disclosure - I am biased and I could not be impartial. I hate obfuscation and non disclosure and screwing of shareholders for the benefits of executives.
Cheers,
Pigpen
The jury system is screwed up. You'd be excluded if you answer yes to the question, "Being arrested makes it more probable that the person is guilty"
Which means they only want people who believe the police go around arresting people entirely at random!
On the other hand, it'd be hard to find 12 people who won't go absolutely ballistic when they see how the bankers behave and live
That is what you get for ratting out Bernanke. I knew they would fry his ass when Lewis came out and spoke against the Fed. Nice to know capitalism is still alive and well. lol
Matt,
Miss you at Kenny's blog. Hope all is well.
I'll stop by tomorrow and say hello. Have a good night.
Besides everyone, who did Ken really piss off? Point is, there are larger criminals back to the business of 'business as usual'
The real question is, "does he even make it to trial?" I doubt they'll want him reciting chapter and verse what really happened.
He has already done it repeatedly, in public, in every interview, yet no one seems to care that Paulson and Bernake orchestrated and blackmailed him into "changing his mind". Yet, these two are left alone...why isn't there a case against the two master bandits that orchestrated the crime?
What are the chances that Kenny sees hes going down no matter what, and does something patriotic and takes down the fed and treasury with him and makes fully public the interworkings of all this back deal shit that went down by putting it on record during the case?
But that hope is from someone who still thinks/hopes Greenspan killed the central bank on purpose. Easier to destroy the fed and fiat currencies from the inside. I just cant get past his essay in '66 on gold...
Hi VegasBD, your idea about Greenspan is interesting-- would you mind expanding a little?
Ken has been singing a loud song already, but again, with all his songs in everyone's face, I shake my head in astonishment that even now, paulson and bernake get a free pass...it is mind boggling on one level, but then perfectly understandable on another level since these two are made into national hero's by the financial/governement cartel mouthpiece aka MSM. No wonder the world has decided that they can't trust our country's currency anymore...who wants to trade their oil or other goods in bananarepublic currency?
Greenspan was a Goldbug and a devotee of Ayn Rand. If you know who Ayn Rand was or what she stood for, it's pretty hard to argue that Greenspan did not know what he was doing. Read this essay by him and tell me if that sounds like somebody who hates Gold or does not understand it. IMHO, this essay represents a MOST clear understanding of the role of Gold in society:
http://www.usagold.com/gildedopinion/greenspan.html
gracias GG.
love this one:
"Greenspan (once) recommended to a Senate committee that all economic regulations should have fixed lifespans. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) accused him of 'playing with fire, or indeed throwing gasoline on the fire,' and asked him whether he favored a similar provision in the Fed's authorization. Greenspan coolly answered that he did. Do you actually mean, demanded the senator, that the Fed 'should cease to function unless affirmatively continued?' 'That is correct, sir,' Greenspan responded."
expect the unexpected
"But that hope is from someone who still thinks/hopes Greenspan killed the central bank on purpose. Easier to destroy the fed and fiat currencies from the inside. I just cant get past his essay in '66 on gold..."
I think that, too. Once you have that belief, I just don't know how you change? Being friends with Ayn Rand, it just all is suspicious...
You know Vegas, I have had, and discussed in the forum here, the same thought about the maestro. Between his gold essay, and his affiliation with Ayn Rand, it would make more sense for him to have deliberately destroyed the system than for him to have just made a big mistake.
OTOH, When I was studying a little Kondratieff, I ran across an old quotation in which Greenspan stated that he felt he could, if need be, prevent the onset of K. winter. He also commented that if he was wrong, the outcome would make the great depression "look like a sunday picnic". He had his chance in 2001 to prove his theory, I'll let you decide for yourself what our picnic will look like.
I guess really, it was a win/win. Either he succeeded at preventing K. winter, or he got to be the destroyer of our corrupted system.
Just random thoughts from a deckhand...
