Posted on 07/06/2012 7:27:06 PM PDT by neverdem
With the four-year anniversary of the financial crisis approaching, Wall Street thought it had dodged a bullet. Now comes the Libor scandal.
The esoteric practice of banks fixing the price of the London Interbank Offered Rate (more on Libor in a bit) may have heads rolling and hard time being served unlike sexier bubble-era improprieties like selling toxic debt to the unsuspecting.
Since the 2008 collapse, not a single major US bank CEO has been removed from his job, much less charged with a civil infraction over these activities. (Ken Lewis left Bank of America over other issues.) Weve had one failed prosecution of two Bear Stearns managers and lots of wrist slaps such as the one to Goldman Sachs a couple years ago for selling some lousy mortgage debt to clients. And that was about it.
But Barclays last week announced a $453 million settlement with US and British authorities over charges that it manipulated Libor a benchmark interest rate that trillions of dollars in financial contracts are priced off of. In a manner of days, senior executives were ousted, including flamboyant CEO Robert Diamond who until now was largely known for having one of the largest salaries in the banking world.
The reason Diamond stepped down so fast speaks to several things, including his uneasy relations with his UK bank regulators, but also the seriousness of the activities under criminal and civil investigation by the Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the UKs Financial Services Authority.
Libor is set by authorities at a UK banking trade group, who take the average of the borrowing costs of major global banks to compute a single interest rate one of the most widely used benchmarks in global finance. Like similar barometers, Libor reflects...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I’d like to know when we’re going to start sending politicians to prison. They are the real criminals in this world.
Not if they are Obama donors.
If prison time is handed out, I hope “demoacrat/governor/senator/ceo” jon corzine leads the way.
Not holding my breath.
Nah - Obozo will just pardon them, then offer them a government job that pays even more!
My sentiments exactly. He’s the first one that came to mind. Well over a year and the MSM has done a good job of keeping him off the front pages.
[But Barclays last week announced a $453 million settlement with US and British authorities over charges that it manipulated Libor]
$453 million? Thats Chump change.
These jackals will laugh just like the Argent/Ameriquest crew did when the AGs settled for $325 million.... at a time when they'd produced 5billion+ worth of (largely LIBOR-based) a$$paper in a single month.
Screw this settlement horse manure.
SHACKLE the JACKALS.
When you see this.
“Id like to know when were going to start sending politicians to prison. They are the real criminals in this world.”
_______________________________________________
Politicians, the media, and bankers - in no particular order.
“They say that patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings
Steal a little and they throw you in jail
Steal a lot and they make you king”
“Sweetheart Like You” by Bob Dylan
Interesting.
Shackle the Jackals!!! I LOVE IT!!!
Shackle the Jackals!!! I LOVE IT!!!
“Id like to know when were going to start sending politicians to prison. They are the real criminals in this world.”
One has to think that the lack of prosecution is due to how much money bankers have contributed to politicians.
Barney frank, Dodd, Pelosi, Ried, corzine, zero, jarret and a slue of others need to be spending some time in jail before we talk about wallstreet. Why are these cretans above the law?
The reason why they went after all those eye-talian-boy mafia types so zealously was that they didn’t like the competition and wanted all the action.
(One shouldn’t hold ones’ breath waiting for any criminal investigations.)
IMHO
I'd probably cry for a day or two but I'd get over it....
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