Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Conditions Are Ripening

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Conditions Are Ripening

    For a Bailout

    SEC chairman says agency failed to probe Madoff
    Tuesday December 16, 10:54 pm ET

    SEC chairman cites multiple failures by agency staff to pursue Ponzi scheme allegations WASHINGTON (AP) -- Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox said Tuesday his agency repeatedly failed for at least a decade to pursue allegations of wrongdoing by Wall Street figure Bernard L. Madoff, the alleged perpetrator of a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

    Cox ordered a probe by the SEC's inspector general, saying the agency's staff had never brought the Madoff matter to the attention of commissioners.

    Since the SEC staff never recommended that the commission open a formal investigation, subpoena power was not used to obtain information and the staff relied on information voluntarily produced by Madoff and his firm.

    "I am gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failures over at least a decade to thoroughly investigate these allegations or at any point to seek formal authority to pursue them," Cox said in a statement.


    In a forceful condemnation of the SEC staff, Cox said there had been credible and specific allegations regarding Madoff's financial wrongdoing going back to at least 1999.


    http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081216/madoff_scandal.html


    Have we ever seen the Feds fess up so quickly to being so wrong?

    It's just not right. Someone (us) has to pay....


    ;)

  • #2
    Re: Conditions Are Ripening

    Originally posted by don View Post
    For a Bailout

    SEC chairman says agency failed to probe Madoff
    Tuesday December 16, 10:54 pm ET



    SEC chairman cites multiple failures by agency staff to pursue Ponzi scheme allegations WASHINGTON (AP) -- Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox said Tuesday his agency repeatedly failed for at least a decade to pursue allegations of wrongdoing by Wall Street figure Bernard L. Madoff, the alleged perpetrator of a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

    Cox ordered a probe by the SEC's inspector general, saying the agency's staff had never brought the Madoff matter to the attention of commissioners.

    Since the SEC staff never recommended that the commission open a formal investigation, subpoena power was not used to obtain information and the staff relied on information voluntarily produced by Madoff and his firm.

    "I am gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failures over at least a decade to thoroughly investigate these allegations or at any point to seek formal authority to pursue them," Cox said in a statement.


    In a forceful condemnation of the SEC staff, Cox said there had been credible and specific allegations regarding Madoff's financial wrongdoing going back to at least 1999.


    http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081216/madoff_scandal.html


    Have we ever seen the Feds fess up so quickly to being so wrong?

    It's just not right. Someone (us) has to pay....


    ;)
    LOL. This looks like a good example of what EJ recently predicted. The scapegoats are being lined up to take the fall so the powerful and well connected can be saved. Chris Cox is without a doubt one of the most incompetent SEC heads ever. Hell, he makes Harvey Pitt look good by comparison. Blaming it on the staff is an age old tactic of spineless, useless, incompetent management in the corporate world. It only surfaces in government sectors when things get really stinky.

    Cox is trying to save his own azz. And there are doubtless others in very high places that knew Madoff [or something similar that has not yet come to surface] wasn't kosher. And although they may not have actively participated [as conspiracy theorists claim], their crime is one of omission; not doing something when they had either legal [in the case of Cox] or moral responsibility.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Conditions Are Ripening

      Maybe Cox was making money under-the-table by being lax and not doing his job? Or maybe Bush insisted upon the SEC keeping their hands-off investigations of anything? After all, de-regulation and hands-off were part of the Republican mantra dating back to Reagan.

      Rumsfeld, Paulson, Cox, Greenspan, and Bernankee are the stand-out morons of the George Bush years..... In poker, that would make a full-house.
      Last edited by Starving Steve; December 17, 2008, 10:58 PM.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Conditions Are Ripening

        Originally posted by Starving Steve View Post
        Rumsfeld, Paulson, Cox, Greenspan, and Bernankee are the stand-out morons of the George Bush years..... In poker, that would make a full-house.
        Libby
        Wolfowitz
        Gonzalez
        Brown...

        There's a whole deck of jokers.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Conditions Are Ripening

          Originally posted by don View Post
          In a forceful condemnation of the SEC staff, Cox said there had been credible and specific allegations regarding Madoff's financial wrongdoing going back to at least 1999.
          Ken Lay - I'm the CEO, I depend on my staff
          President Bush - I'm the President, I depend on CIA research
          This complete horses ass - Bbbbwwwaaahhhh!!!!!

          Kind of makes you nostalgic for old school bastards like Cheney who say, I did it because it's what I wanted to do. When you're VP of the US, you do what you want to.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Conditions Are Ripening

            Originally posted by don View Post
            For a Bailout

            SEC chairman says agency failed to probe Madoff
            Tuesday December 16, 10:54 pm ET


            SEC chairman cites multiple failures by agency staff to pursue Ponzi scheme allegations WASHINGTON (AP) -- Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox said Tuesday his agency repeatedly failed for at least a decade to pursue allegations of wrongdoing by Wall Street figure Bernard L. Madoff, the alleged perpetrator of a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

            Cox ordered a probe by the SEC's inspector general, saying the agency's staff had never brought the Madoff matter to the attention of commissioners.

