Deferred Prosecution, Bank Robbing, and Ill Gotten Gains

[WhiskeyGirl]

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. faces a Sept. 24 court hearing on a proposed $75 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over claims the bank misled investors by failing to disclose $40 billion in subprime-related holdings.

In the SEC versus Bank of America case, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff in New York said he “reluctantly” approved the settlement of two suits in which the agency accused the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank of misleading investors following the announcement that it would acquire Merrill Lynch.

He criticized the accord as “half-baked justice at best” and “inadequate and misguided,” though said it was an improvement over the prior accord.

In the Barclays case, U.S. Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington was critical of the deferred prosecution deal, pointing out that people caught robbing a bank don’t get deferred prosecution and the option to return ill-gotten gains.

“Why isn’t the government getting tough with the banks?” Sullivan asked, before approving the accord the following day.

The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Citigroup Inc., 10-cv-01277, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

more here - http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-14/citigroup-faces-hearing-on-proposed-sec-subprime-settlement.html

What of future misconduct?  The secret wheeling and dealing at the SEC?  No FOI?  No transparency?

Reminds me of the story about the insider trading that made one man $18 million dollars, for which he was fined $50,000, less than 1/3 of 1% of his ill gotten gains.

Is it ok to rip off Americans if you're from Wall Street?  Shareholders?  Retirees?  Honest hard working folks? 

[WhiskeyGirl]

Robert Rubin, Citi Execs Knew They Were Selling High-Priced Garbage but Got a Pass from Regulators

Citi got off with a slap of the hand, but Rubin and other execs weren't even held accountable.

September 13, 2010  | 
 
The Securities and Exchange Commission is defending ($) a $75 million settlement agreement it struck with Citigroup for hiding from investors the extent of its subprime exposure. In a court filing, regulators maintained that the settlement, which was rejected last month by a federal judge, was “fair, reasonable, adequate, in the public interest and should be approved.”

more here - http://www.alternet.org/economy/148160/robert_rubin,_citi_execs_knew_they_were_selling_high-priced_garbage_but_got_a_pass_from_regulators

from the comments - "A 75 million penalty for a 27 billion lie is not even a slap on the wrist. It is more like your your kindergarten teacher shaking her finger and saying no no."

Wall Street getting a 'white washing' from the Obama administration?