Interesting thought about greenspan. I've read Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal and it is indeed hard to reconcile his behavior. I think though, that destroying the fed by manipulating policy... wow that's just too crazy for me to even fathom. If a man can really do that on purpose, imagine what is is going on out there. I don't think it's likely. But it WOULD make a nice novel.
There are always more Miles Kendig's that meet the eye. There is a whole another world and process that is involved. Trust me.
I hadn't thought of it that way...I will keep that in mind. I always thought Greenspan was brilliant, and I felt that (for example) he kept trying to point out the folly of fiat money in congressional hearings - without ever explicitly saying so.
Agreed that it would make for an awesome novel.
Where have you been hiding VegasBD? Long time no see (comment).
Hey Dude- yea i know, ive actually been busy at work! its gay, i could be so much more productive if i didnt have a job! =)
all those new shows coming out (flashforward, V, etc etc,) slammed us, we do all the vFX for them so while i keep up on all the articles i dont have time to hang out in the comments much =\
Me too. I think he did it on purpose. Gave the bankers enough rope to hang themselves. I remember reading that Ayn Rand was at his side when he was sworn in as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in 1974 and they “remained close until she died in 1982.” Greenspan might, in fact, be John Galt - the man who stopped the world's motor.
Prediction: aspirin overdose. Like the other informer.
I'd prefer if the one sentence were, "Prepare the scaffolding for the gallows."
Jury selection will take quite awhile... excellent delay choice...
Lets see what happens with Cioffi and Tannin.
In my opinion, this is nothing more than saber rattling by the SEC to regain whatever trust they can muster.
They are doing it for the same reason they paraded Cioffi and Tannin on national T.V. It's all a bunch of bullshit.
Does anyone think anything will happen to Ken Lewis?
not I......
Hell no Pizza man! Now would be a great time for Ken Lewis to "conveniently" fake a heart attack resulting in his untimely death. Then he could join Ken Lay in his CIA sponsored life long vacation sipping Mia Tias from the back of a yacht in an undisclosed tropical location. Check the coffin, bet it's stuffed full of Enron stock certificates. Just my theory.
Don't know about Ken Lay, but I'm pretty sure right now is a great time for Ken Lewis to take a "death", real or fake.
"Does anyone think anything will happen to Ken Lewis?"
not I.......
No wonder he chit-canned himself last week and the spin machine geared up to cast a positive light on his departure. If there is any leadership in the "common man" jury pool with more than half a brain this should be very interesting in the sentencing phase.
OH SNAP, YO!
RIP, ken lay...
OJ redux
a brilliant move by the SEC to distract the sheeple from the true "Thieves of Wall Street and Washington"
this development has dashed any hope of meaningful financial reform, however orchestrated correctly it will serve the mid-term elections well
Haha, so what you're saying is they shouldn't prosecute the criminals, because that's just what everyone would be expecting them to do if they were expecting that they were doing the opposite of what everyone expects so that they would not be discovered for the conspiring evil bastards that they are! Brilliant!
.
Agreed. Lewis is the sacrificial lamb, and BofA is the diversionary dog and pony show for everyone who's "angry" and wanting some justice.
Meanwhile...back at the ranch: Pay close attention to the background scenes while this media circus is orthestrated. Hell, just insert Paulson, BB, Geitner, JPM, GS, AIG, Citi, Wells...where does it end?
It pretty much ends with BofA. Lewis didn't play ball and now he's not part of the 'club'. Good for him. There will be no real justice for the vast majority of the criminals at the helm of the bankster cartel.
.
Dear SEC,
Might I suggest a change of venue request for said trial.
Charlotte may not be the best place for an impartial jury, but I am sure there are many willing Bank of America clients in their HQ city who are unaware of just how badly they've been duped.
Should be an easy case to make.
Thanks,
Interested Citizen Lothar the Rottweiler
The comments to this point prove my point - Ken is a convenient fall guy. Meanwhile the banksters scramble to get their Feadship orders in, while their political handmaidens look on, satisfied that they have fulfilled their duty to their masters.
