Thursday, March 4, 2010

SEC v. Cuomo

"In a swipe at New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the [SEC] said in a court filing that the December 2008 firing of Bank of America [BofA] Corp.'s general counsel had nothing to do with his opinion about ballooning losses at Merril Lynch & Co. just before the securities firm's takeover by the giant bank. The SEC's court filing sets up a showdown between two securities regulators whose relationship has been fraught with tension for years. ... Mr. Cuomo alleged in a separate complaint filed last month that Timothy Mayopolous, [BofA's] former general counsel, was ignored by another executive when he tried to discuss Merrill's mounting losses and then terminated the next day. ... Meanwhile the swift action by Messrs. Spitzer and Cuomo to take on Wall Street occasionally has left the SEC looking flat-footed. The divergent stances in the [BofA] case could portend trouble for cooperation on other cases", Kara Scannell & Dan Fitzpatrick at the WSJ, 18 February 2010, link:

That the SEC and Cuomo are at each's throat means the truth may come out.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I imagine that much of the peoples anger towards Washington is being driven by a frustration that NO one has been brought to account for the largest financial collapse in the history of our nation.

And the federal agency tasked with protecting investors seems to find lots of ways to go easy on the big banks.

People don't understand the details but they know something is rotten in the state of Denmark.