Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Former Bear Stearns Execs & Massive Fraud

 J.P. Morgan contends that the Bear Stearns fraud MBS securitization activity leading to the just announced civil fraud lawsuit allegations occurred before they bought the company in May of 2008.  It would be very far less than surprising for the case to be settled in the future with J.P. Morgan negotiating a settlement acknowledging violations or improper behavior - but also laying the blame on the executives of Bear Stearns as the parties running the outfit at the time.  That another group of individuals did it - not us.  We merely bought the company after the fact at the behest of the Federal Reserve and Treasury.

Which would leave a thinking individual to ponder the following questions:

"Whatever happened to the top executives at Bear Stearns responsible for this mess?  Weren't they charged with violations as individuals?".

The quick answers are "nothing" and "no".

It seems J.P. Morgan (somehow) came up with $9 billion to set aside to cover a settlement with shareholders and other investors in Bear Stearns in June of 2012.  Those hit with the impact of the $22.5 billion lost on securities issued in 2006 and 2007.  Totally unaffected by this were the stellar group of people in charge at Bear - the ones who violated Sarbanes-Oxley regulations regarding SEC reporting and any other number of standards.

(Actually, I shouldn't say unaffected.  Some were party to a $275 million agreement - apparently none of which they had to actually pay themselves).

Here they are:  Alan D. Schwarz, President and CEO; James E. Cayne, Chairman of the Board; Jeffrey M. Farber, Sr. VP & Controller; Alan C. Greenberg, Chairman of the Executive Committee; Jeffrey Mayer, Executive VP & Co-Head of Fixed Income Division; Samuel Molinaro, Ex VP & COO; Michael Solender, General Counsel.

All these fraudsters people are free as birds (ala Jon Corzine).  Jeffrey Farber was even so highly thought of that he was appointed to a high level executive position at taxpayer-owned AIG.  He and all the others are out just doing what the 1% generally do in this country.

It is patently absurd that our legal system would proceed against J.P. Morgan in a civil fraud lawsuit  addressing the behavior of Bear Stearns without ever going after the principals of Bear Stearns itself. To basically allege fraud took place, but never take action against those who they contend perpetrated it.

I guess this makes about as much sense as anything else going on in today's world.




Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Thank the Courts for much of 2000-2012

Just some quick thoughts on how The Courts have contributed to the to our state of affairs since 2000 :

-  Supreme Court hands election to George W. Bush (puppet of Dick Cheney and Karl Rove).  Provides for invasion of Iraq under false pretenses for military contractors and oil companies.

-  Supreme Court "Citizens United" decision opens the floodgates for further massive corruption in campaign funding and even further growth of lobbying interests.

-  Lower courts generally uphold Republican driven Voter ID efforts (aka Jim Crow laws) to make it more difficult for Democratic-leaning citizens to vote.

-  US Court of Appeals 8/9/12 decision in the Sentinel Group case holds that segregated accounts formerly considered sacrosanct are not.  Rather, any titan-sized institution that financed loans backed by customer accounts has a secured position and is therefore entitled to payment before any segregated accounts at a brokerage.

-  The above decision has basically established any defense that might be required by the Jon Corzine's of the world.

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Thank You, Court System.  One should ponder how vastly different the nation and world might be today in the absence of these rulings - starting with the placement of Bush as president and commander in chief.  None of the above strike me as being "for the people" (unless you're one of "the people" in whose behalf the Courts and government act).