His bail was denied.
Category: Justice
Cuomo to Get Merrill Bonus Recipient Names
Andrew Cuomo just got a ruling to compel Bank of America to turn over all the names of Merrill Lynch big bonus recipients.
He’s also looking to do the same with AIG.
As a matter of public policy, maybe any bonus or salary more than 40 or so times the median wage should be public information.
And Some Public Floggings Would Be Nice Too
Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism calls for aggressive criminal investigations, and I agree.
It’s clear that there was a lot of outright criminality, and the broken window theory of law enforcement works with white collar criminals too:
Of course, it isn’t clear whether deterrence works against white collar criminals, but the flip side is William Bratton style zero tolerance policing was successful in seemingly ungovernable New York. The theory was that allowing minor infractions, like window breaking, to go unpunished sent a very visible signal that misdeeds were tolerated. Of course, zero tolerance wasn’t the only technique used by Bratton (he also was big on flexible deployment, shifting officers to neighborhoods that suffered an increase in crime), but it is considered to be an effective policing tool. And Wall Street is so far from having any meaningful policing that it’s a joke.
It seems anything short of regulatory or legal moves that limit career options (read future earning power) is an insufficient disincentive to risky trader and investor behavior.
I would argue that the Wall Street crooks have more to lose than a corner dope dealer.
After all, if they get caught, thrown in jail, and their assets,and possibly those of their spouses and perhaps their children’s college funds, are forfeit, that’s a lot more to lose than getting 3 to 5 in a prison when you had nothing before.
I Like This
Al Franken has filed paperwork with the election court for the Coleman campaign to reimburse them for court costs.
Seeing how Coleman has raised more money for his court challenge than he did for his campaign, I would really like to see the smarmy bastard soaked.
Rachael Madoff Declared Homestead in Florida to Protect Herself From Creditors Before Scandal Broke
She’s officially changed her primary residence to Florida, and as such she can declare an unlimited homestead on her $9.4 million home in Palm Beach.
This would protect this home against civil litigants, though I’m not sure what it would do against the Federal prosecutors who have already filed their intent to seize this home, though it clearly is now more difficult than their New York penthouse.
This is not surprising. What is surprising is that the Feds haven’t filed some sort of conspiracy charges over this, because if this were a drug case, they would have already done so.
[on edit]I should have read the fine print more carefully, she, “applied for the tax exemption Sept. 18 and received it Jan. 12, according to the appraiser’s office.”
The scandal broke on December 10, which implies that someone behind the change in residence knew that the house of cards was collapsing, and made the move to save the house.
Red Cross Uses the ‘T’ Word
By the “T” word, I mean that they used the word torture to describe the treatment of detainees by the CIA:
The International Committee of the Red Cross concluded in a secret report that the Bush administration’s treatment of al-Qaeda captives “constituted torture,” a finding that strongly implied that CIA interrogation methods violated international law, according to newly published excerpts from the long-concealed 2007 document.
The report, an account alleging physical and psychological brutality inside CIA “black site” prisons, also states that some U.S. practices amounted to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” Such maltreatment of detainees is expressly prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.
(emphasis mine)
When do we either start prosecutions, or turn them over the Hague?
Pakistan Chief Justice Reinstated
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was removed by former president Musharraf because he was seen as non-corrupt and independent of the executive, and current Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari reneged on his promise to reinstate him because he was afraid that he would investigate his own personal corruption, and that he would likely overturn the ban on rival opposition leader Nawaz Sharif.
Well, with a massive protest converging on the capital, Islamabad, and police unwilling to enforce his ban on the protest in many places, Zardari has backed down and will reinstate Chaudhry.
This is good news for Pakistan on a number of levels, it reinforces the rule of law, it is a step away from dictatorship, and it reinforces the concept of an independent judiciary.
Prosecutors Seek Forfeiture of Madoff Marital Assets
It looks like they are seeking to seize the bulk of his and his wife’s assets through civil forfeiture:
The government said in a court filing yesterday that it intends to seize assets including the Madoffs’ $7 million Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan and homes in Montauk, New York, Palm Beach, Florida, and France. Prosecutors will also seek $17 million in cash and $45 million in bonds in accounts in Ruth Madoff’s name, Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin said.
Ruth Madoff was Bernie Madoff’s bookkeeper for 3 decades, and her assets were at one point or another his assets: he transferred them to her to protect them, so this action is appropriate.
Note that they are going after what appears to be everything, including the piano and silverware.
It’s all proceeds of a criminal activity, and it will serve to deter people like Mr. Madoff if they know that transfer of assets will not protect his family.
