SEC Goldman Fraud Charges: SEC Investigates Timing of Goldman Fraud Charges: SEC Cavorting with White House?

The Inspector General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), David Kotz, announced that he will investigate the timing of the SEC's fraud charges against Goldman Sachs, and presumably will look into any connection the SEC may have had with Obama administration to further his desire for financial reform. Needless to say, it is illegal for the independent SEC to cavort with the White House.

SEC

The speculation is that Goldman Sachs is on the ruse as well, and Rush Limbaugh described the theory this week:

The Securities and Exchange Commission offered Goldman Sachs a chance to take a fine over this.  They refused to do that because their position is that they have done nothing illegal, and all it is is a civil fine.  And they're going to take a hit here, there's no question, but I think they're in on it.  I think they're happy to take the hit here, pay the fine, and roll on. 

There's no way this is a coincidence, and Barney Frank is even out there saying that this fraud case will increase the chances that the financial reform bill will pass.  (doing Frank impression) "That's what he th'aid! He's not even afraid (lisping) facts." He doesn't even want to hide it. 

Rep. Darrell Issa (D-CA), the ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked for the investigation. In a letter to Kotz, Issa cited The New York Times publishing information on the SEC's lawsuit before the SEC had released an official announcement. Issa claims that news of the lawsuit "leaked from the Commission via unofficial channels.

On the same date, April 20th, Issa wrote to Mary Schapiro, Chairman of the SEC. (portions)

We are writing to request that you provide documents and information to this Committee regarding any sort of prearrangement, coordination, direction from, or advance notice provided by the Commission to the Administration or Congressional Democrats regarding last Friday's filing against Goldman.

The Commission's canons of ethics require its members to "reject any effort by representatives of the executive or legislative branches of the government to affect their independent determination of any matter being considered by the Commission. Moreover, the Commission is prohibited from using its resources to influence the passage of legislation.

Nevertheless, the events of the past five days have fueled legitimate suspicion on the part of the American people that the Commission has attempted to assist the White House, the Democratic Party, and Congressional Democrats by timing the suit to coincide with the Senate's consideration of financial regulatory legislation, or by providing Democrats with advance notice. 

In fact, the aggressive campaign by Democrats in support of the legislation neatly coincided with the Commission's announcement of the suit. 

For example:

~ The Commission approved the Goldman suit in a vote that split along party lines -- a rare occurrence for approvals of enforcement litigation.

~ Before the Commission had released its announcement, The New York Times published on its website a story describing the suit.

~ Less than half an hour after the Times story's publication, Organizing for america, the successor organization to Obama for america and now a project of the Democratic National Committee ("DNC") sent millions of supporters an e-mail message from President Obama urging support for Wall Street Reform."

~ Within hours, the Democratic National Committee had purchased AdWords advertising from Google, Inc. The DNC's Google campaign fundraising advertisement, headed "Fight Wall Street Greed," appeared whenever a user ran a Google search for the phrase "Goldman Sachs SEC." It read, "Help Pres. Obama Reform Wall Street and Create Jobs. Families First!" and included a link to www.BarackObama.com, the website for Organizing for America.

There is more, but the important thing is that SEC Inspector General Kotz is launching an investigation. Click to read a pdf of the two  letters.


Related and Background:
SEC Porn Rampant - Senior Level Employees Porn All the Time

SEC Porn Rampant - Senior Level Employees Porn All The Time

We've talked about this before, but here's the latest, as we hear that in 33 probes, the SEC employees involved are receiving punishment of some kind - one has been fired.

Securities Exchange Commission (SEC)

From NYDailyNews:

The country's top financial watchdogs turned out to be horndogs who spent hours gawking at porn Web sites as the economy teetered on the brink, according to a memo released Thursday night.

The shocking findings include Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] senior staffers using government computers to browse for booty and an accountant who tried to access the raunchy sites 16,000 times in one month...

Seventeen of the randy employees were "at a senior level" earning salaries of up to $222,481.

 We should not forget that the SEC is now run by Mary Schapiro, who was not at the SEC when the porn-surfing was the daily routine. She was the head of FINRA, overseeing Nasdaq and the NY Stock Exchange brokers and securities dealers. She turned a blind-eye to Bernie Madoff - with a whistleblower desperately trying to get her attention. Then Obama promoted her to the SEC head.

Mary Schapiro and her SEC Porn-Surfing Government Employees

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David Murrin Americas Decline - The East Rises:

Perhaps you heard this on Rush today. I caught just a few words and then stumbled on the video and some commentary [linked below the video]  while researching a piece on the SEC's Mary Schapiro and porn at the SEC. David Murrin, a co-founder of Emergent Asset Management, appeared on Squawk Box Europe, and he believes that America is the last of all the Christian empires - the last one of the Christian empires, and we are in decline. See the video below the partial transcript.

David Murrin

From Rush Limbaugh:

[MURRIN]

I think sometimes long term history impacts the now and we're in it like a schism, like two tectonic plates that suddenly shift after a hundred years of energy building up. And that's really the end of the western Christian empire. It's bigger than the British empire, the American empire. It's the sum of all the Christian empires for nearly 900 years. And America is the last one. And when the last one changes and declines, which it's in, it will be very rapid, it's the end of the whole system.

At the same time the system that rises challenges far quicker as it moves into the vacuum created by the old system, and that's the east. The surprise will be the rate of that change. And we view the new administration in America as new hope. Unfortunately, if you look at historical precedents of underclass and the mechanism of an underclass actually coming to the fore demographically, it is not new hope, it's the beginning of the end. And we're seeing that very quickly take place.

[COMMENTARY FROM RUSH]

Did you hear that? Did you understand what this guy said? He said that when the underclass, the mechanisms of an underclass come to the fore demographically. To translate this for you people in Rio Linda and Port St. Lucie, when the poor are expanded and more and more people become poor and become wards of the state, it's the beginning of the end. When the underclass -- that's a British term, underclass means the poor, it doesn't mean they're lesser people. 

When the poor become the dominant group, it's over, by definition it's over. Well, do I accpt this? I do not accept this yet. I do not believe that it is inevitable, but I do believe that the path we're on would lead to this if we don't stop this, absolutely. That's hot it works...if we don't stop this. We know what history says, that we're bound to repeat it if we ignore it.

[MURRIN]

The refusal of Obama to commit to the missile defense system in Poland was a terrible sign to the adversaries of America. They saw it as weakness. And, in fact, if you look at chinese policy since and articulation, it's been far more aggressive and expansive. So the moment that the incumbent shows its inability to project power and use the power it has, the challengers move forward very quickly, 56% of their society is male. In a normal society it's 51. That's 5% of extra risk capital and what that means is they are far more risk orientated than actually a society in the west.

[RUSH COMMENTARY]

...They've got 56% males which means they got a lot of guys they can afford to lose in battle. And they perceive Obama as weak. And they're acting on it. And so are the others of our adversaries, see Obama as weak. In other words, this guy is an unmitigated disaster no matter which way you slice it.... 

There's more than transcribed. Empire-building and empire-declines - worth a listen and look.








David Murrin on America's Future - History Repeating Itself (video)

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