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Fraud Finally Being Discussed in Polite Company ... Now Where Are the Prosecutions?
As I have repeatedly pointed out, the economy cannot stabilize unless the fraud which led to the crisis (see this, this, this and this) is openly discussed.
As Shahien Nasiripour notes today today, Alan Greenspan didn't think regulators should even pay any attention to fraud:
He
didn't believe that fraud was something that needed to be enforced or
was something that regulators should worry about, and he assumed she
[Brooksley Born] probably did. And of course she did. I've never met a
financial regulator who didn't feel that fraud was part of their
mission, but that was her introduction to Alan Greenspan."
But, this week, Greenspan admitted in testimony to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commissioner that regulators do need to crack down on fraud:
This
week, in response to a question from Financial Crisis Inquiry
Commissioner Heather Murren, who asked Greenspan whether subprime
lenders should now be supervised by the Federal Reserve, Greenspan said:
"Well,
first of all, remember you have to distinguish between supervision and
enforcement. A lot of the problems which we had in the independent
issuers of subprime and other such mortgages, the basic problem there
is that, if you don't have enforcement, and a lot of that stuff was
just plain fraud, you're not coming to grips with the issue."In
a paper on the financial crisis he presented last month at the
Brookings Institution in Washington, Greenspan did not mention the word
"fraud", in any of its forms, even once in the 66-page presentation.
His prepared remarks this week, though, mentioned it three times.
"[I]t is one thing to promulgate rules, and quite another to
successfully implement them. Rules to prevent fraud and embezzlement
have failed as often as not. Parenthetically, in the years ahead, we
will need far greater levels of enforcement against misrepresentation
and fraud than has been the practice for decades," he told the
investigatory panel.
Greenspan also called for "enhanced"
enforcement against "misrepresentation and fraud" going forward as one
desired part of the government's arsenal in trying to avoid future
crises in which taxpayers are forced to bail out private companies.
And the Wall Street Journal is running an important story showing that all of the big bank primary dealers - not just Lehman - have engaged in fraudulent accounting for years:
Major
banks have masked their risk levels in the past five quarters by
temporarily lowering their debt just before reporting it to the public,
according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
A
group of 18 banks—which includes Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan
Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and
Citigroup Inc.—understated the debt levels used to fund securities
trades by lowering them an average of 42% at the end of each of the
past five quarterly periods, the data show. The banks, which publicly
release debt data each quarter, then boosted the debt levels in the
middle of successive quarters.
The fact that the existence of widespread fraud is finally being addressed in polite company is a good first step.
But where are the prosecutions?
Neither happy talk nor propaganda will fix the economy. The governments of the world have spent trillions trying to wallpaper over the fraud, and have become insolvent doing so.
But it's not working. Indeed, polls show that people no longer trust our economic "leaders". See this and this.
Only honest talk - and holding the people who committed fraud accountable - will stabilize the economy.
- advertisements -
Psychopathic narcissistic egotists run the financial system. Egotistical Narcissists run the political system - who are you going to turn to to fight fraud?
www.cassiopaea.com/cassiopaea/psychopath.htm
I'm pretty sure I read that 10% of Americans own 80% of all stocks, so...
there's no Main Street to "take to the streets".
exactly.
middle class "investors" who lost their life savings because they never realized that Wall Street is a giant scam are NOT a sympathetic target. neither are the ruined "owners" of real estate assets in upper-crust neighborhoods.
this is all going to come off as "well, those greedy rich people get what they deserve." the uninvolved do no realize that this is the end of the line for them, too.
the world now realizes that US markets and financial assets are nothing but fraud, and so the welfare / warfare government is destined to collapse.
politicians let the bankers steal all that money from the middle class because the bankers promised to let them take a cut of the money re-directed to the welfare class.
those politicians are about to find out that there's no money for their constituents, either. all the money was spent already by financial criminals and corporate insiders. largely on cocaine and strippers i suspect.
what happened here is so simple, so hideous, and so obvious that no one wants to even begin to talk seriously about 'reform.' it is too late to save the system. they can pretend for another year or two that - somehow - growth will come back on line and taxes can be raised. but cash flow doesn't lie. there's no way to hide rent collapse and currency destruction any longer.
CTRL + ALT + DEL
Good luck to you folks determined to ride this thing out in the big cities on the coasts.
"The elite rich/bankers run this world...." ---I will not dispute that, but when they have run it into the ground in such a manner that the masses are threatened with exstinction, well...the French Revolution does come to mind.
I always wondered why my co-workers were so well armed.
And why the wealthy contstucted their homes with steel "I" beams.
Greenspan---that assclown! Burning him at the stake would be just--but throw that asshole Bush in as well. Stupid fuckers have ruined the American collective prospects for a secure future.
Fuck all Republicans.
Yeah, right. Like democrats have clean hands. BOTH parties have shat on our constitution and its provisions for a LIMITED government.
Prosecution ? you must be dreaming man.
The elite rich/ bankers run this world, they choose politicians, inspectors and all they doo is to serve for them.
There will be no prosecutions in US, its just a dream, not reality.
But they may choose some scapegoats like Madoff buy they will never get to the heart of the Giant Squid.
We have yet to see whether the balance sheet shiatzus performed on Wall Street were legal or not. What is clear is that there is no good reason to have confidence in a system that allows it either because it is legal or because no one cares to enforce the laws. I think we have both.
Rampant criminal activity must be attacked head on. We need coast-to-coast arrests at Countrywide, the mortgage industry, the appraisers, Freddie and Fannie, Citi and the big banksters, the ratings agencies, Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks, AIG, the federal co-conspirators at U.S. Treasury, SEC, OTS, and the Federal Reserve, especially FRBNY, and any members of Congress who aided and abetted.
These overlapping criminal enterprises raped and pillaged the mortgage industry, ruined the housing market, destroyed the credit system, endangered federal/state/municipal financing, pension funds, and the banking system, caused massive unemployment, sent the economy into a downward spiral, endangered the world financial system, extorted the U.S. and the world to pay them billions in ransom or face the destruction of the world financial system and economy, and now are costing taxpayers hundreds of billions, even trillions of $.
The greatest financial crimes in U.S. history cry out for justice! We need Shock and Awe RICO prosecutions.
The only thing that has any hope of stopping the continual rape and pillage of investors, pensioners, city and state funds, and taxpayers is to see the entire Wall Street RICO crime syndicate along with co-conspirators in the mortgage industry, the Fed, Treasury, SEC, and Congress arrested and perp walked in handcuffs to federal and state jails. Now. Not 2 years from now.
We need RICO confiscations of the hundreds of billions in illegal "profits" from the criminal enterprises of the banks, mortgage industry, and Wall Street Mafia. We need 20 years-to-life hard time prison sentences.
It takes only one prosecutor to investigate just one crime, and follow the money and the connected crimes, and bring down the overlapping criminal enterprises using Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) prosecutions.
The prosecutor who leads the charge will become a national hero.
Amen to employing RICO. Bring back Elliot Spitzer.
Put those criminals on a chain gang, and forced to do hard labor.
greenspan is the jeff gannon of banksters....what a complete fucktard....whichever way the wind is blowing out of his ass is the opinion du jour from that senile old fart...
there will be no prosecutions because the prosecutors are owned lock stock and barrel by the banksters.....and because lazy corrupt americans will not take to the streets to demand justice....
burn greenspan at the stake....
"Sorry folks, but all that money you thought you had in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, insurance policies, annuities, and all that jazz is gone. You got tricked fair and square, and now its time to move on."
- Barack Obama. (a year or two from now)
Now go out and buy a Chevy from Government Motors. Next!
Class Action Lawsuit: "Short" Sellers or Buyers of "Put Options" Defrauded by the Federal Reserve Bank
If you or someone you know lost money by taking short positions in the stock market this past year, encourage them to join this group. The Fed has admitted to making secret loans, encouraging false financial reports and illegal direct stock purchases. Discovery from this suit can bring out lots of good information.
Spread the word.
Info:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&ref=mf&gid=112775505414171
The Federal Reserve Bank on Thursday April 1, 2010 admits it secretly and illegally purchased tens of billions of dollars of equities in companies, from their co-conspirators/insider traders, and did not disclose this information to investors. This was material information that affected the financial stocks that was undisclosed. This is a felony offense for the following reasons.
1. They were not authorized by law to purchase these stocks or equities
2. These were material transactions that effected entire market segment and investors were not made aware of these material transactions.
3. Only insiders knew of these purchases and invested accordingly
Additionally, the owner’s of the Federal Reserve Bank are the same banks and institutions that received this illegal money. They obtained personal benefit from these illegal/insider transactions.
