Moody's Exonerated

"Moody's Corp., the owner of credit-ratings firm Moody's Investors Service, boosted its profit forecast for the year as a boom in corporate-debt issuance helped it maintain operating margins of almost 40%. The New York-based company also said an external investigation into allegations of impropriety by a former analyst has been completed and found no evidence of wrongdoing. ... Moody's had engaged a law firm to conduct the investigation into Mr. [Eric] Kolchinsk'y complaint. 'Investigators found that the allegations were not supported by facts and were without merit,' Moody's Chief Executive Raymond McDaniel said in a conference call on Thursday. ... Rep. Edolphus Towns (D, NY), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said the committee is still examining the matter and on Thursday sent a formal request to Moody's for a report of the investigation and copies of records provided to the law firm. An SEC spokesman declined to comment", Serena Ng at the WSJ, 30 October 2009, link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125681601973515657.html.

Big deal. Another nothingburger investigation by a "board-hired law firm". Why would anyone pay any attention to such report? I last mentioned Kolchinsky on 19 October 2009: http://skepticaltexascpa.blogspot.com/2009/10/rating-agency-snake-oil-2.html.