BINGO ANONY!
IMO Lewis is a fall guy. He thought he was getting a deal until he saw the real debt and changed his mind. Then shifty Paulson and uncle Ben told him it was a good deal that he would take or else. They're all criminals.
We should enjoy this as it's most likely all we're gonna get. This is the SEC proving it has teeth, this is the banksters taking a serious (super cereal) hit, this is msm's bone to gnaw into whatever pulp it deems fit for mass consumption. Everyone is happy now, and the green shoots can grow now that the weeds are pulled.
Judge Rakoff's 9/22/09 Case Management Plan allowed the parties to demand a jury trial. Not sure why the SEC sees a jury pool as its best option when Rakoff's Memo of 9/14/09 already blasted BAC. (Ex: "The Bank's argument that the proxy statement was not misleading rests in material part on reference to a schedule that was not even attached to the proxy statement..." Mem. at 5). Given that, you'd think the SEC would prefer a bench trial.
The real issue is whether the SEC will join individual parties like Ken Lewis, Ed Herlihy, etc., which the CMP allows the SEC to do by 10/19/09.
Any chance the SEC wants to go with a jury trial because the judge has already demonstrated the willingness to ask the questions the SEC doesn't want answered?
Just run 'fall guy Ken' through a nice sensational public jury trial, with a few good tidbits, and keep the jury (who I doubt will truly have any clue about most of this 'financial mumbo-jumbo') confused. At the end of it all, the patsy swings in the wind, the people think that 12 angry men and women did the right thing, and the judge is marginalized. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a 'margin call' afterwards too... Knock knock...who's there...Vampire squid... you get the idea.
Having participated as an expert witness in Federal District court, let me assure you the judge is fully able to ask any questions s/he wishes. Marginal is not a term that comes to mind, based upon my experience.
"Given that, you'd think the SEC would prefer a bench trial."
My thoughts exactly.
read: beavis, this SUCKS.
so tired of the obfuscation and assorted bullshiat - all of it. stop the ride, I wanna git off. And 'they' wonder why 'we' snap and go all militia and shiat. Honestly...wanna try these size 9s on? yeah, dint think so.
ARGH.
Ken Lewis is only one of many-
like going after Martha Stewart for insider trading- because she was well known instead of busting the ones who making the egregious insider trading moves-
case in point- the big move in bank stocks Friday last half hour of trade- only to hear on Monday that certain banks stocks had been upgraded-
fucking scam
How bad does the SEC need good PR right now? I mean talk about a group desperate to put one in the win column.
Mary Schapiro was happy with a BS $33 million settlement that didn't name Ken Lewis or any other names and came with the usual "no admission of wrongdoing" from B of A. The settlement accidentally ended up in front of a judge who was interested in justice and threw the proposed settlement back at the SEC. Now Schapiro has morphed from Barney Fife into Dirty Harry and it just happens to be against the guy who ratted out Bernanke and Paulson in front of Congress.
Put all 4 of them on trial and let the jury sort it out.
The SEC have laid the groundwork for a show trial and the financial 'media' will be relentless in it coverage. And areKenny boy and his accomplices being charged with "Bankster Crimes"? No. They are being charged with screwing over their shareholders - big effing deal.
Meanwhile GS, JPM, MS, Pimco (UBS) etc have benefited in the tens and tens of billions from the various bailouts. Even Hank Greenberg is being welcomed back to AIG to offer advice.
And then we have Benny and Timmy debasing the US dollar - intentional? read this from MIT's Simon Johnson:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-06/obamas-secret-jobs-plan/
ZH please don't take the bait on the Ken Lewis show trial - stay focused on the real banksters.
Were BAC in healthy shape at the time, Lewis would have resisted. However, BAC could keep their secrets buried a little longer if they played ball with the FED and treasury.
any legal beagles who can offer informed professional commentary on the significance of this? is it a non-event? why has the sec selected this strategy as opposed to bench? what are the pros-cons of this development for sec and for boa?
This all the SEC has to show for itself?
I suppose when this farce is over, and the nightly news shows Ken doing the perp walk, everybody will be praising all the hard work the SEC does to look out for the little guy.
...pathetic
Time for Ken Lewis to do a Ken Lay?
I do agree somewhat with the jury trial being soaked in media attention and diverting the masses from the really bad crooks in the financial system
The other issue that popped in my mind on the jury trial is that it really all depends on the venue and the judge in question (along with jury selection, of course).
One really corrupt judge can instruct a jury on a pretty narrow line and make whatever Rakoff has done irrelevant.
Perfect time for a trial. It will give 12 of the unemployed plenty to do for a couple of years and when the trial is over there might just be a chance of a jobs recovery by then.
I wouldn't let excitement over these developments cause one to vomit on the rug just yet. After all, the plaintiff is the SEC and the judge just your garden variety system hack who has as good a chance as any other of being reached somehow. I mean you don't really expect justice in a country which launches pre-emptive wars and tortures its adversaries do you? If so, you're the biggest schmendrik that ever walked. If you're looking for justice, wait until the inevitable next downturn provokes sufficient despair to birth the massive public demonstrations and economy stopping strikes required to give the word "change" an entirely new lease on life. Then, in some enormous football stadium environment, try Ken Lewis together with the whole Washington ruling clique in an enormous public show trial. Now that'd be justice.
Well said.
Agreed!! Exactly right!! Especially about the next inevitable downturn and the resulting unrest ...
"Justice? For justice, my friend, you must wait. Till you get to heaven".
This country is going to the dogs if high financeers can't drive their company off a cliff and parachute safely with their looted million$$$.
sheesh
Yes, this will be a farce. BUT this is the BIG news item I've been waiting on all summer. The one that moves us past the "Market Rally!!" mindset/news cycle
This is the BIG news item I've been waiting for all summer. Yes, it will be a farce, but it marks the start of the next phase in this whole gad dang govt/MSM/bankster fiasco.
Straw man argument. From johnsons war on poverty and connect the dots to avarice still enabled today will insure the poor bankers are following the law of the land and will walk. Sick yes, problem solved no. No matter what party now same result. will the legal system ever meet justice? Not this time either I assume.
"Woe to ex-CEO Ken Lewis." Nope...
Who cares about what the democrats unleashed to date is the issue. And the reptilian party is just as sick. Until the taxpayer grows a set they deserve what they get and before you get indignant I do write my senate and rep and there liberal assholes. I care for a widow who's husband just died and he was a veteran and he was sad that this country turned into people he shot and threw out of windows for his friends in arms in germany to susvive, and then was sent to the pacific to finish that sad affair. For the fact of matter he felt some in the senate should be shot for treason and I was stunned. I did not disagree with a man who earned the right to speak truth with honor and I was lucky enough to marry his daughter and care for his widow in these sad times. A banker? Who cares they lobby politicians you vote in. I tell his grand children the best men and women are in the service and more can be found who care for there family and friends first. This nation is debased in mind and spirit by a few hundred idiots and more so by cheerfull and usefull idiots and I hope the jury has brains and will to see reality and not legal bullshit and follows the money. If the judge gives them instructions they tell the judge to fuck off we are the jury and you are not. Another red herring....
It'll all get swept under the rug -count on it.
Skank of America will "agree" to pay a substantially larger fine for fleecing its shareholders and Kenny boy will exit stage left rather more quickly than planned.
It all depends on the omnibus nol prosse agreement to be worked out with the SEC, the Feds and the State of NY - his white collar criminal defense counsel is already wsroking on it.
Neither the Skank of A nor Timmy nor Bennie want Kenny Boy making like a canary on the witness stand...
