Probably No Civil or Criminal Charges Over Lehman Brothers’ Activities
March 13th, 2011*Shaking head* *Mumbling incoherently*
Via: Wall Street Journal:
The U.S. government’s investigation into the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has hit daunting hurdles that could result in no civil or criminal charges ever being filed against the company’s former executives, people familiar with the situation said.
In recent months, Securities and Exchange Commission officials have grown increasingly doubtful they can prove that Lehman violated U.S. laws by using an accounting maneuver to move as much as $50 billion in assets off its balance sheet, which made it appear that the securities firm had reduced its debt levels.
SEC officials also aren’t confident they could win any lawsuit accusing former Lehman employees, including former Lehman Chief Executive Richard Fuld Jr., of failing to adequately mark down the value of the large real-estate portfolio acquired in Lehman’s takeover of apartment developer Archstone-Smith Trust or to disclose the resulting losses to investors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Well, sure…
It stands to reason that Too Big to Fail = Too Big to Prosecute.
Even the few that did fail are too big to prosecute, since these guys are all giving each other a reacharound and there’s no way to break the chain.
:/
Unfortunately so much of the populace directs its anger at “Wall Street” rather than directing their anger at oversight agencies like the SEC.
Why do we support the SEC with our taxes if they can’t get their man?
(Disclaimer: I downsized my life drastically several years ago so as to specifically NOT be supporting paper-tiger agencies like this…).