Wednesday, January 04, 2012
SEC Tricks Judge to Help Citigroup
Mary Schapiro
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is fast making itself an enemy of Judge Jed Rakoff.
The SEC previously filed a settlement with Rakoff to resolve a billion-dollar securities fraud case involving Citigroup—which the judge rejected because he said the $285 million award was inadequate and the bank did not have to admit wrongdoing. Rakoff claims, with much justification, that such a lame punishment allows Citigroup and others guilty of fraud to look at settlements as nothing more than “a cost of doing business.”
Rakoff then ordered the SEC and Citigroup to prepare for a trial to start in July.
But the federal agency, headed by Mary Schapiro, decided instead to go around the judge and ask the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to stay Rakoff’s ruling, which it did without him finding out until it was too late.
Rakoff issued a blistering order in response, accusing the SEC of misleading the appeals court and leaving him in the dark
http://www.allgov.com/Controversies/ViewNews/SEC_Tricks_Judge_to_Help_Citigroup_120104
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
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