KptLt. Laughing Swordfish
9er Unterseeboote Flotille
FYI, this is neither unusual nor "ominous." It is entirely routine to make a jury demand here: no way this was going to be a bench trial. And it's one of several misreadings of legal issues I've seen on this blog in the last few weeks (the last one I remember was a statement something like "everyone knows only appellate opinions are published"). I love this blog for its inside baseball finance stuff, but before you guys make something of a legal matter you may want to, you know, ask a lawyer whether it means anything.
I would rather see a bench trial. I'm not at all impressed with the SEC lawyers.
Check to CW
It's called the 7TH Amendment. Please look it up.
Personally I want to see people on trial for the bonuses awarded to the senior ML execs prior to the merger. These were the people who fudged the books to disguise the loses and then awarded themselves one last payday. The bonuses went mainly to the senior execs at ML and they were fucking huge. It was the most brazen theft I have come across during the whole period. Say what you like about China, but at least there they would shoot a few of them...
You have the right to bear arms, but americans are to chicken shit! What a funked up country, really you people should be embarrased.
Crime in the streets, crime in the courts, crime in corporate america, crime in the oval office and crime on TV. yea great place to live. sure your immigration roles are bulding with the despots of the wrold trying to get in and the smart gettin out.
Americans cant go anywhere in the world without being despised. Fuck it's time to build a wall aroud America just to keep the shit in.
you're all pussies
I'm curious whether Rakoff was already scheduled to hear the case, i.e., is he "just" the "pre-trial/motions" judge and once it goes into the trial pool, another judge is selected, or is the system once the judge is on the case he stays with it all the way through. Either is very possible. It may be possible that Rakoff is the judge, and the only way out of it is to make a jury demand, which gives you an opportunity to switch judges, and the SEC legal eagles may be using this as a ploy to get away from Rakoff. They may be of the opinion that "anyone but Rakoff" is the way to go.
Whether this is a great, or terrible, development for Ken Lewis is hard to say. I would expect the usual analysis to be that a defendant of wealth and power should fear a jury, and the verdict of the common man. In this case, the tale they will be telling may cause the jury to sympathize with Ken, believe it or not. A judge like Rakoff would not be sympathetic.
Yes good analysis. Lewis is just a southern country boy from humble beginnings. Worked his way to the top. He got tossed around by the schoolyard bully from Washington. Tried the best he could. Just wanted to help our country.
Blankfein, Fuld, Mack, Dimon, Lewis, Paulson, Bernanke, Bush, ex Mer CEO, Thain, ex Bear execs, SEC, FED regulators....and many others....ie rating agencies....
ARE ALL ABOVE THE LAW
During the much smaller S&L debacle....1000 people were indicted...from about 3000 S&Ls....
These people took down the world's finances....causing untold damages to retirees and the hungary....
Secondly perhaps the rating agencies are the most responsible because 95% of the paper would have never been purchased....
And the SEC has not stopped....corrected....or arrested anyone in the rating agencies....
Let's be clear.....Fascism American Style....and of the very
worse kind has entered the US in a very big way....
And make no mistake....the stolen funds will be paid from the new US VAT taxes that will be imposed by the likes of Obama and Pelosi....who are nothing but puppets and mouthpieces....
Make no mistake....America's unborn children will be paying for something for which they have no responsibility....
This is wrong....and nothing short of Revolution will stop this Fascism.....Average Americans do not have the tools to fight this orchestrated legal largess....
The real Americans that are left should be WHITE HOT ANGRY and actually put all of these people in jail or worse....ALL OF THEM....
These people have ruined millions of innocent lives....and have not been held accountable....
The total securities business must be rebuilt from the ground up....Fortunately the technology is ready and waiting....A new nongameable fully electronic worldwide direct access exchange FOR ALL.....NOT THE FEW....
We're talking about the SEC as if its a person. Its not, its made up of individual people who all joined the SEC because they want jobs in the big banks when they come out.