            Since the SEC staff never recommended that the commission open a formal investigation, subpoena power was not used to obtain information and the staff relied on information voluntarily produced by Madoff and his firm.

            "I am gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failures over at least a decade to thoroughly investigate these allegations or at any point to seek formal authority to pursue them," Cox said in a statement.


            In a forceful condemnation of the SEC staff, Cox said there had been credible and specific allegations regarding Madoff's financial wrongdoing going back to at least 1999.


            http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081216/madoff_scandal.html


            Have we ever seen the Feds fess up so quickly to being so wrong?

            It's just not right. Someone (us) has to pay....


            ;)


            Best line I read today :
            A fish always starts stinking from the head
            Scurvon Investing blog, describing the SEC Chairman Christopher Cox...

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Conditions Are Ripening

              Fortunately, we're getting a big broom pushing through a whole bunch of
              change, featuring a new and different cast of responsible parties in leadership roles like, um, Geithner:confused:, er, Clinton:eek:, uhh, Biden:p, well,
              Emanuel;), Summers, and of course, Bernanke's still around:mad:, but
              surely Obozo........er, the Audacity of Lying.
              We are 'effed'.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Conditions Are Ripening

                It appears we are on a roll:

                Head of Fund Invested in Madoff Said to Commit Suicide

                Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a founder of the hedge fund Access International Advisors, was found dead early Tuesday in his office in Manhattan, the French business daily La Tribune reported on its Web site, after losing as much as $1.4 billion that had been invested with Bernard L. Madoff, the money manager accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Mr. de la Villehuchet, 65, committed suicide, La Tribune said, citing a someone close to Mr. de la Villehuchet.

                http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/20.../index.html?hp

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Conditions Are Ripening

                  Originally posted by don View Post
                  It appears we are on a roll:

                  Head of Fund Invested in Madoff Said to Commit Suicide

                  Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a founder of the hedge fund Access International Advisors, was found dead early Tuesday in his office in Manhattan, the French business daily La Tribune reported on its Web site, after losing as much as $1.4 billion that had been invested with Bernard L. Madoff, the money manager accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Mr. de la Villehuchet, 65, committed suicide, La Tribune said, citing a someone close to Mr. de la Villehuchet.

                  http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/20.../index.html?hp
                  Roll it is - now we will likely see the shareholders in Access International Advisors appearing in tearful vignettes on TV. I wonder how leveraged the fund was? :eek:

                  It it was very leveraged, then we might see some more dead bodies turning up in the penthouse offices of various banks.

                  I must, however, note how unfortunate it is to kill yourself over money, even $1.4 billion. Poor folks can have fun, too.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Exactly Whom is to Blame?

                    I find it interesting that Cox is blaming his staff.

                    Leadership is responsible for ensuring 4 principles are understood by all employees:

                    1. Employees know what is expected.
                    2. Employees have adequate tools, training, resources, money, time, systems, etc. to achieve what is expected.
                    3. Employees can accurately, and in a timely manner, measure their performance, and compare it to what is expected.
                    4. Employees have the responsibility & authority to close the gap between what is expected & actually occurred.

                    If one of these factors is missing, then employees are blameless and it is Cox who is ultimately responsible. If Cox ensured that all 4 factors existed on an adequate and consistent basis, then it is one or more SEC employee (not Cox) who is responsible for Madoff getting a free pass for the last 10 years, and should bear the consequences.

                    While I have no facts, and know little about the inner workings of the SEC, based on my experience with most large organizations, my bet is that everyone from the janitor up to Cox inclusive, failed in one or more of these 4 principles.

                    How come these 4 principles are not taught to every foreman, Supervisor, Manager, & CEO?

                    Does Obama know about them?

                    If he does know about these 4 principles of management, will Obama make this his #1 Goal to drive these 4 principles throughout his entire administration, from him all the way down to the thousands of janitors (no disrespect to the janitors intended)?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Conditions Are Ripening

                      Chris Cox is an incompetent suck-up; I'm not sure if he belongs in a) butt-slamming prison or b) cleaning toilets in an inner-city Taco Bell-to match his skills to an appropriate job and to teach him some humility.

                      Obozo is an incompetent-at everything but giving a good rant(IF he has a teleprompter or notes)-arrogant credentialist(believes high gloss credentials-degrees, 'teaching' jobs-are equal to, or better than,actual proven skills and accomplishments). Leavenworth would be an appropriate and satisfying destination.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Conditions Are Ripening

                        Originally posted by Rantly McTirade View Post
                        Fortunately, we're getting a big broom pushing through a whole bunch of
                        change, featuring a new and different cast of responsible parties in leadership roles like, um, Geithner:confused:, er, Clinton:eek:, uhh, Biden:p, well,
                        Emanuel;), Summers, and of course, Bernanke's still around:mad:, but
                        surely Obozo........er, the Audacity of Lying.
                        We are 'effed'.
                        And the Main Stream Media is dutifully going right along, as always...

                        I picked up the first article link for this from Ritholtz's Big Picture blog.

