U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Obama Picks NYC Prosecutor To Head The SEC

If you're gonna clamp down on Wall Street, it's probably best that you choose someone who's been doing it for years. In 1993, Mary Jo White became the first woman to ever become a Manhattan attorney at the federal level. During her nine-year tenure in the Southern New York district, she went after ... More >>

Are the Recent Gagosian Gallery Defections And Steve Cohen's Legal Troubles Related?

Last weekend brought fresh news for art world titan Larry Gagosian, all of it terrible. Not only have rumors of a planned May Jeff Koons' exhibition at rival David Zwirner gallery turned out to be true, but two of Gagosian's major artists have decamped from the famous powerhouse gallery at a time wh ... More >>

Bernie Madoff Wasn't Alone in His Dirty Work, Five Former Employees Hit With New Charges

The Manhattan U.S. District Attorney and several other government agencies announced new and revised charges yesterday for five former employees who worked for infamous scam artist Bernie Madoff. Daniel Bonventre, Annette Bongiorno, Joann Crupi, Jerome O'Hara, and George Perez were indicted back i ... More >>

Mitt Loves N.Y.: John A. Griffin

Since the Citizens United decision, realpolitik has accepted the harsh reality in which a corporation has the same pedestal in our democratic elections as an ordinary Joe Schmoe. And, as a financial hub in America and abroad, New York has transformed into a politically charged Gotham; its corporate ... More >>

Scientology on the High Seas: Three Major Enemies Scalped!

In November we started a new feature here on Fridays: the Voice has obtained hundreds of copies of L. Ron Hubbard's previously unpublished "Orders of the Day," which he gave to crew members as he sailed the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Our documents cover the period from late 1968 through 1971, a ... More >>

President Obama Wants You to Know That He Likes the Internet Very Much

​Just a few days after Obama's re-election campaign adopted the mobile payment system Square to help increase its fundraising efforts, the president is already taking further steps to cozy up to the tech industry. Last night in his "virtual town hall" on Google , President Obama addressed th ... More >>

Steve Rattner, Financial Genius, Felled By Jackass Movie

Rattner's Folly​Ex-auto bailout king Steve Rattner is reportedly settling his pay-to-play charges stemming from his state pension fund schemes with the Securities Exchange Commission. He'll take a two-year bar from the securities markets, plus ante up $6 million, says the Wall Street Journal. ... More >>

Steve Rattner Still Has a "Chooch" Problem

​Auto bailout czar Steve Rattner is not out of the woods yet. Rattner may be able to put his problems with the Securities Exchange Commission behind him today. But he's still got a ways to go with state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office which launched the state pension probe and which has ... More >>

Steve Rattner's Book, Overhaul: the Cuomo and Schumer Revelations

​Steve Rattner, the financier and Democratic fundraiser who served in 2009 as President Obama's car czar, takes some guarded shots at New York's political elite in his yet-to-be-released book, Overhaul. He paints himself as a victim in the ongoing Securities & Exchange Commission investigati ... More >>

Kill the Lawyers? Firm At Heart of Goldman Case Is Already Dead.

Yeah, kill all the lawyers, but good luck eviscerating McKee Nelson, the law firm that vetted the sneaky scheme by Goldman Sachs to sell America short. It's long gone. It won't be missed — except to answer questions. Some of the 901 pages of documents in the SEC's case against CEO Lloyd Bla ... More >>

Morning Links: Hef Saves the Day, Goldman Faces Senate, Everyone Hates PowerPoint

​• Today is Ulysses S. Grant's 188th birthday. If you're so inclined, head up to Grant's Tomb for a 21-gun salute and ceremony. • Hugh Hefner gave $900,000 to save L.A.'s iconic Hollywood sign. Thank goodness, because how would anyone know where they were otherwise? "The Hollywood sign r ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg: Quick to Blame, Unless Your Name is Lloyd Blankfein

​Goldman Sachs, says Mike Bloomberg, "may not have done anything wrong and may have done everything right." "You've got to wait and give them the benefit of the doubt," says the mayor who rushed to condemn Plaxico Burress, several fire chiefs tied to the Deutsche Bank fire, and pro ... More >>

SEC Sues Goldman Sachs for Being Goldman Sachs

This case won't be a big deal unless John Paulson (above) becomes a defendant. Don't count on that.The SEC finally accused Goldman Sachs of securities fraud, in a civil suit filed Friday. But this thing sounds a whole lot more dramatic than it really is. For one thing, the name of evil co-conspirato ... More >>

Goldman Sachs to Fight Off SEC Charges with MARTIAL ARTS.

