This week 60 Minutes, revisited the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Much we already know, but the below segment gives us a refresher and sums it up nicely. There is no justice for you and me, regardless of how much evidence there is of civil and criminal wrongdoing.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigators may issue a public rebuke of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and its former executives instead of suing them for actions that led to the firm’s 2008 failure
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.
No Charges....Again for the Banksters
AIG, Goldman Sachs, Countrywide...the list goes on and on. To date there have been no real consequences or criminal charges for the people who committed the biggest fraud in history which brought the globe's economy to it's knees. The latest is Lehman Brothers:
The U.S. government's investigation into the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has hit daunting hurdles that could result in no civil or criminal charges ever being filed against the company's former executives, people familiar with the situation said.
In recent months, Securities and Exchange Commission officials have grown increasingly doubtful they can prove that Lehman violated U.S. laws by using an accounting maneuver to move as much as $50 billion in assets off its balance sheet, which made it appear that the securities firm had reduced its debt levels.
SEC officials also aren't confident they could win any lawsuit accusing former Lehman employees, including former Lehman Chief Executive Richard Fuld Jr., of failing to adequately mark down the value of the large real-estate portfolio acquired in Lehman's takeover of apartment developer Archstone-Smith Trust or to disclose the resulting losses to investors, according to people familiar with the matter.
In an article several months ago in the UK's Telegraph, the sovereign credit default swap market made the news. Until now, not that much was made of the sovereign CDSes; in fact, many didn't even realize the existence, and contagion, of such a market.
The shit has hit the fan and Lehman Brothers was busy cooking the books before they imploded. Where have we seen this before? Let's see, we had Enron, Worldcom, Citigroup, accounting scandals, AIG scandals and here we are.
Maybe we got a bail out because it is within bankruptcy court these discoveries are made. With a Lehman Rescue would we ever have known this latest rip off and scam?
Below is a Dylan Ratigan show clip, where he explains what Lehman Brothers did, in a nice visual and analogy so you can grasp the magnitude.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
Considering how Lehman Brothers just received subpoenas for criminal violations, I thought we might revisit Enron. Isn't it wonderful how we have scandal, hearings and a few get busted but most....simply move on to yet another bubble?
Multiple Screens! 360 Panavision! Let the shouting begin! The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold hearings the next two days. Committee Chair Representative Waxman:
Lax oversight and reckless investments on Wall Street are causing massive disruption throughout our economy. Our hearings will examine what went wrong and who should be held to account.
Up on the executive chopping block are:
DAY 1: Causes and Effects of the Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy
Dr. Luigi Zingales, Professor of Finance, University of Chicago
Dr. Robert F. Wescott, President, Keybridge Research LLC
Nell Minow, Chairman of the Board and Editor, The Corporate Library
Gregory W. Smith, General Counsel, Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association
Can't sleep, been thinking about the price of oil, worrying about it to be honest. Now you may be thinking "Venom, what are you crazy? A putz? A drop in the price of oil is a good thing!" And I would reply, yes, under normal circumstances it is. But these days, things ain't so normal. Actually, right now, oil is up since yesterday, but it's been in a slide for the past week or so. A prophetic lunch
A couple years ago, I had lunch with a trading friend/mentor of mine at Hackney's on Harms Road. He was an older gentleman, made his money in options, in fact was one of the first to trade at the CBOE back in the 1970s. We had just gotten back from one of those sales seminars from Equis, a company that makes a product called Metastock. While gobbling down on Hackney's infamous onion loaf and later cheeseburgers, topics ranging from the software to commodities came up. This was around 2002, and Enron was still in the headlines.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
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