I’m guessing what with the whole Occupy Wall Street thing happening down the street, and protesters demanding the heads of banksters on pikes, now wasn’t exactly the best timing for a convicted Wall Street fraudster to receive sentencing.
The fallen hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam received the longest prison sentence on record for insider trading on Thursday, a watershed moment in the government’s aggressive two-year campaign to root out the illegal exchange of confidential information on Wall Street.
Judge Richard J. Holwell sentenced Mr. Rajaratnam, the former head of the Galleon Group hedge fund, to 11 years in prison. Mr. Rajaratnam was also fined $10 million. A jury convicted him of securities fraud and conspiracy in May after a two-month trial.
But then, insider trading is an inside Wall Street kind of crime, and we’ve always made a show of prosecuting Wall Street traders who defraud each other. Because that sort of thing is bad for the market, and those who grow wealthy off it. (Also, Rajaratnam is colored, and he has a funny name, so fuck him.)
Now, whether we’ll ever see the prosecution of a Wall Street executive for defrauding the 99 Percent out of their jobs, homes and savings, well, that remains to be seen.
Ever notice how the few who are prosecuted are seldom from the insider, white boys club? Raj Rajaratnam, Conrad Black, Bernie Ebbers … The message is that you will never be prosecuted if you attend the right east Coast prep school.
See to prosecute people you need a law they have violated and evidence that they did in fact violate it. The fact that something bad happened does not mean a crime has been committed. Being greedy, not caring about others, and profiting from pain, might be unethical and assholish, but that does not make them crimes.
And it was Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and another Indian by birth, who brought him to justice, as mentioned in your link and this New Yorker article by George Packer:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/…
@2 But being poor is becoming increasingly criminalized, so at least there’s that…
@2: So you’re saying it was perfectly legal for banks to issue loans they knew could never be paid, and then lie about the quality of these loans in repackaging them into collateralized securities? Then I suppose you would ardently support using this as an opportunity to change the law, right?
@6 “So you’re saying it was perfectly legal for banks to issue loans they knew could never be paid, and then lie about the quality of these loans in repackaging them into collateralized securities?”
In many cases yes, yes it was. Especially given how hard it is to prove that they are lying enough to sustain a criminal prosecution. These folks won’t be relying on public defenders after all.
“Then I suppose you would ardently support using this as an opportunity to change the law, right?”
Without a doubt. The fact that we only got halfass reform out of this catastrophe is one of our bigger failings.
I’d love to see something that lays out exactly what laws they broke and what evidence there is that they did it, but I haven’t yet. Criminal law is not terribly good at things like this which are more an emergent problem then one traced to one or a few individuals.
(Also, Rajaratnam is colored, and he has a funny name, so fuck him.)
— that line made me think of office space: “Mr. Na..na….na… not gonna work here!”
Read the New Yorker article @3, giffy. It doesn’t provide legal cites, but there’s plenty of detail.
@11 Attempting to change the law is not a crime. Assholish sure, but not a crime.
I’m not sure what you are getting at with the fraudulent conveyance thing. That is usually in a bankruptcy where property is transferred to the detriment of creditors and is a civil matter.
Filing a false affidavit is only a crime if you knew, or had reason to know, it was false. It is not simply enough to say these affidavits were false or robo signed. Sloppiness is not a crime, though it may certainly matter in the cases at hand and has helped people keep their homes, if only for a little while longer. Even still at best that would get you whatever low level manager was overseeing that foreclosure. Not sure getting a person probably pulling in 70k a year to work 80 hours a week is really what we are talking about here.
Getting a tax exemption wrong is not a crime if you had a basis to think you are entitled. You can get hit with back taxes, interest, and penalties, but unless you are lying its not really a crime. A business is allowed under the law to be aggressive in their positions. To get sent to jail you usually have to be lying or taking positions so out there, that there is no legal basis at all for them.
The UCC is not a criminal statute. Violations of that are civil in nature.
giffy @12:
I’ll mention this the next time I get a ticket for parking in a space I didn’t know was restricted. For us 99%ers, ignorance of the law is no defense.
@14 There is a difference between crimes that are strict liability, like speeding or being a shitty parker, and ones that have a mental component as well. That and crimes that involve jail are taken a bit more seriously than ones that involve a $30-40 fine. Perjury is one of those where you have to know you’re lying for it to be a crime. Being mistaken as to fact or sloppy is not the same thing. Otherwise in almost every trial where there is a question of fact one side would be jailed since they usually can’t both be right and by your logic the side found wrong has perjured themselves.
@13 It’s OK you don’t understand. You can save face via your non-response.
By all means, those who broke laws should be prosecuted. However, let’s not kid ourselves that the endless cycle of booms and busts is primarily the result of laws being broken. Most of the derivatives trading and other practices that led to the market collapse were legal. Meaning the only response that is likely to prevent the next bursting bubble is a regulatory one.
We need for our government and others to craft regulations. All the people saying government is the problem are barking up the wrong tree. The cult of the Free Market got us here and will not get us out. As long as traders can make a quick buck gaming the system, the system will be at the mercy of the games they play.
@17 Got a rise out of you did I? You’re adorable when you’re all worked up sarge.
I have seen the report, but am going to go out on a limb as say I am not the only one who has not read a 500 page report in its entirety.
So how about you explain to me exactly how this conduct is criminal. Be specific. Don’t just drop words or laws. And lets stick to criminal law, not UCC or civil violations.
When sgt_doom says to stop trolling, it’s probably time to file a bug report with someone.