November 08, 2007

The SEC investigations and CEO frog-marches will sure be fun to watch


The world will be shocked at the amount of fraud, book cooking, falsified financial statements and cover-ups associated with the Late Great Housing Ponzi Scheme.

All those investment bank, lender and builder CEOs who just got booted? A lot of 'em will be going to jail. And so will a few others that we know and loathe (hint - the orange one).


In addition to the big guys, you'll be seeing more realtors, mortgage brokers, appraisers and failed flippers facing serious charges and heading to the big house. Yes, it's a crime in America to lie on a loan application. Yes, it's a crime to cheat on your taxes. Yes, it's a crime to falsify financial statements. Only problem - I'm not sure our jails are big enough.

SEC investigating Merrill subprime portfolio

NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating matters related to Merrill Lyncyh subprime mortgage portfolio, the company said on Wednesday.

Merrill Lynch said SEC staff initiated the inquiry on Oct. 24, the same day the company reported a $2.3 billion loss for the third quarter, mostly because of write-downs of subprime mortgage related assets.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beware the frogs of March-

soothsayer

Princess Mononoke said...

My gosh! I can't believe I'm actually living in such a time as this... I can see myself 40yrs from now sitting around a bond fire re-telling the historical events that took place in the early 21st century to the new generation.

Talk about real life drama!

Anonymous said...

what happened to the auditors of these public companies? hasn't SOX forced US public companies to pay boat loads for auditors? did we just reward the industry of Arthur Anderson's ilk to be totally parasitic again while in no way preventing disaster?

I'm tired of blaming realtors. have you seen salespeople in other industries? not much different. Americans are stupid to think a salesperson in real estate is somehow objective. the realtors were the agents of the stupidity & greed of their employers and clients.

not hip on NAR's anti-competitive tactics though.

we should put the ones who profited most in jail. Not just the executives, but the boards of directors that ratified this corruption that is not just a matter of day-to-day operations. some corporate veil piercing might be nice to get at their personal assets. corporations should not be used as shelters for wanton activity. people who personally profit off of pumping and dumping a business they let they send on an unsustainable direction to personally profit need to pay back those personal profits.

the people who lied on their loans are going to be debt slaves with the new bankruptcy laws that made predatory lending oh so attractive. no need to waste tax dollars on putting them in prison.

Anonymous said...

Not a single politician in the pic Keith, What's up with that? Why just Merrill, what about all the IBs that said everything was fine up until the moment they had to report quarterly results in the negative billions!!!

Anonymous said...

Funny that they SEC and that "commie" Cuomo are just now figuring out what a scam the bankers layed on people to get them into debt.

I believe it is in the process of backfiring on the bankers. The country will be much worse off for this blowoff top of a bubble. Who will be able to sustain a 4000 foot McMansion in the desert?