Obama Puts Wall Street’s Worst Nightmare In Charge Of SEC

[babylonsister]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01/24/obama-puts-wall-streets-worst-nightmare-in-charge-of-sec/

Obama Puts Wall Street’s Worst Nightmare In Charge Of SEC
2013/01/24
By Nathaniel Downes


News around the beltway is all abuzz this morning after the president appointed Mary Jo White as the permanent replacement for Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In so doing, he is tapping a unique woman, who has served under several presidents and has been the center of many tough prosecutions in her time.

Mary Jo White served as the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1993 to 2002. Originally appointed by George HW Bush in 1992 as acting Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, President Clinton made her the permanent Attorney shortly after taking office. Since then she has taken on crime and corruption, tackling cases such as the John Gotti trial. There, she helped form the case which took the boss of the Gambino crime family off of the streets, where he served the remainder of his life behind bars. But more importantly, she handled the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case, convicting mastermind Ramzi Yousef of numerous counts of terror. He’s now serving life without possibility of parole in the federal penitentiary.

She has experience in white-collar crimes as well, leading major busts of penny stock manipulation schemes in 2000 which resulted in the arrest and convictions of over 100 people, one of the largest crackdowns on white-collar crime in US history. White’s office has won billions in restitution from major banking institutions for defrauding investors. When she retired from the US Attorney’s office in 2002, it was a major sigh of relief from the business worlds more corrupt elements.

She is someone who knows how to root out corruption, to find the information needed, and to get results. Wall Street had hoped for a business insider, but has instead gotten a vicious attack dog. This appointment comes on the heels of a newly empowered Securities and Exchange Commission, meaning that the administration has decided to get tough on big businesses who would seek to exploit people for profit.

That she is now being put back into a position of authority should have the bankers concerned. There is a new sheriff in town, and she will have a clean corporate culture in the US, one way or another.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. What good news!

I expect great things from Ms.White. GREAT.

[Lugnut]

2. Seconded!

OT - I hope you're feeling better, Peggy. It's good to see you back.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Aw, thank you, my dear Lugnut...

I'm tired today, but I'm coming along...Thanks, sweetie...

I love being here!

[1StrongBlackMan]

7. But ... But ... But ...

she's gonna report to ... Holder ... AND she was a Bush appointee!!!!



BTW, WELCOME BACK!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. My dear 1StrongBlackMan!

Thanks, sweetie...

[earthside]

11. She may never be confirmed.

Thanks to Harry Reid and a few feckless Democrats, the filibuster in its worst form lives in the U.S. Senate.

Wall Street doesn't have too much to worry about at this stage.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. Time will tell. If Obama really wants her, he'll find a way. He does that. n/t

[BlancheSplanchnik]

16. :) !

[sheshe2]

22. He does, Peggy...he sure does!

Welcome home.

[Fuddnik]

47. Yeah, now that the filibuster is dead.

Confirmation will be a breeze.

Unless a couple of assholes like Rand Paul and Tom Coburn decide otherwise.

[gateley]

39. Hey! Welcome back!

Get well soon and I'll have my best friend swing by and bring you along for one of his hikes up to the Hollywood Sign!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

44. Lol, my dear gateley!

I'm really REALLY ready for that, NOT!

Thanks for the good thoughts, sweetie...

[cap]

3. More butt kicking by yet another woman

Maybe Mary Jo, Liz warren, and Hillary can share notes. Love to be a fly on the wall for that coffee klatch

[libdem4life]

14. I had that Power Coffee Klatch visual myself.

[think]

5. Sounds like Obama made an outstanding nomination here. K&R /nt

Last edited Fri Jan 25, 2013, 11:35 AM - Edit history (1)

[Nay]

63. Let's hope she is allowed to actually DO something. nt

[just1voice]

64. How's that? Just what do you think she's going to do?

Prosecute some big banks that are "too big to fail"? LOL.

