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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Co-Chair of the Pretend Task Force
Shortly after President Obama announced the formation of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force in January, it became clear that it was just a name, with no staff, no resources and no central direction. Like every one else who is following the refusal of the Obama Administration and its cowardly prosecutors to investigate Wall Street for crimes in the run-up to the Great Crash, I figured this was just a name given to a collection of prosecutors around the country who were already working on fraud cases.
The official website of the FFETF confirms this. Just check out the press releases since June 1, 2012.
1. CEO of Axius Inc. and Finance Professional Indicted for Alleged Roles in Scheme to Bribe Stock Brokers and Manipulate Stock Prices. The indictment says that two people tried to use a network of corrupt stockbrokers to manipulate the price of Axius, Inc. Actually the contact was an undercover agent. This case is attributed to the FFETF in the press release.
2. Peter Madoff, Former Chief Compliance Officer and Senior Managing Director at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, Pleads Guilty in New York to Securities Fraud and Tax Fraud Conspiracy . Bernie Madoff’s son pleads guilty. “These cases were brought in coordination with President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, on which U.S. Attorney Bharara serves as a co-chair of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Group.” Whatever.
FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Patrick Kiernan reaffirmed his commitment to pursuing these complex economic investigations stating, “This investigation has sent a strong message to the community at large, and the real estate community specifically, that abuses within the real estate industry will not be tolerated.
The fraud ran from 2004 to 2007.Five years later, the community is warned. Ho-hum.
4. Barclays Bank PLC Admits Misconduct Related to Submissions for the London Interbank Offered Rate and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate and Agrees to Pay $160 Million Penalty. Manipulate a rate that affects trillions of dollars of interest rate swaps, and pay $160 million. No one goes to jail.
5. Fake New Jersey Hedge Fund Manager Indicted for Defrauding Victims in Two Scams. This one is $4 million, and took place beginning in 2009.
6. Another boring insider trading case from the spineless Preet Bharara. It’s all of $6.2 million in profits.
7. Loan Officer Sentenced to 54 Months in Prison for Role in Mortgage Fraud Scheme That Resulted in More Than $9.2 Million in Losses. Hit the little guy, not the bosses at Countrywide or WaMu or Long Beach or ….
8. Three Former Executives Convicted for Roles in $200 Million Fraud Scheme Involving Fair Financial Company Investors. Apparently the government can convict people in Southern Indiana for securities fraud, just not in Manhattan. And thank you, FFETF.
9. More insider trading; thanks Preet, and thanks FFETF.
10. More mortgage fraud, this one in the range of $8 million. Apparently it didn’t require the assistance of the FFETF. Nor does it involve New Century.
11. Another Madoff case, thanks to the FFETF.
12. Two officers of Sentinel Financial were accused of wire and securities fraud for stealing money from clients. Apparently that’s illegal in Chicago, but not in London, as we learned from MF Global. I guess Sentinel was too businesslike to lose $1.9 billion. And we are so lucky that the FFETF was on the job.
I’ve gone back through February looking at the press releases, and this is a fair sample of the work of the FFETF. There is not a single case related to fraud in the creation, sale or operation of real estate mortgage-backed securities, the frauds that led to the Great Crash. The FFETF is a random collection of people working on cases that can be tied to financial fraud.
The FFETF and its 20 subpoenas and its 50 or more personnel and whatever else we hear from them are a sham. Wall Street has nothing to fear from the FFETF and its co-chair, Eric Schneiderman.
16 Comments
Well I’m amazed that they even did this and this proves only the little people go to jail.
What did anyone expect from Selloutman?
I’m SHOCKED, SHOCKED, I tell you!
This is just another example from BOTH parties that history is repeating. We are living in another “Robber Baron” time in this country. Corporations own our country and the poloticians. Also, two sets of laws seem to be in place – one set for the majority and an entirely different set for the privledged.
Inspector……here are your winnings
“(CBS News) The securities and investment industry isn’t investing in the Obama campaign the way it was in 2008, but the industry is still giving generously to the Democratic president’s re-election campaign.
President Obama and the Democratic National Committee have collectively raised more than $14 million from the industry through the end of April, the Wall Street Journal reports, using data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics”
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57465854-503544/wall-street-still-giving-to-obama/
selloutman….. I like it.
Three sets. The ones you described and yet another for brown peole.
I think that gay guy who hands out the “worst dressed” list at the Oscars has more power the the FFETF.
That money the banksters and Wall Street gave and are giving Obama is money well spent.
Thank you.
A “task force” like this demonstrates Obama’s complete contempt for the American public, and his naive belief that he can fool them “once again.”
He doesn’t seem to realize that four years of “promises made; promises broken” will stick to him. Folks aren’t going to be as inclined to believe his pretty speeches when they’ve had the opportunity to see how this all shakes out.
“Fool us once . . . ”
Isn’t the Fraud Force Elizabeth Warren’s claim to fame?
I don’t think the FFETF has anything to do with Elizabeth Warren.
Correct. The job of the task force is enforcing financial fraud… and it’s doing that very well, thank you.
Warren is just one of Obama’s “I feel your pain” beards.
There are two types of “people” in the US:
Those that are “too big to fail”
and
Those that are “too small to succeed”
Thanks for keeping at this story, Masaccio. Schneiderman is a pretty face. If that were all it took….