                        But it was something else in the article itself that caught my attention...
                        Mr. Rajan Was Unpopular (But Prescient) at Greenspan Party

                        To outline his fears about the U.S. economy, Raghuram Rajan picked a tough crowd.

                        It was August 2005, at an annual gathering of high-powered economists at Jackson Hole, Wyo. -- and that year they were honoring Alan Greenspan. Mr. Greenspan, a giant of 20th-century economic policy, was about to retire as Federal Reserve chairman after presiding over a historic period of economic growth.

                        Mr. Rajan, a professor at the University of Chicago's Booth Graduate School of Business, chose that moment to deliver a paper called "Has Financial Development Made the World Riskier?"

                        His answer: Yes.

                        Mr. Rajan quickly came under attack as an antimarket Luddite, wistful for old days of regulation...

                        ...Many of the big names in Jackson Hole weren't ready to hear the warning. Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, famous among economists for his blistering attacks, told the audience he found "the basic, slightly lead-eyed premise of [Mr. Rajan's] paper to be misguided."...


                        So where are we today? From the New York Times a few weeks ago...
                        The Return of Larry Summers

                        By DAVID LEONHARDT
                        Published: November 25, 2008

                        A few weeks ago, I called a well-known economist with a question about the financial crisis. “I hope the only reason you’re calling me,” he said, “is that you couldn’t reach Larry.”

                        Larry would be Lawrence Summers, the intellectually fierce economist whom Barack Obama named this week as his lead economic adviser inside the White House...

                        ...there he was at a news conference on Monday, standing just over Mr. Obama’s left shoulder. And the comment made by that well-known economist goes a long way toward explaining why...

                        ...He has been something of a shadow economic minister, laying out in real time how a Democratic administration would have responded to the financial crisis. When other economists and policy makers have questions, they often call Mr. Summers.

                        ...At Monday’s news conference, Mr. Obama called him “a thought leader.”...

                        The fawning adulation and historic revisionism reminds me of the treatment that Alan "The Maestro" Greenspan received all those years. Maybe the honeymoon with Summers will be mercifully short...

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Conditions Are Ripening

                          Originally posted by GRG55 View Post
                          And the Main Stream Media is dutifully going right along, as always...

                          I picked up the first article link for this from Ritholtz's Big Picture blog.

                          But it was something else in the article itself that caught my attention...
                          Mr. Rajan Was Unpopular (But Prescient) at Greenspan Party

                          To outline his fears about the U.S. economy, Raghuram Rajan picked a tough crowd.

                          It was August 2005, at an annual gathering of high-powered economists at Jackson Hole, Wyo. -- and that year they were honoring Alan Greenspan. Mr. Greenspan, a giant of 20th-century economic policy, was about to retire as Federal Reserve chairman after presiding over a historic period of economic growth.

                          Mr. Rajan, a professor at the University of Chicago's Booth Graduate School of Business, chose that moment to deliver a paper called "Has Financial Development Made the World Riskier?"

                          His answer: Yes.

                          Mr. Rajan quickly came under attack as an antimarket Luddite, wistful for old days of regulation...

                          ...Many of the big names in Jackson Hole weren't ready to hear the warning. Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, famous among economists for his blistering attacks, told the audience he found "the basic, slightly lead-eyed premise of [Mr. Rajan's] paper to be misguided."...


                          So where are we today? From the New York Times a few weeks ago...
                          The Return of Larry Summers

                          By DAVID LEONHARDT
                          Published: November 25, 2008

                          A few weeks ago, I called a well-known economist with a question about the financial crisis. “I hope the only reason you’re calling me,” he said, “is that you couldn’t reach Larry.”

                          Larry would be Lawrence Summers, the intellectually fierce economist whom Barack Obama named this week as his lead economic adviser inside the White House...

                          ...there he was at a news conference on Monday, standing just over Mr. Obama’s left shoulder. And the comment made by that well-known economist goes a long way toward explaining why...

                          ...He has been something of a shadow economic minister, laying out in real time how a Democratic administration would have responded to the financial crisis. When other economists and policy makers have questions, they often call Mr. Summers.

                          ...At Monday’s news conference, Mr. Obama called him “a thought leader.”...

                          The fawning adulation and historic revisionism reminds me of the treatment that Alan "The Maestro" Greenspan received all those years. Maybe the honeymoon with Summers will be mercifully short...
                          It's funny, because the domestic policy architects have actually very few degrees of freedom: the real variable is how obseqious the US can render the Chinese. We need to keep an eye on Paulson and his shennanigans with the CIC: he's VERY eager to get them back on that agency mortgage horse...

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Conditions Are Ripening

                            Originally posted by phirang View Post
                            It's funny, because the domestic policy architects have actually very few degrees of freedom: the real variable is how obseqious the US can render the Chinese. We need to keep an eye on Paulson and his shennanigans with the CIC: he's VERY eager to get them back on that agency mortgage horse...
                            Paulson probably wants to shoot that sob Schiller for putting out those ugly housing index charts every month. Even the Chinese have figured out what's really going on...

                            Comment

                            Working...
                            X