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from Naked Capitalism:
Time to Fire Mary Jo White: SEC Covers Up for Bank Capital Accounting Scam Promoted by Her Former Firm, Debevoise
Posted on June 17, 2015 by Yves Smith
Pam Martens and Russ Martens published a mind-boggling expose yesterday on how the SEC is refusing to stop an abuse by major banks that increases systemic risk. Large banks are continuing to fake their capital levels, via a ruse called a capital relief trade with hedge and pension funds. And Mary Jo White, the chairman of the SEC, is aware of this practice, which undermines the safety and soundness of financial institutions, and has done squat about it.
White is not just head of the SEC but also a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. She is undermining it and financial reform generally by her failure to take on this practice. Pam Martens and Russ Martens also charge the SEC chairman and her director of enforcement, Andrew Ceresney, with cronyism, since they both hail from the law firm Debevoise, which is an active player in this practice.
As much as there has been considerable consternation over Mary Jo Whites numerous lapses, like hiding behind the need for more data as an excuse for doing nothing about high frequency trading, her failure to secure more admissions of wrongdoing in SEC settlements, and her refusal to comply with Dodd Frank by virtue of too freely issuing waivers for mandatory sanctions, even to recidivist bad actors, this dereliction of duty is considerably more serious, because it increases systemic risk in a direct, tangible way.* Remember that technically permissible balance sheet fakery at Lehman, also known as Repo 105, allowed it to mask how sick it was. ...............(more)
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/06/time-to-fire-mary-jo-white-sec-covers-up-for-bank-capital-accounting-scam-promoted-by-her-former-firm-debevoise.html
Autumn
(45,106 posts)This article by Taibbi details the extent of her corruption.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/choice-of-mary-jo-white-to-head-sec-puts-fox-in-charge-of-hen-house-20130125
I thought to myself: Couldn't they have found someone who wasn't a key figure in one of the most notorious scandals to hit the SEC in the past two decades? And couldn't they have found someone who isn't a perfect symbol of the revolving-door culture under which regulators go soft on suspected Wall Street criminals, knowing they have million-dollar jobs waiting for them at hotshot defense firms as long as they play nice with the banks while still in office?
I'll leave it to others to chronicle the other highlights and lowlights of Mary Jo White's career, and focus only on the one incident I know very well: her role in the squelching of then-SEC investigator Gary Aguirre's investigation into an insider trading incident involving future Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack. While representing Morgan Stanley at Debevoise and Plimpton, White played a key role in this inexcusable episode.
PatrickforO
(14,576 posts)In fact it is also time to hold Wall Street's big bankers much more strictly accountable for their myopic greed.
Snotcicles
(9,089 posts)lark
(23,105 posts)It's a boil on the American ass and could explode at any time. Ick.
I am so sick and tired of our president seeming to be progressive in his speeches, but truly acting like a member of the 1%. Where's the hope or change? Trojan Horse guy is still at it.
Omaha Steve
(99,658 posts)K&R!
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Warren voted for her.
wolfie001
(2,251 posts)....Obama is embroiled in his quixotic TPP obsession.
project_bluebook
(411 posts)Started when she was an attorney working for the SEC. She was very, very forgiving when it came to large corporations and banksters.