THE ONE MAN WITH BIG ENOUGH BALLS TO TAKE ON WALL STREET

Calling the Security and Exchange Commission’s legal settlement with Bank of America (BoA) “half-baked justice at best“, U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff reluctantly signed-off on the agreement between the two parties on Monday, writing in his order that “[t]his court, while shaking its head, grants the S.E.C.’s motion and approves the proposed consent judgment.”

 Judge Rakoff is a true American Maverick, and a champion for American public shareholders.  

I am not talking about some half-baked Sarah “Pretender” Palin maverick.  This man is the real deal – and you can take that to the bank.  Just don’t deposit it with Bank of America.  Because when it comes to the truth, BoA  – like the rest of the Wall Street Financial Terrorists – has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it simply cannot be trusted.  

On several occasions this author has commented, here and here regarding the ongoing feud between that  limp-dicked, impotent icon of American investor protection - the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) - and Judge Rakoff, over this settlement of Bank of America’s failure to disclose critical information in it’s SEC stock disclosure filings regarding the Merrill Lynch merger. 

BoA shareholders were entitled to know the scale of Merrill Lynch’s liabilities, as well as the size of the bonuses that were to be paid to Merrill’s top executives, before approving the merger.  However, none of that was disclosed in the filing, and BoA is blaming it’s former top legal counsel for it’s ostensibly innocent error in judgment. 

During one of those previous court hearings, the Judge voiced his utter contempt for claims by both BoA and the SEC that none of the BoA executives were culpable for the material non-disclosure.  He was further incensed over the irony that it would be BoA’s shareholders who would ultimately be the ones who were financially punished because the bank would have to pay the fines out of it’s profits, thus further diminishing the value of the shareholders stock.  The judge lamented this fact, having preferred that BoA’s top executives pay the fines.   Nonetheless, he begrudgingly approved the settlement.

Judge Rakoff is also currently presiding over a pending civil matter against J.P. Morgan Chase.  In the order he issued on January 28, 2010 in that case, the Judge wrote that “JP Morgan thereby violated, at a minimum, the covenant of good faith and fair dealing” when it obviously attempted to structure a deal with one client in an effort to position itself so as to benefit another client in the same industry – a clear conflict of interest.  The judge noted that “such an end run, if not a down right sham , is not permissable . . .”, insinuating J.P. Morgan committed fraud.

Felix Salmon, a well respected business writer and blogger, wrote a good analysis of Morgan’s corrupt business dealings in the matter titled How J.P. Morgan treats its clients: scandalously and in bad faith.  As another writer so eloquently put it, “[w]e have entered a period of grotesque decadence in the financial and business dealings of those who brought us the great financial calamities.”

In the final irony in the BoA case, both the S.E.C. and Bank of America expressed just how pleased they were with the settlement.  I’ll bet they were.  Now the question becomes, when will the S.E.C. lawyers who worked on this case retire from “government service”, and take jobs with BoA or one of the other of the Wall Street Terrorist Organizations ?  Anyone want to take a bet that this doesn’t happen? 

I welcome any and all takers.  And I will be laughing all the way to the bank when I win that bet.  Just hope you were smart enough to hedge that wager Goldman Sachs-style by betting that I won’t be depositing my winnings in BoA.  Because I won’t.  Judge Rakoff would be disgusted with me, and rightfully so.

Thank Goodness We Have At Least One Man With Balls On Our Side! 

Now the rest of you government weenies and politicians - grow some freakin’ testicles.