Investors who had short positions or purchased “put options” were defrauded of billions. I purchased short positions and was defrauded. I want to prosecute.
Those guilty by their own admission should be arrested. Those who lost because of this fraud should be compensated for their loss.
Below is my complaint.
Fed Releases Details on Bear Stearns, AIG Portfolios
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aymTlczlMmpA&pos=1
Fed in hot water over secret bailouts
http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2010/0401/Fed-in-hot-water-over-secret-bailouts
The Fed Admits To Breaking The Law
http://networkedblogs.com/21Xqv
Geithner: Pickpocketing Trillions from the People to Give to the Oligarchy Was "Deeply Unfair", But We ... Um ... Had To
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/04/geithner-looting-country-for-trillions.html
Why Is The Fed Actively Managing A $25 Billion Maiden Lane MBS Portfolio When Its $2.4 Trillion SOMA Holdings Have A $1 Billion DV01? (And Are Unhedged)
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/why-fed-actively-managing-25-billion-maiden-lane-mbs-portfolio-when-its-24-trillion-soma-hol
Dylan Ratigan states that US Attorney’s office in New York investigating. Re: Lehman Brothers
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35841681#35841681
April 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. banks masked their true risk levels by temporarily lowering debt before reporting it, the Wall Street Journal said, citing data provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aXNVR4sYxMKU&pos=6
4/9/10 Major U.S. banks masked risk levels: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE63813R20100409
Alan Grayson: "Which Foreigners Got the Fed's $500,000,000,000?" Bernanke: "I Don't Know."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0NYBTkE1yQ&feature=player_embedded
BoE Secretly Loaned $102.9 Billion to RBS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/34126826
Bank of England tells of secret £62bn loan to save RBS and HBOS
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/6646923/Bank-of-England-tells-of-secret-62bn-loan-to-save-RBS-and-HBOS.html
Bank of England advisers not told about secret £62bn loan to HBOS
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/03/bank-england-secret-loan-hbos
Bank gave RBS and HBOS 'secret' £62bn loan
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article6929451.ece
Fed Refuses to Disclose Recipients of $2 Trillion
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=apx7XNLnZZlc
Fed Fights Request To Disclose Who Got $2 Trillion In Bailouts
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/3775032
Is Obama manipulating the stock market?
Economist claims president 'jawboning' economy to boost Dow
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=92100
VIDEO: Federal Reserve Manipulating Stock Prices?
http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/09/video-federal-reserve-manipulating-stock-prices/
Does The Government Actually Manipulate The Stock Market?
http://www.businessinsider.com/does-the-government-actually-manipulate-the-stock-market-2010-2
Thanks, wgpitts. This class action lawsuits is as good an idea as any to bring these bass turds to justice...especially since state and federal prosecutors have so far failed to bring the major prosecutions commensurate with the greatest financial crimes in U.S. history.
As a minimum, "Discovery from this suit can bring out lots of good information." This discovery can lead to prosecutions.
The publicity and the sight of victims having to seek justice on their own may prompt the state and federal prosecutors to redeem their responsibilities, and bring these fraudsters to 20-years-to-life justice.
Now the whole bunch of shysters find themselves in a real pickle.
By shutting down the frauds.......both illegal and " legalized ".....the world economy immediately circles the drain. That's why the thoughtful analysis and termination of fraud is always a rear view mirror exercise within government. The name of the game is about reinforcing the difficulty of cleaning up the Mount Whitney of shit left by a predecessor. Double trouble is the overlap of Fed Chairman. That dude belongs to both the present and the past.
You can bet your ass that any reforms will be driven by a debt-driven mega event. Certainly not by any political will or force of governments. The worldwide financial industry is fully in charge of this tragedy. When those derivatives crash by the trillions ....each institution written against the other......they'll finally blow themselves up.
By then, they'll have exhausted all public relief and remedies. The girth of the issue will dwarf every type of bail. Even Ben's printer.
Then we can dial back to zero and start over.
Where are the prosecutions?
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Sorry, I'm still speaking from another thread...
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There. Fixed it for ya'.
Fraud can only mean one thing - the banks are in trouble and need more bailouts! Grab your ankles.
But not to worry, Doddbama will introduce more toothless UN-style "reforms".