Judge Jed Rakoff is probably one of the few honest judges we have left. He recently refused to accept an SEC settlement with Citigroup in which they sold mortgages and then bet against them, saying that the $95 million they were asked to pay was “pocket change” and required no admission of guilt.
“If the allegations of the complaint are true, this is a very good deal for Citigroup; and, even if they are untrue, it is a mild and modest cost of doing business,” he said.
The judge is right. If fraud charges are too lenient, businesses will make the calculation that not only that they above the law, but that they can commit the same acts again and receive another slap on the wrist. This can and has happened again, and again and again. See this chart from the New York Times: Read More
If you want to know why people are protesting on Wall Street, it’s very simple. Author and former IMF official Jon Perkins said it very succinctly: “Elected officials – including the President – no longer write the laws; the corporate lobbyists write and pass them through our elected officials, whose campaigns they finance.”