There could be sad tidings for the Republican Party, bringing mourning, the rending of garments, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Some of their very favorite constituents, ones who helped buy their offices with secret contributions for advertising corporate political lies, may be making license places. It may be that a bevy of banksters are going to jail.
Insider-trading charges are being prepared against a vast network of consultants and traders across the US financial industry in a years-long probe that a report suggests will reveal a pervasive culture of backroom dealing.
The investigation could be the largest insider-trading probe in US history, The Wall Street Journal said Saturday citing people close to the issue, with federal officials examining if multiple, organized insider-trading rings reaped illegal profits of tens of millions of dollars.
Some charges could be brought before the end of the year, the Journal said.
The criminal probe is examining some three dozen companies in the probe, which is examining the “expert networks” to clients such as hedge funds and mutual funds, which connected managers of companies with investors in a bid to offer inside tracks on financial deals, according to the report.
Highlighting a focus on insider-trading by the Manhattan US attorney Preet Bharara, the Journal noted he has called the issue a “top criminal priority” for his post.
“Illegal insider trading is rampant and may even be on the rise,” Bharara warned in a speech last month.
Pinpointing over a dozen companies based on both US coasts, the Journal reported that a federal grand jury in New York has already heard evidence in parts of the criminal probe.
Among those being investigated, the newspaper said prosecutors were examining whether bankers with the Goldman Sachs Group leaked information about transactions, including health-care mergers, in a bid to benefit investors.
Inside traders are generally known to profit after being tipped off on deals ahead of time — for example, giving them an opportunity to buy stocks before acquisitions, and then selling them after the shares rise in value… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Alternet>
It couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch of Republicans. The information is still quite sketchy, so I may be getting my hopes up for nothing. However, if this putes sufficient fear into banksters to impel them to operate within the law, they will have less to spend on buying Republicans. It also points out the need for requiring more transparency in financial markets. Of one thing you can be sure. Were there a Republican in the White House, this would bave been blocked, as they almost blocked the Bernie Madoff investigation. That went forward only because he was stealing mostly from the rich.
9 Responses to “Bankster Bust?”
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Two things.
It took almost ten years of investigation to start to bring the corrupt ones down in Detroit but they are now heading to jail in a steady stream and for longer than a few months.
and
We need to take the economy back from business in the samey that TR did in 1904. The trusts back then were to big to fail so he broke them up. We need to do the same and build walls between the different operations of any bank with a bottom line over a billion dollars.
Mark, I agree. Ironically, when Obama was rubbing for office, I drew parallels between his rhetoric and TR’s behavior. If only he had followed through!
The Money Quote (pun intended) from Michael Hudson’s new book, The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America–and Spawned a Global Crisis:
Source – w/ lots more stunningly arrogant and ignorant greedy quotes here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-hudson/i-was-a-very-good-thief-q_b_774567.html
The book has gotten rave reviews for its in-depth analytical look at some of the most repulsive cretins hovering at the bottom of the cesspool we call Wall Street.
I’ve heard of it, Nameless. If you should read it, I’d be happy to post your review.
It’s hard for me to equate Detroit with Wall Street. The former was Republicans investigating Democrats, many non-white, while Wall Street will be Democrats looking for a reason to weasel out of doing their duty under the law.
I would say that describes a minority of Democrats, but they make the whold party look bad.
Realist…Theft of money and public trust knows no racial barriers I am white and I live IN Detroit and I don’t care who put those bastards in jail and I hope they get a little pokey time in too. The politicians of Detroit have stolen or misused hundred of millions of public monies the equation works when you change (abc) with (xyz) as far as the skin color of the thief ahahahahahahahahahaahah a thief is a thief is a thief.
Sadly, it is often true that victims of injustice become perpetrators when they get the power to do so.
I would love those fuckers to spend some time in Joliet (Max) prison. That would make my day. 👿