Peasant! Get back to you plot, and hand over half your year's work like a nice, modern, feudal taxpayer serf!
Posted on 01/07/2009 3:55:03 AM PST by CutePuppy
The Securities and Exchange Commission's New York watchdog, under fire for failing to uncover Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme - despite a dead-on tip by a whistleblower - yesterday tearfully defended herself, arguing that she and the agency did the best job possible.
"Why are you taking a mid-level staff person and making me responsible for the failure of the American economy?" an upset Meaghan Cheung, with eyes tearing up, told The Post.
"I worked very hard for 10 years to make a career, and a reputation, and that has been destroyed in a month," said Cheung, who was the SEC's branch chief of the New York enforcement division during that unit's earlier probe of Madoff's brokerage business.
The 37-year-old has been singled out by whistleblower Harry Markopolos as the woman who failed to detect the scam despite his lengthy warnings. It was Cheung who signed off on a 2006 SEC investigation that effectively gave Madoff the all clear.
She said, "I was shocked" to learn last month that Madoff had been charged with - and confessed to - operating a massive Ponzi scheme at his Manhattan firm that swindled thousands of investors.
"I think it's a tragedy," said the married mother of two, who is a graduate of Yale University and Fordham University Law School.
But when asked if she would have done anything differently in her Madoff probe - which ended with "no evidence of fraud" - she demurred.
"I can't answer that," said Cheung, who left the SEC in September for personal reasons unrelated to Madoff. "If someone provides you with the wrong set of books, I don't know how you find the real books."
.....
"Cheung, branch chief in New York, actually investigated [Markopolos' claims] but with no result that I am aware of..."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
And a slow-moving joke at that.
LOl and 'agree'; totally. Agree as well, with the expectations of 'consequences'. But then, we are speaking of Liberals here; and their story is an entirely different playbook. Albeit, we all suffer their consequences of the Lib MO.
That was mind-boggling incompetence, and that one cannot be blamed on staffers, this goes all the way up.
Now we are getting to the real reason these frauds can occur. The SEC would rather hire the 20-something law grad rather than someone like me:
Former Financial Rep
Series 7
Passed the CFP
Economics major, but NO GRAD SCHOOL
The son of a money manager with 50+ years of experience
Traded as principal for a Wall Street firm
Actually traded the type of transaction Madoff used
Corporate Controller
Management Consulting for 10 years
You think the SEC would like to have people like me?
Don't hold your breath . . .
This woman has no common sense. When I was at Ernst & Ernst we had a woman like that. She had a perfect 4.0 and lots of book smarts. One time she spent days doing all the detail tests on the accounts receivable proving their accuracy, but never tied the detail to the general ledger. This was the norm for her. Rule number one, don’t miss the forest for the trees.
I’m not picking on her because of being female....
POINTS TO PONDER This is how a constitutional democracy gets finished off. Scum like Madoff depended on the "freedoms" of democracy. Madoff knew the "tolerant and compassionate" political system protects The Hyphenate Entitlement with laws and giveaways (for campaign cash and votes). Thanks to Madoff's unchecked, unbridled greed and avarice ...... with pols aiding and abetting his schemes under the rubric of "tolerance".......we face an uncharted future. Americans should take notes from corrupt Third World governments----cause that's where we're headed.
============================================
I respectfully submit this excellent deconstruction posted by FREEPER Arrowhead on Jan 6:
I remember a lawyer said to me a long time ago: "It is not a legal system; it is a people system." When I read this comment from the article: He said "social and professional relationships" might have influenced agency investigators, it seems to give credo to the lawyer's comment above.
And there lies a huge problem about a "people system." Greed, fear, and misplaced loyalties are what drives a "people system." Any expectation of running a free republic is shattered, having allowed our nation to become led by ivory tower squalor.
The "love of money" certainly is the evil of our time.
I am confident that our nation has established a course by which we have reached a point of no return toward a constitutional republic. For such a system is built upon laws that are designed to protect people's rights; not infringe upon them.
Herein is the line of demarcation.
And the only way the line is not crossed is when a moral people elect moral leaders. Moral leaders are the only kind of people that propound a fortitude to say "no" to evil, in all its forms of decency, politeness, and "good" intentions.
Even if there were a plan to return to our roots as a law-abiding and moral people, the resources of the evil powers of the Establishment are greatly mounted against the meager efforts of many good people. Those in the ivory towers will never give up their power. And I believe Madoff stands a good chance of getting a slap on the wrist, and nothing more.
GWB went to HBS.
That's what really needs investigating - Democrats-media-education-finanical complex
Its an oligarchy. 100 years ago Europe stood where we are today. The European Monarchies were all interelated-all cousins of one another. In fact some have referred to WWI as a family squabble.
Oligarchies, because they close out those who haven't been “credentialed” -witness Sarah Palin’s treatment-have a limited mind pool from which to draw. They run out of creative ideas and solutions. Which is where we are today.
Exactly.
She did, or didn’t at least have to go back to work.
Madoff has/had lots of cash.
She gave Madoff a clean bill.
(It’s nothing, I suppose)
SEC Branch Chief does not sound like middle management.
Your comment is a fallacy. There are many superb professional women in the workplace. This lady may not be one of them.
Sounds like you're damning McCain with faint praise. LOL!
I was thinking more along the lines of: even a blind squirrel can find an acorn, or a broken clock is right twice daily.
I was never that dismayed over McCain's defeat. He doesn't have the temperament, or consistency, to manage large groups of people. That trait has never been necessary in a fighter pilot.
During my four years on AF bases in Germany, I rubbed elbows with plenty of fighter jocks. Heroes, all of them, but that doesn't mean I wanted to see any of them elevated to the Presidency.
Except one...BG James Albritton. I was a butterbar with less than a year in the Army, stationed at Hahn AB with an Army short range air defense artillery battery. During tac evals and alerts, we posted a man in the Wing CP for liasion purposes (usually me...there were only a few in my unit with the requisite security clearance).
I'd been on the job less than two hours when an NBC warfare input was transmitted. His "expert" over-reacted in his recommendation. One of my "extra duties" in my unit was NBC Officer, so I had the training and knowledge to realize he'd over-reacted. That over-reaction would harm the ability of everyone outside the hermetically-controlled atmosphere of the Wing CP.
Long story short...this Air Force Colonel took the recommendation of an Army 2nd LT over that of an Air Force Captain. By raising the alert status to "Yellow" instead of "Red", flight operations were not hampered by unnecessarily wearing protective gear.
I returned to my post, about 15-20 feet from the "Eagles Nest". Thirty minutes later, I overheard him say "as long as I'm in command, I want that Army LT in here whenever there's an NBC input."
Over the next 12-18 months, I had the opportunity to spend formal and informal time with him. He was always a fighter jock at heart, but he was a great leader, and looked out for his airmen.
Of course, there's a significant difference between being a Wing Commander and a Squadron Commander. Don't get me wrong, I'm not denigrating Sen. McCain's service. He wasn't my 4th, 5th, or 6th choice. I only regret that Sarah Palin will not be Vice President.
The World's Largest Hedge Fund Is A Fraud
I want to know if anyone in Congress ran interference for Madoff.
And not before Congress.
CHEUNG, MEAGHAN
NEW YORK, NY 10011
ATTORNEY/SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
OBAMA, BARACK
VIA OBAMA FOR AMERICA
04/25/2008 250.00 28991051779
10/15/2008 300.00 28993006687
THE SEC WATCHDOG WHO MISSED MADOFF
Madoff makes Rezko look like Mr. Rogers....
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