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Financial Fraud and Regulatory Failure

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Spanish Judge Crosses Line by Sending Bank CEO to Jail. By Don Quijones, freelance writer and translator in Barcelona, Spain.

Spanish Judge Crosses Line by Sending Bank CEO to Jail

Raging Bull-Shit is his modest attempt to challenge the wishful thinking and scrub away the lathers of soft soap peddled by our political and business leaders and their loyal mainstream media. During arguably the biggest financial heist of human history, commonly referred to as the “global financial crisis,” the Spanish magistrate Elpidio Silva is just about the only judge in the Western hemisphere (outside of Iceland’s parallel dimension, of course) to have sent the CEO of a bailed-out too-big-to-fail bank to jail.

In the late spring of 2013, Silva dispatched Miguel Blesa, the former CEO of Caja Madrid (now the rotten rump of Grupo Bankia), to Madrid’s El Soto prison. Secret Inside BofA Office of CEO Stymied Needy Homeowners. Isabel Santamaria thought she finally caught a break in her effort to save her Florida home from foreclosure after nine frustrating months: She reached Bank of America Corp.’s Office of the CEO and President.

Secret Inside BofA Office of CEO Stymied Needy Homeowners

What the mother of two autistic children didn’t know is that her case would find its way to contractors, including Urban Lending Solutions in Broomfield, Colorado, far from the bank’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bank of America hired the firm founded by Chuck Sanders, a former Pittsburgh Steelers running back, to clear a backlog of complaints about a federal program designed to prevent foreclosures. How JP Morgan Bribed the Chinese Prime Minister’s Daughter Using a Fake Name.

The Confidential Memo at the Heart of the Global Financial Crisis. Inflation Is Too Low? Are You Kidding Us Bernanke? Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said this week that inflation in the United States needs to be higher.

Inflation Is Too Low? Are You Kidding Us Bernanke?

Interview with Whistleblower Karen Hudes. Bank of America whistle-blower’s bombshell: “We were told to lie”

The LIBOR Scandal

JPMorgan Unit Is Sued Over Mortgage Securities. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley in $557 million foreclosure settlement - Jan. 16, 2013. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are now out of the mortgage-servicing business.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley in $557 million foreclosure settlement - Jan. 16, 2013

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Under the deal, Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) will offer $97 million in direct cash payments to borrowers and $130 million worth of other relief, including loan modifications and the forgiveness of deficiency judgments. Goldman (GS, Fortune 500) will pay $135 million to borrowers and offer $195 million worth of relief.

Dear Mr Cameron: Please explain why bankers are now considered above the law. December 15th, 2012 An open letter to David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, from Mrs N Turner Dear Mr Cameron, The Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes. Probably most people would agree that the people paid by the U.S. government to regulate Wall Street have had their difficulties.

The Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes

Most people would probably also agree on two reasons those difficulties seem only to be growing: an ever-more complex financial system that regulators must have explained to them by the financiers who create it, and the ever-more common practice among regulators of leaving their government jobs for much higher paying jobs at the very banks they were once meant to regulate. Wall Street's regulators are people who are paid by Wall Street to accept Wall Street's explanations of itself, and who have little ability to defend themselves from those explanations. Our financial regulatory system is obviously dysfunctional. Not All Investors Are Equal. In the Facebook fiasco in May, brokerage firms that sold Facebook’s initial shares apparently warned large investors about doubts from analysts regarding the company’s prospects.

Not All Investors Are Equal

Many ordinary investors who were not warned sustained considerable losses. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the disclosures. FRONTLINE: The Warning - PART 1. Elizabeth Warren Wins Senate Banking Committee Seat: Sources. Inside Job, Oscar-Winning Documentary, Now Online (Free) Note: It looks like Internet Archive has removed this film after hosting it for some time.

Inside Job, Oscar-Winning Documentary, Now Online (Free)

If it comes back online, we will let you know. In late February, Charles Ferguson’s film – Inside Job – won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. When Big Banks Like HSBC Are Not Prosecuted Criminally, It May Be Killing Us. Why Aren't Lawbreaking Bankers Behind Bars?

When Big Banks Like HSBC Are Not Prosecuted Criminally, It May Be Killing Us

Matti Taibbi has a devastating piece on how the soon-to-be-departed head of the Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal division, Lanny Breuer, admits that the DOJ won't prosecute banks too big to fail, such as HSBC and UBS – among many others. The New Untouchables Are Wall Street Executives, Despite Evidence Many Likely Criminally Violated Sarbanes-Oxley Act. On January 22, Frontline airs a program asking why the executives on Wall Street who oversaw the economic meltdown in 2007 have remain unprosecuted.

The New Untouchables Are Wall Street Executives, Despite Evidence Many Likely Criminally Violated Sarbanes-Oxley Act

According to a Frontline release, "In 'The Untouchables,' premiering Jan. 22, 2013, at 10 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), FRONTLINE producer and correspondent Martin Smith investigates why the U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren's First Banking Committee Hearing. The man who tried to stop Madoff - 60 Minutes Overtime. It's bad enough that Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme left thousand of lives in financial ruin. It only gets worse when you consider the story of Harry Markopolos. In 1999, while working as a financial analyst in a Boston investment firm, Markopolos was asked to figure out how Madoff's investments seemed to return such consistent dividends, year in and year out. Cenk Uygur, Matt Taibbi, Why isn't Wall Street in jail. The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever. Matt Taibbi Explains Wall Street’s "License to Steal," Offshore Tax Havens and Private Equity Firms.

Choice of Mary Jo White to Head SEC Puts Fox In Charge of Hen House. Revealed: JPMorgan Paid $190,000 Annually to Spouse of Bank's Top Regulator. July 11, 2012 | Like this article?

Revealed: JPMorgan Paid $190,000 Annually to Spouse of Bank's Top Regulator

Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. The following piece is a co-exclusive with Wall Street on Parade. Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs. Wall Street to Main Street: DROP DEAD. Looting Main Street. Goldman Sachs vs. Rolling Stone (Matt Taibbi) Matt Taibbi and Bank Whistleblower on How JPMorgan Chase Helped Wreck the Economy, Avoid Prosecution. This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: A year ago this month, the Justice Department announced the banking giant JPMorgan Chase would avoid criminal charges by agreeing to pay $13 billion to settle claims that it had routinely overstated the quality of mortgages it was selling to investors.

When the toxic mortgage securities started turning bad, investors lost faith in the banking system, and a housing crisis turned into the 2008 financial crisis that led to millions of home foreclosures. Financial Scandal Scorecard. The Spreading Scourge of Corporate Corruption. From top: Gregory Bull/Associated Press; Paul Sancya/Associated Press; Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency. Firm announces results of financial services professional survey; Wall Street, Fleet Street, and Main Street: Corporate Integrity at a Crossroads. New York Fed Chief Levels Explosive Charge Against Big Banks. The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Thursday that some of America’s largest financial institutions appear to lack respect for the law, a potentially explosive charge against an industry already roiling from numerous government investigations into alleged wrongdoing.

Banker Pros Cheer At Wolf Of Wall Street. Dollars & Sense. Feature Interest rate swap deals have allowed the big banks to hold local governments and agencies hostage for tens of millions of dollars.