[patrice]

6. Kick!

[EastKYLiberal]

8. I'm in love with her already. She's an adorable old lady with a lot of fight in her.

Her resume is quite impressive.

[Historic NY]

9. She whacked the NY Cosa Nostra around she certainly...

whack the Wall Street gang.

[Squinch]

27. John Gotti, Goldman Sachs? Same idea! Great choice!

[libdem4life]

12. Mary Jo White and Elizabeth Warren...exciting examples of the "Hens in the Fox House".

And I say that with a touch of irony referring to the "Foxes in the Henhouse" analogy, yet with a highly congratulatory and respectful intent.

I still remember the days, not that long ago, that they had to determine (don't think it came to a vote...ha) to put a Women's Bathroom in for equal access ... so our Congresswomen didn't have to wander near and far, mostly far, looking for one.

[meow2u3]

36. Mary Jo White and Elizabeth Warren are more like Rottweilers guarding the car lot

They're ready to take a bite out of white-collar crime.

[libdem4life]

37. Oh, I like that even better !!! Guess I was still trying to be ladylike. LOL

Failing that ... kicking butt and taking names, also comes to mind. Love them all...add in our girl Hillary !!

[lunatica]

48. That's Ms Rottweilers to them.

[rurallib]

15. I had hoped to see Eliot Spitzer show up somewhere but .....

I don't care who it is as long as we start seeing some trials and some convictions

Go Mary Jo!

[Auntie Bush]

35. I loved Spitzer...if only he had behaved himself! What a loss!

[Cha]

17. They should be happy.. they need someone to save

them from themselves!

Thanks babylonsistah

[ancianita]

18. I would have preferred Elliott Spitzer. Perhaps someone might shed some light on her connections?

http://news.muckety.com/muck-tracker

[blkmusclmachine]

19. Yeah, riiiight. Wall St. has NOTHING to worry about. I think they own the WH.

[Snotcicles]

28. +1

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. "White’s office has won billions in restitution from major banking institutions for ...fraud"

The SEC has, all along, charged the banks with fines.
All it can DO is fine, it has no authority over criminal charges, altho it can recommend crimial charges be brought.
So I see little hope that any fraudsters will face criminal charges for RICO and other racketerring behavior.
THAT is Holder's office, and he has proven unwilling to enforce any laws against the bankers.

[Scurrilous]

20. Good news!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. OMG!!! Am I the only one who sees a female version of Kucinich???

[babylonsister]

26. omg...

now that you mention it... :-D

[sheshe2]

23. It's past time that we take these suckers down!!!!

Go Mary Jo White!

[saidsimplesimon]

24. babylonsister, it's to early to predict. I'm hopeful, yet cautious,

trust, but verify?

It is my earnest conviction that both Wall Street and the Banking industry could increase their earning potential by serving the public interest. The current short term view of screw the middle class, let's go for greed has failed, miserably: as Goldman has said, we are all "muppets".

[MannyGoldstein]

25. I doubt any real enforcement will begin

I hope I'm wrong.

[judesedit]

29. Yaa!

[Smilo]

30. You can tell the right is afraid of her

because all they have is that she is not "Miss GOPT 1850".

Whenever a strong, hard working female democrat is up for something - the lowly lifeforms on the right always attack her looks - they have nothing else.

Mary Jo White - knock 'em dead!!!

[former9thward]

31. You oddly seem to have left out the last 10 years of her resume.

She has spent that period defending banks accused of SEC violations. I doubt she is "Wall streets worst nightmare".

[babylonsister]

33. I didn't leave anything out; I'm the messenger and didn't write this. nt

[gateley]

42. That IS a concern. Hmmmm. There's always a "but", isn't there? :-(

[pkdu]

32. How much better than this guy could she really be?..

/sarc off !

[BootinUp]

38. Just the name "Mary Jo" would scare me if I was a crook. lol.

[gateley]

40. GREAT!

[Kablooie]

41. So when does the GOP start complaining that she has to go?

[Cowpunk]

43. Uh huh.

From her law firm biography:

"Ms. White’s practice concentrates on internal investigations and defense of companies and individuals accused by the government of involvement in white collar corporate crime or Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and civil securities law violations, and on other major business litigation disputes and crises."



