The New York Times today reports on a judge that seems to be gumming up some cozy arrangements between Bank of America and the SEC.
I know that right now we're supposed to be focused on healthcare, Palin and disruptive town halls, but this was a refreshing article.
Here's the article in question. http://www.nytimes.com/...
Federal judge Jed S. Rakoff isn't satisfied with the explanations emanating from Ken Lewis and John Thain about those $3.6 billion in bonuses paid out by Merrill Lynch just prior to their acquisition by Bank of America.
Nor is our judge satisfied, (apparently) with the SEC asking for a paltry $33 million dollar fine and considering the matter closed- all without naming who authorized those bonuses.
It's obvious the two parties had everything hammered out, the food was on the plate. All the judge had to do was eat.
Our man Rakoff didn't bite. He's sent opposing counsels to the woodshed, rightly pointing out that the fine is less than at least one of the individual bonuses. I draw from his comments that the judge wants this matter probed a lot more deeply than the SEC is prepared to go.
The SEC isn't being given a choice. In this case, there won't be any protection forthcoming from Obama's Yidkids. Geithner, Summers, Bernanke, none of them can overrule a federal judge. Finally, there's a glimmer of hope that some of these banker boyz might actually have to start answering some questions while having their tailors in to measure them for their orange jumpsuits. How quickly some of us forget what has happened and how a few hundred people are about to get away with the biggest con in history.
Those few hundred, after cleaning out the FIRE sector are now intent on cleaning out the Treasury before adjourning to their yachts and fortified (offshore) estates. This is why we have three branches of government. The Executive branch hired the wrong people to guard the henhouse, (mostly reprobates from Goldman Sachs), and the Legislative is obviously still being controlled, (read bullied) by Rethugs and the Chamber of Commerce.
That leaves the Judiciary. At the moment that leaves one lone judge, by my count. Judge Jed Rakoff, my hat's off to you. Stop the bastards before they make it to the border.