The SEC voted 3-2 to slap Goldman with charges that it withheld from investors information about hedge-fund king John Paulson's involvement in creating a complex mortgage security that lost investors $1 billion. The vote by the Wall Street watchdog's five commissioners was along party lines, with SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro voting with her fellow Democrats, Luis Aguilar and Elisse Walter. Republican commissioners Troy Paredes and Kathleen Casey voted against the move. "This says it was purely political," said one hedge fund trader. The case has been given to US District Judge Barbara Jones of the Southern District, who was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1995. ..... Details of the vote came as Goldman again challenged the SEC's claims. In a letter distributed yesterday to clients, the gold-plated firm said it "would never condone one of its employees misleading anyone, certainly not investors, counterparties or clients." The bank also refuted the government's charges, saying, "the SEC does not contend that the two professional institutional investors involved did not know what they were buying, or that the securities included in this privately placed transaction were in anyway improper." The lack of unanimity also fueled further speculation that the agency could have a tough time winning its case. Already, securities lawyers who have been mulling the case to decide whether to bring lawsuits against Goldman on behalf of investors say they're torn about the strength of the SEC suit. ..... Goldman is accused of hiding from investors the fact that Paulson cherry-picked the collateral backing the transaction based on what he thought was most likely to fail. Investors yesterday eased their assault on Goldman Sachs after it emerged the Securities and Exchange Commission isn't unanimous in its decision to file fraud charges against the bank, thus raising questions about the strength of its case.
Pure political theatre, to put pressure on Republican Senators to join or go along with Obama and Dems' plans to completely take over the control of entire financial industry. Campaign money is no longer enough for them, it's just chump change and doesn't buy nearly as much as it used to... they want total control.
Even Democrats' reliable donors and friends in the industry are starting to understand that and the implications of Financial Reform.
JPMorgan's Dimon Warns of Overregulation - CNBC / Reuters, 2010 April 18
"When profits fall too sharply then capital will move somewhere else, where there is more money to be earned, for example non-regulated markets," JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in the German mass circulation Sunday paper Welt am Sonntag. "The question is, is that what regulators want?," said Dimon who heads the second-largest U.S. bank. Dimon has been an outspoken critic of the Obama administration's proposed financial regulatory reforms, particularly of a proposed bailout fee on big banks which he has called a "punitive bank tax". The head of JPMorgan Chase in a German newspaper interview on Sunday turned against the possibility of stricter bank regulation and asked for better access for bankers to politicians.
Fortunately for these Democratic banksters, it looks like Senate Republicans may bail them out from their Democratic "friends" in the WH and on the Hill, after which they will go on fund raising and donating "protection" money for same Democrats.
Dems dealt setback on Wall St. bill - The Hill, 2010 April 20, by Alexander Bolton and Michael O’Brien
The decision delivers a significant blow to Democrats, who had seen Collins as one of the most likely GOP votes in favor of a financial overhaul bill, and throws into question their legislative agenda for the week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had hoped to move forward with legislation approved by the Senate Banking Committee as early as Wednesday, and Democrats since last week had been increasing the pressure on Republicans not to stand in the way. Collins, who initially resisted signing a letter circulated by GOP Senate leaders pledging a filibuster of the bill, said it was unlikely that her concerns could be addressed within the next few days. The main legislator urged Reid not to bring a partisan bill to the floor. She said told Geithner that she believed “we can work out a truly bipartisan bill that will strengthen our financial system.” “I see no reason why a bipartisan bill could not be put together over the next few weeks,” Collins said. Before the setback with Collins, Democrats scrambled Monday to increase public support for their legislation and win over GOP votes. Geithner met Monday with both Collins and her GOP colleague from Maine, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R), who is also seen as a gettable vote on financial reform. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) sharpened his rhetoric in favor of the legislation on Monday, saying his bill would have prevented the alleged financial fraud that brought Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges against Goldman Sachs on Friday. “Let there be no doubt in my mind, our bill would have prevented that kind of event from happening, in my view, and that’s what the public needs to know,” Dodd said during a press conference. Democrats believe the SEC charges against Goldman have bolstered their case for financial reform, and on Monday they showed that they intend to stoke the fire for reform with the fuel of public anger toward large banks. ..... House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) suggested that the charges against Goldman Sachs would increase financial reform’s chances for passage, though he said he believed the charges weren’t deliberately timed. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) emerged from a meeting with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Monday to announce she would join a GOP filibuster of Wall Street reform.
If your point is that no one should go after GS then you are dead wrong. And GS is not the only one that we should be going after. Including other banks, funds, regulators, Government officials, consumers who lied on mortgage forms, ect...
The whole system is corrupt from head to toe. I may not trust the democrats and there ways of reform, But after seeing the Republican approach then I sure don’t trust them either. The Republican approach is to sweep everything under the rug. That is bullcrap!!! And it tells me that they are as dirty as the dems.
I agree with you. As you can see you won’t find much interest here in any of this. Many people have been programed to ignore it. And that is the GOP line as well. And most people here have always followed the GOP programing. More people here are seeing that they have to look at the man or women and what they stand for. But we still have to many shills. Rhinos must be purged.