They've tried the agreed settlement for peanuts and no admission of wrong doing and unfortunately for them a judge has forced them to do their jobs and go after their future bosses.
My analysis is that the staff at the SEC hope that by getting a jury to do the dirty work they can escape the wrath of their future employers and still get employed in a few years.
***Not sure why the SEC sees a jury pool as its best option when Rakoff's Memo of 9/14/09 already blasted BAC. . . . Given that, you'd think the SEC would prefer a bench trial.***
it's not their choice. defendant gets the right to choose a bench trial, but the default is by jury.
given the large number of former prosecutors and federal regulators that wind up sitting on the the bench, a bench trial would be a terrible idea.
ps: the match question on the captcha was tough . . . i'm embarassed to say
Jury trials are the place for those who would otherwise have a hard time proving their case. For whatever reason.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_7Kp_TapA4
My psychic vision: There will be no jury trial. Kenny will not rat, and he will keep his $53M.
Wow it must be sooooooo bad that they can't cover it up.
On the other hand, Ken Lewis, the man that saved THE
WORLD will have a chance to save it a second time!
How lucky can one guy be?
This will not go very far very fast, much as I would like it to.
Lay and his attorneys will demand access to all Treasury and Fed documents even remotely relevant to the case(s). Treasury and the Fed will fight tooth and nail to prevent that from happening, nominally because they do not want to embarrass the bank(s), but actually to save their own hides.
Watch this case to move through the courts with at least the same glacial pace as Bloomberg's FOIA request to the Fed. And, yes, it will go to the Supreme Court.
Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion
PROTOCOL 1 THE BASIC DOCTRINEThe End justifies the Means –
Our countersign is – Force and Make-believe. Only force conquers in political affairs, especially if it be concealed in the talents essential to statesmen. Violence must be the principle, and cunning and make-believe the rule for governments which do not want to lay down their crowns at the feet of agents of some new power. This evil is the one and only means to attain the end, the good. Therefore we must not stop at bribery, deceit and treachery when they should serve towards the attainment of our end. In politics one must know how to seize the property of others without hesitation if by it we secure submission and sovereignty.
Our triumph has been rendered easier by the fact that in our relations with the men, whom we wanted, we have always worked upon the most sensitive chords of the human mind, upon the cash account, upon the cupidity, upon the insatiability for material needs of man; and each one of these human weaknesses, taken alone, is sufficient to paralyse initiative, for it hands over the will of men to the disposition of him who has bought their activities.
PROTOCOL 3 METHODS OF CONQUESTLiquidation of the Goyim – Universal economic crisis – "Ours they will not touch…"
This hatred will be still further magnified by the effects of an economic crisis, which will stop dealing on the exchanges and bring industry to a standstill. We shall create by all the secret subterranean methods open to us and with the aid of gold, which is all in our hands, a universal economic crisis whereby we shall throw upon the streets whole mobs of workers simultaneously in all the countries of Europe. These mobs will rush delightedly to shed the blood of those whom, in the simplicity of their ignorance, they have envied from their cradles, and whose property they will then be able to loot.
"Ours" they will not touch, because the moment of attack will be known to us and we shall take measures to protect our own.
When we come into our kingdom, our orators will expound great problems which have turned humanity upside down, in order to bring it at the end under our beneficent rule.
Who will ever suspect then that all these peoples were stage-managed by us according to a political plan which no one has so much as guessed at in the course of many centuries?….
PROTOCOL 20
FINANCIAL PROGRAMME
Progressive taxation – Stagnant capital – the Gold Standard
To-day we shall touch upon the financial program, which I put off to the end of my report as being the most difficult, the crowning and the decisive point of our plans. Before entering upon it I will remind you that I have already spoken before, by way of a hint, when I said that the sum total of our actions is settled by the question of figures.
Jury selection if justice shall prevail:
http://masters-of-photography.com/images/full/bourke-white/b-w_living.jpg