What's next, Johnny Cochran for attorney general?

[loudsue]

49. There you go. That's why she got appointed. Now the truth comes out.

Damn it all.

[ZombieHorde]

45. Bwahahahaha! nt

[Delzars]

46. I respectfully disagree.

This woman just spent over a decade DEFENDING Wall St.

[BlueManFan]

50. Before Everybody Gets All Dewey About this Appointement

remember she spent the last decade defending white collar bankster criminals against SEC and other legal challenges. ANd gave a public speech in which she said we shouldn't hold the banks guilty when they "didn't understand what they were doing." Fuck that. Watch Frontline's the untouchables and then see if these thieving motherfuckers didn't know exactly what they were doing. Wolf in sheep's clothing safely in the pocket of the bankster gangster. Mark it down!!!!!!!!!

[amuse bouche]

56. Matt Taibbi

will have a story about her today. Like you, he's not impressed and called this pick 'ludicrous'

[muckety]

51. Obama bundlers & Mary Jo White

SEC chair nominee has ties to several Obama bundlers:
http://news.muckety.com/2013/01/25/sec-chair-nominee-has-ties-to-several-obama-bundlers/40311

[BlueManFan]

52. And Finally

shouldn't progressives be afraid, very afraid, when the batshit-hate-everybody-Obama-picks Republicans don't seem at all concerned about her......?

[samsingh]

53. good stuff

[Indyfan53]

54. There is still hope for the Democratic Party

This is proof . Thank you, Mr. President.

[amuse bouche]

55. Matt Taibbi disagrees

called this pick ludicrous and tweets he will have an article about her today

He seems to think she is no champion of the people

[JEB]

57. Here is a link to Taibbi's article.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/25-5

[NOVA_Dem]

58. Obama's SEC Pic is a Wall Street Defense Attorney.

And his first high profile female nominee so it will be harder to fight the pick.

[sebastianj333]

59. If you really think she is going to keep them honest on Wall Street....

Sorry, but if anyone here thinks she's really going to threaten the establishment and keep them honest, well, I have some WMDs in Iraq i would like to sell you, lmao

[Demeter]

60. PROBABLY THE ONLY WAY HE CAN TIE HER HANDS

Sounds too good to be true.

[MotherPetrie]

61. Oh please - like Obama would ever appoint anyone who would actually go after Wall Street?

She is a Wall Street insider herself now. She knows which side her bread is buttered on. She will no more send Wall Street criminals to prison than fly to the moon. She will make sure they are able to cut special deals, if she doesn't just outright decline to prosecute them at all.

[truedelphi]

62. But will Lew kick White around the way that

Geithner treated Sheila Bair?

Nice to know that Obama is willing to use half the pieces of the puzzle, but he needs to clean up Treasury as well.

[just1voice]

65. Sure, let's just forget her last 10 years of corruption, WEEEEEEE!

She'll instantly start serving the public just out of the kindness of her corrupt heart, LMFAO!

[truedelphi]

66. Don't you think that having a badge and a title that suggests oversight

Indicates she will change her feathers?

I mean just because she has some history of being too friendly with the perps, surely that is no reason to leave her out of the top spot.
From a progressive website:
And I assume you' re referring, among other activities, to "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.

"As I explained a few years ago in my story, "Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?": The attorney Aguirre joined the SEC in 2004, and two days into his job was asked to look into reports of suspicious trading activity involving a hedge fund called Pequot Capital, and specifically its megastar trader, Art Samberg. Samberg had made suspiciously prescient trades ahead of the acquisition of a firm called Heller Financial by General Electric, pocketing about $18 million in a period of weeks by buying up Heller shares before the merger, among other things."

Surely a woman can reform. Especially if the President insists upon it. And Obama will insist upon it, right?