SocraticGadfly: Wall Street exec pay to go on trial

September 14, 2009

Wall Street exec pay to go on trial

And, good! A federal judge has rejected a deal between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America. NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is already lining up state-level charges.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, in his ruling, found that the settlement "suggests a rather cynical relationship between the parties: the SEC gets to claim that it is exposing wrongdoing on the part of the Bank of America in a high-profile merger, the bank's management gets to claim that they have been coerced into an onerous settlement by overzealous regulators. And all this is done at the expense, not only of the shareholders, but also of the truth."

He also called the deal “not remotely fair.”
"I've never seen this," said James Cox, a Duke University law professor and securities law expert. "To me, it's long overdue," he added. "It's truly a come-to-Jesus moment for Bank of America and its relationship with its various officers," Duke Cox said. "They need to hang up a scalp or two."

Or half a dozen scalps. I love it!

And, I’m glad a judge got, in essence, mad as hell to force this.

Now, let’s see what comment the Obama Administration SEC, or Department of Justice, has tomorrow.

No comments: