The People vs. Goldman Sachs

[noah way]

A Senate committee has laid out the evidence. Now the Justice Department should bring criminal charges

They weren't murderers or anything; they had merely stolen more money than most people can rationally conceive of, from their own customers, in a few blinks of an eye. But then they went one step further. They came to Washington, took an oath before Congress, and lied about it.

Thanks to an extraordinary investigative effort by a Senate subcommittee that unilaterally decided to take up the burden the criminal justice system has repeatedly refused to shoulder, we now know exactly what Goldman Sachs executives like Lloyd Blankfein and Daniel Sparks lied about. We know exactly how they and other top Goldman executives, including David Viniar and Thomas Montag, defrauded their clients. America has been waiting for a case to bring against Wall Street. Here it is, and the evidence has been gift-wrapped and left at the doorstep of federal prosecutors, evidence that doesn't leave much doubt: Goldman Sachs should stand trial.
...
Goldman, as the Levin report makes clear, remains an ascendant company precisely because it used its canny perception of an upcoming disaster (one which it helped create, incidentally) as an opportunity to enrich itself, not only at the expense of clients but ultimately, through the bailouts and the collateral damage of the wrecked economy, at the expense of society. The bank seemed to count on the unwillingness or inability of federal regulators to stop them

 

[cds0699]

Good article, and yeah there should definitely be charges against Goldman Sachs in my opinion.

 

[nlsme]

Another thread empty of the forum conservatives NOAH. Wonder why?

 

[noah way]

Another thread empty of the forum conservatives NOAH. Wonder why?

It's a conundrum ...

 

[OutofDate1980]

Great read, shows some are more equal than others. Our leaders should show some backbone and demand double their usual bribe.

 

[OutofDate1980]

This case should be of interest. The Mob, Hedge Funds, SEC, etc were all in bed together.

Recently, in the prosecution of this case, we uncovered evidence of collusive action between Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and other Wall Street bad guys, in a scheme designed to fool regulators and profit illegally at the expense of Overstock.com. As a result of this discovery, in December 2010, we added a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act claim and requested treble damages under this RICO claim. We firmly believe the conduct of Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch were "racketeering" and "corrupt." We are moving forward: trial is scheduled to commence this year, on December 5, 2011. At trial we will hold Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch accountable and expose a slew of illegal Wall Street practices to the public".

OpEdNews - Article: A Brave and Determined Man and His Fight to Expose Wall Street Crimes

 

[keale18]

I was just recently listening to a segment on NPR on this and the fact that in the wake of this financial disaster there have been next to zero prosecutions.

 

[OutofDate1980]

I was just recently listening to a segment on NPR on this and the fact that in the wake of this financial disaster there have been next to zero prosecutions.

Because the government destroys the evidence.

Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes? | Rolling Stone Politics

 

[OutofDate1980]

OpEdNews - Article: A Brave and Determined Man and His Fight to Expose Wall Street Crimes

Just a follow-up. Believe this is going to be a big case. The Economist is smelling blood. It's interesting the Judge's rational on the RICO charges.

News Headlines

"The court did not rule yesterday on Defendant's motion to seal the record of the documents filed in support of the motion to amend, despite pleadings from The Economist and The Rolling Stone to release such documents to the public. The court indicated that in the future it would issue a written ruling on Goldman and Merrill's efforts to seal these documents."

 

[Frisco]

Because the government destroys the evidence.

Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes? | Rolling Stone Politics

I see what they're driving at in that article (especially about the evidence itself), but I'm having a hard time shaking off a sort of "Fox News-like" spin in the direction of sensationalism.

The article starts right off with:

"Imagine a world in which a man who is repeatedly investigated for a string of serious crimes, but never prosecuted, has his slate wiped clean every time the cops fail to make a case."

The "never prosecuted" part would only indicate that the investigations found nothing worth prosecuting, but the tack, "..slate wiped clean every time the cops fail to make a case," only says the cops were wrong, and begs the question, "why should he have a 'dirty' slate if the cops were wrong?"

It could be seen as either a poor analogy in attempting to make a point about government coverups or a good analogy about nothing to cover up.

 

[OutofDate1980]

The "never prosecuted" part would only indicate that the investigations found nothing worth prosecuting, but the tack, "..slate wiped clean every time the cops fail to make a case," only says the cops were wrong, and begs the question, "why should he have a 'dirty' slate if the cops were wrong?"

Buried in page 9 is a possible rational for retaining the records of MUI's in accordance to law.

"It goes without saying that no ordinary law-enforcement agency would willingly destroy its own evidence. In fact, when it comes to garden-variety crooks, more and more police agencies are catching criminals with the aid of large and well-maintained databases. "Street-level law enforcement is increasingly data-driven," says Bill Laufer, a criminology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "For a host of reasons, though, we are starved for good data on both white-collar and corporate crime. So the idea that we would take the little data we do have and shred it, without a legal requirement to do so, calls for a very creative explanation.""

 

[Frisco]

"It goes without saying that no ordinary law-enforcement agency would willingly destroy its own evidence.

In fact, when it comes to garden-variety crooks, more and more police agencies are catching criminals with the aid of large and well-maintained databases.

"Street-level law enforcement is increasingly data-driven," says Bill Laufer, a criminology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "For a host of reasons, though, we are starved for good data on both white-collar and corporate crime.

So the idea that we would take the little data we do have and shred it, without a legal requirement to do so, calls for a very creative explanation."

Well, ok.

"No legal requirement to shred the (innocent until proven guilty) data," which is not even "evidence" once the prosecuting authority (D.A., DOJ, etc) decides so.

It is a circular notion, in some ways, imo. I'd rather err on the side of investigating entities (cops, etc) leaving people alone who are not worthy of prosecuting, no matter who they are.

 

[OutofDate1980]

Well, ok.

"No legal requirement to shred the (innocent until proven guilty) data," which is not even "evidence" once the prosecuting authority (D.A., DOJ, etc) decides so.

It is a circular notion, in some ways, imo. I'd rather err on the side of investigating entities (cops, etc) leaving people alone who are not worthy of prosecuting, no matter who they are.

The SEC is only allowed to investigate, the DOJ is responsible for law enforcement. This division may be a flawed concept. I *believe* those licensed to engage in securities are aware that records will be kept.


(p1) "By whitewashing the files of some of the nation's worst financial criminals, the SEC has kept an entire generation of federal investigators in the dark about past inquiries into insider trading, fraud and market manipulation against companies like Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and AIG. With a few strokes of the keyboard, the evidence gathered during thousands of investigations

 

[OutofDate1980]

Good old Goldman, charging for the borrowed shares it didn't have or plan to acquire, then front running its client that it was forcing to cover in a non-margined account. Priceless.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/b....html?_r=2&ref=business&src=mv&pagewanted=all

 

[FJR1300]

Golden Slacks are well known on Wall Street for their cutthroat antics. Former employee and trader for GS Jim Cramer had exposed some of their tactics; When GS wanted to get into a position, Cramer himself admitted to calling down to the trading floor in the morning and talking to the market maker of stock xyz and asking what he thought about a problem that would affect earnings of xyz. The 'problem' would be completely fabricated but carry weight because it came from the mighty GS. So the market maker would start lowering the bid price, xyz's stock price would fall, the herd mentality kicks in and the stock is well down solely because of that phone call. Then GS would step in and buy up shares at a nice discount. Because GS is getting into a substantial long position, the bidders come back and the stock price goes right back up. Or GS was already short on xyz and closed the position after knocking the stock down. Easy money on Wall Street when you have hundreds of millions at your disposal.

After Cramer aired the video on thestreet.com admitting this tactic, there was huge uproar on Wall Street and he quickly backtracked saying that he hadn't used such methods...he'd only heard of others doing it.

That's just one example of the how the 'smart money' operates on Wall Street. The average person that has never been involved in daily trading would be shocked if they knew how Wall Street controls Main Street.

There are some (myself included) that believe GS initiated the recession by heavily shorting companies like Bear Stearns, Lehman, Merrill Lynch, et al. And starting the rumors that their MBS's were severely overvalued.

 

[OutofDate1980]

...that's just one example of the how the 'smart money' operates on Wall Street. The average person that has never been involved in daily trading would be shocked if they knew how Wall Street controls Main Street.

There are some (myself included) that believe GS initiated the recession by heavily shorting companies like Bear Stearns, Lehman, Merrill Lynch, et al. And starting the rumors that their MBS's were severely overvalued.

Welcome to unfettered Free Market. Nothing new here folks, just go about your business.

 

[FJR1300]

Welcome to unfettered Free Market. Nothing new here folks, just go about your business.

Indeed. John Galt has been around for quite some time:frown:

 

[OutofDate1980]

I was just recently listening to a segment on NPR on this and the fact that in the wake of this financial disaster there have been next to zero prosecutions.

Yeah this Frontline series is raising the same question. It all comes down to money and politics. Anyone who opposed the banksters were removed. It has only gotten worse.

Money, Power and Wall Street | FRONTLINE | PBS

 

[OutofDate1980]

The Devine Right of the Rich. Courthouse News Service

"SAN DIEGO (CN) - The SEC allows the nation's richest firms and financial institutions - and only the biggest and richest firms - to handpick the lawyers investigating them for corruption, a whistleblower claims in Federal Court."

 

[cjr72]

Welcome to unfettered Free Market. Nothing new here folks, just go about your business.

Try Crony Capitalism. It's nickname is Government Sachs for a reason...

 

[OutofDate1980]

Try Crony Capitalism. It's nickname is Government Sachs for a reason...

How is the money class expected to promote Free Markets and less government if the government attempts to restrict stealing ?

Goldman, Merrill E-Mails Show Naked Shorting, Filing Says - Bloomberg

"Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Merrill Lynch & Co. employees discussed helping naked short-sales by market-maker clients in e-mails the banks sought to keep secret, including one in which a Merrill official told another to ignore compliance rules..."

 

[cjr72]

How is the money class expected to promote Free Markets and less government if the government attempts to restrict stealing ?

This assumes the 'money class' as you call them really want free markets and less government. Contrary to the simplistic narrative that companies want no regulations, many large companies that are leaders in their markets seek out not freer markets but onerous regulations and they even help to write them. Why? Because large companies know that burdensome regulations will help to stifle any threat of future competition by creating barriers of entry to small startups. The established companies can afford to comply with the regulations and the small companies not as easily.

As far as the government attempts to restrict stealing, well that goes back to the premise of this thread, why hasn't anyone been arrested? In the case of Goldman Sachs there's a revolving door between government and Sachs employees hence the nickname Government Sachs. Any dirt that gets dug up on Sachs will also likely splash onto the government so the government is not too inclined to look very hard for wrongdoing.

 

[OutofDate1980]

Wonder if our Supreme Court would overturn any law that prohibits repeat offenders from attempting to influence laws or elections ?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/b...e-and-break-promises.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

"Citigroup is far from the only such repeat offender — in the eyes of the S.E.C. — on Wall Street. Nearly all of the biggest financial companies, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America among them, have settled fraud cases by promising the S.E.C. that they would never again violate an antifraud law, only to do it again in another case a few years later"

 

[as439726]

Great thread everyone. Really opened my eyes and filled in the info.
Thanks again everyone.
Not surprised though. I wonder how much they've contributed over the years to Romney.

 

[OutofDate1980]

Good ole SEC gaming the system.

Just days after 60 Minutes ran its piece last year about the epidemic of unprosecuted fraud on Wall Street, the S.E.C. charged into action. Take a look at the dates on these two documents. While Chase’s "London Whale" was preparing to play billion-dollar faro with federally-insured money and MF Global was still struggling to find its "misplaced" $1.6 billion in customer money, the S.E.C. was gallantly taking on the likes of A.J. Ross Logistics, Inc., Status Game Corp., and Fightersoft Multimedia Corporation. And bragging to Congress about its conquests. It's as clear a case of juking the stats as you'll ever see."

SEC: Taking on Big Firms is 'Tempting,' But We Prefer Picking on Little Guys | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone