Business Insider: Change the behavior in the financial service industry for a full generation in just seven days

seven days...? works for me...!

We Now Know With Near-Certainty That Wall Street Execs Committed Felonies

It’s now a near certainty that Wall Street executives committed felonies.

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So what can be done about it? We can change the behavior in the financial service industry for a full generation in just seven days. [emphasis added]

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My seven day plan is based on a simple premise: When criminal laws are egregiously violated, the guilty parties should face appropriate punishment. Here’s the plan:

Day One: Read the HUD Inspector General’s reports and the public records of past mortgage foreclosure cases from across the nation.

Day Two: Meet with the team at the Office of the Inspector General at HUD that prepared the audits. Obtain the names of all the bank officials, lawyers, and notaries whose behavior, as cited in the audit reports or otherwise known to the investigators, represent clear and unquestionable criminal violations. Add to this list other individuals who have similarly demonstrated or testified to behavior unquestionably constituting criminal acts, as indicated by the public records of the mortgage foreclosure cases reviewed in day one.

Day Three: Indict all of the individuals on the list compiled on day two.

Day Four: Indict banks and financial institutions on criminal charges where criminal behavior by employees (as demonstrated by day three indictments) appears to be endemic. The Justice Department guidelines for prosecuting firms include: (1) the pervasiveness of such activity, (2) the compliance procedures in place, (3) attempts by the corporation to end bad behavior, and (4) cooperation with federal investigators. In 2008, the Justice Department adopted a policy of accepting “deferred prosecutions,” involving agreements to change corporate behavior without damaging innocent third parties through prosecution.

Corporations receive the benefits of “legal persons,” as demonstrated by Citizens United. But they must also bear the responsibilities of these privileges. A reading of the HUD reports, and other public records, suggests several banks should clearly be prosecuted.

Day 5: Discuss plea bargains with indicted lower-level officials in return for cooperating in investigations of higher-level officials.

Day 6: Consider plea bargains with indicted banks, which require the removal of all remaining officers and directors who were serving when egregious criminal activity occurred, as well as senior officials who were in a position to exercise appropriate supervisory responsibility but chose to look the other way.

Day 7: Indict any senior Wall Street officials implicated by new cooperative testimony resulting from activities on day five. Adopt and announce a policy that future criminal violations will be prosecuted in a similar fashion.

only seven days... such a deal...!

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The theft by MF Global was not stealing hundreds of millions form its customers: it has stolen a whopping $1.5 billion

wow...! why isn't this hitting the news hot and hard...?

tyler durden posting at zero hedge...

Even as we hear rumblings that the MF fire is spreading, and the associated auditor of the now infamous former Primary Dealer is about to get in serious hot water, the bankrupt company itself continues to dig itself an ever deeper grave. Because according to a just filed motion by the MF Global liquidating trustee, it seems that the gross criminal activity by the company may have been orders of magnitude bigger than anyone has expected. To wit: "As a result of the apparent segregation violations and the suspension of clearing privileges, more than 150,000 customer accounts essentially were frozen on October 31, 2011, of which more than 50,000 accounts were regulated commodities customer accounts. The CME estimates that MFGI’s current segregated funds requirement is approximately $5.45 billion. Moreover, the total amount of MFGI customer segregated funds on deposit at the CME is approximately $2.5 billion, and the clearing-level segregated collateral is approximately $1.5 billion or approximately 60 percent of the MFGI customer segregated funds on deposit at the CME." Doing some quick inverse addition and we get a (w)hole of $5.45 less $2.5 less $1.5 or $1.45 billion. In other words, the theft by MF Global was not stealing hundreds of millions form its customers: it has stolen a whopping $1.5 billion! For those confused, this is not a rogue loss of $1.5 billion, something which was enough to send UBS' Kweku to prison. This is outright theft resulting from illegally commingled accounts. Our only question is will $1.5 billion in theft be enough for the first real perp walk of an Obama-friendly Wall Street executive?

* drums fingers impatiently on desk *

when is the house of cards FINALLY going to fall...? when is enough enough...?

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Hark...! Is that the faint, half-strangled, rarely heard, but unmistakable whisper of accountability...? From the somnolent SEC...? Yikeys...!

could it be...?

S.E.C. Accuses Countrywide’s Ex-Chief of Fraud

Angelo R. Mozilo, the Bronx-born businessman who built Countrywide Financial into the nation’s largest mortgage lender before it was knocked down by the credit crisis, has been charged with securities fraud and insider trading in a civil suit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Citing e-mail messages in which Mr. Mozilo referred to Countrywide loan products as “toxic” and “poison,” S.E.C. officials said he misled investors about growing risks in the company’s lending practices from 2005 through 2007. During this time, he also profited by selling stock in the company, gaining $140 million.

“This is the tale of two companies,” said Robert Khuzami, enforcement director at the S.E.C. “Countrywide portrayed itself as underwriting mainly prime quality mortgages using high underwriting standards. But concealed from shareholders was the true Countrywide, an increasingly reckless lender assuming greater and greater risk.”

The suit also said David Sambol, former president of Countrywide, and Eric Sieracki, its former chief financial officer, concealed from investors the high-risk nature of the subprime loans that the company was making. Countrywide needed to maintain its position as the leading lender in a hot mortgage market, the S.E.C. said, and underwrote increasingly dangerous loans; all the while assuring investors that its loans were top quality.

now, let's nail us some more fraudsters...

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Al Jazeera offers some insight into the Bernard Madoff investment fraud scheme

Part 1



Part 2

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