I Think That These Financial Machinations Qualify as Financial Terrorism
It appears that there is a reason why Lawrence Summers seemed to capitulate to AIG’s bonus contracts for its financial products division, as I mentioned yesterday: They specifically wrote the contracts so that the counter-parties could consider it a default and demand an immediate payment if they did not get their bonuses.
So, basically, they wrote blackmail terms into their contract, which seems to me a awful lot like a sysop writing a back door into the computer network, and at least as illegal.
With the Serious Fraud Office in the UK investigating them, as well as New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo investigating their bonus, I think that the best alternative at this time is for American authorities to seek their extradition under the terms of the recent treaty.
I think that though of facing the United States generally inhumane prison system will have them folding like overcooked broccoli for the privilege of spending a few years in a British prison.
The Criminality is Systemic
So, it appears that Eric Holder is looking to crack down on financial fraud.
This makes sense, what with about half a dozen large Ponzi schemes popping up in the past few months, but if they are serious, they will discover quite a lot under that rock, because there are very few people at senior levels in US investment banking who would not be targeted for criminal investigation under a strict reading of the laws.
Muntazer al-Zaidi Gets 3 Years in Jail
For throwing his shoes at George W. Bush, he should be made a state hero.
I’m just glad that he did not die in custody, which is what I predicted would happen.
Don Siegelman Appeal: Court Reverses Two Counts, But Upholds Others
It looks to me like the appeals panel ignored a lot, I’m not sure if his lawyer will appeal to the full appeals court, but they are reviewing their options.
It still stinks to me.
Not Enough Bullets, Bank of America Edition
Bank of America is now fighting Andrew Cuomo’s subpoenas, because they claim that, “bonus disclosure will cause ‘grave’ harm, which, I believe is banker/lawyer speak for villagers with torches and pitch forks.
Can we just throw them all in a hole somewhere and be done with it?
I hear that there are openings at Guantanamo Bay.
Al-Marri Detention Suit Dismissed by SCOTUS
So the issue of indefinite detention is unresolved, though according to ScotusBlog, we have half a loaf:
The Fourth Circuit Court, in a splintered decision, upheld that authority under the 2001 Resolution, but did not rule on the government’s alternative claim that the President’s constitutional power as Commander-in-Chief supported the action. While the Supreme Court’s order Friday does not indicate how the Justices would have ruled had they gone ahead with their review, the order “vacated” the Circuit Court ruling, meaning that it no longer is a binding precedent on the issues it decided.
I’d rather see a ruling declaring the detention illegal, but the dismissal a bit better than the status quo.
Barney Frank Wants Prosecutions of Bankers Over the Meltdown
The amount of outright lawbreaking that the was ignored by regulators is likely to be staggering, and it should be investigated, and prosecuted, to the fullest extant of the law.
Cuomo Subpoenas Merrill Bonus Babies
They all got over $10 million in 2008, and now they will be forced to testify.
Cool.
Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to Testify
They will testify under oath regarding the U.S. Attorney Firings, though it will be in closed session.
Here’s hoping for some leaks.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir Indicted for Crimes Against Humanity by ICC
Good. It’s about bloody time.
OK, This is Just Scary
Some of Bush’s executive power legal opinions have been released.
They are so extreme that started walking it back in October of 2008, and they effectively repealed them on January 15, 2009.
The short version of the opinions is that, “All your constitution are belong to us.”
We are talking about suspension of the 4th amendment and 1st amendment completely.
Why John Yoo still has a law license, much less a teaching position at UC Berkeley, is astonishing.
[updated]
As Glenn Greenwald notes:
The essence of this document was to declare that George Bush had the authority (a) to deploy the U.S. military inside the U.S., (b) directed at foreign nationals and U.S. citizens alike; (c) unconstrained by any Constitutional limits, including those of the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments. It was nothing less than an explicit decree that, when it comes to Presidential power, the Bill of Rights was suspended, even on U.S. soil and as applied to U.S. citizens. And it wasn’t only a decree that existed in theory; this secret proclamation that the Fourth Amendment was inapplicable to what the document calls “domestic military operations” was, among other things, the basis on which Bush ordered the NSA, an arm of the U.S. military, to turn inwards and begin spying — in secret and with no oversight — on the electronic communications (telephone calls and emails) of U.S. citizens on U.S. soil.
And the villagers inside the Beltway still see no need for an investigation.
Yes
Glenn Greenwald asks, “Is Obama embracing the lawless, omnipotent executive?” by endorsing a position that the President, and the President alone has the authority to determine what classified documents it must release under court order.
This has been another episode of simple answers to simple questions. (apologies to Atrios)
It’s disgraceful, but not unsurprising. After all, how often do you see an executive voluntary give up authority that a predecessor successfully asserted?