​Among all the hullabaloo and noise being made over Goldman Sachs' SEC charges that were announced this morning, little notice was taken of the most revealing expose on the massive banking organization to date (this week): the secrets housed inside their new BatCave of Money.

People's Champion? Rick Lazio Is a Wall Street Creature

His fingerprints are all over the recent economic collapse

We've Bailed out the Banks. When Do We Go After the Crooks Behind our Financial Collapse?

Hevesi's Friends in Need

Political pals cashed in on pension fund business

Alan Hevesi: Shakedown at the Pension Fund

The fiscal watchdog's team wrote its own rules

Madoff Lawyer Has Valuable Experience with Madoff-Involved Crooks

The glossies interview movie stars and scene-makers, but the New York Law Journal interviews Bernie Madoff's lawyer. As you might expect, though, counselor Ira Lee Sorkin doesn't say much. But his history with Madoff is interesting: After meeting the swindler in the 1980s, the former SEC prosecutor, ... More >>

SEC dumps chief 'enforcer' on Madoff scandal; Bernie reaches partial settlement with probers

From HedgeFund.net: The Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement chief is out as the agency faces anger over its handling of the Bernie Madoff alleged Ponzi scam. The SEC said Monday that Linda Thomsen, its director of enforcement, was leaving to return to the private sector. There have be ... More >>

Fossils still bite: Bernie Madoff and prehistoric snakes

Good for the New York Times! Always trying to take a broad view (even when one doesn't exist, as Jack Shafer often points out), the paper weighs in on how the plight of Bernie Madoff's white-haired victims gives us valuable insights about the global meltdown with this morning's "Fossils of Larges ... More >>

Gary Ackerman's blast at SEC? Just theatrics from AIPAC loyalist who once took cash from Bernie Madoff.

Yeah, yeah, blah, blah: Ackerman at last shows interest in the SEC's operations. Congressman Gary Ackerman's rip-snorting attack on the SEC for not catching Bernie Madoff's scam is good entertainment, but it's only bluster to impress his constituents who got took. Still, it's not a bad dog-and-po ... More >>

Tom cries 'Uncle'! Daschle's exit an embarrassing end to Obama's embarrassing decision to pick him

Obama tells a surprisingly blunt Katie Couric, "I messed up." Tom Daschle's quick exit from the health-care Cabinet job is just proof that he was a poor choice for the job. If the guy can't get it together enough to wipe his nose clean after rubbing it against the rear of society schmuckettes li ... More >>

From baseball to hardball: George Mitchell lands in Mideast to probe the deadliest beanball war -- Jews vs. Arabs

The Wall Street Journal, reporting from Davos, asks (gulp), "Is Capitalism, as We Know It, Dead?" Pumped up from his experience as chief investigator of steroids abuse in baseball, George Mitchell is now in for some really heavy lifting: the testosterone-laden, rage-filled Arab-Jew death dance i ... More >>

Prosecutors: Madoff Sent Out $1 Million in Jewels After Arrest

The Federal judge considering Bernie Madoff's case told him, understandably, not to send anyone any money. But, prosecutors contended in court yesterday, the Ponzi scheme operator has mailed "at least a million dollars worth of jewelry as gifts to family members and friends" in the interim, and th ... More >>

Bush makes Iraqis want to hurl

Daily Flog: Celebrity roast of Lehman on Capitol Hill

Daily Flog: Collateralized damage, weapons of monetary destruction, albinos flee Burundi

Daily Flog: Wall Street's little piggies don't want to go mark-to-market; meanwhile, more huffing and puffing

McCain Suggests Andrew Cuomo for SEC; "Hell No" Says Reason

Daily Flog: Instant history on race and money

Chips and Dip

The New Dealer

With Spitzer at the table, Pataki's casino cronies pull an inside straight

Corp v. Comptroller: Dodging the Question

Truth Out

Sick of being lied to by the EPA, 9-11 plaintiffs use the courts to force the answers they seek

Sinclair's Swift Boat? Abandon Ship!

The Most Candid Corporate Document Ever Written

Take the Money and Run

A Sensitive Subject

Read the Fine Print

Spaceballs

Heartless Hotel

Prison Contracts and Homeless Crisis Built Empire

Nation

Nation

George Bush, Failed Corporate Crook

Nitwit Scion Turns Avenger

Enron Update: SEC Chief Has Potential Conflict of Interest

Senator Says Harvey Pitt Should Recuse Himself From Investigation

Tumbling Dice

'New York Press' Backer Linked to Bahamas Lawsuit

An Embarrassment of Riches

Business Big Shots Invest Heavily in Democrat McCall’s Political Future

Desperate Dotcoms

Sunny Slogans Mask Huge Losses

The Next Battle in Washington

Social Security Mobilizes Troops