Report SEC Gave "Preferential Treatment" to Wall Street CEO

[No Elephants]

Source: ABC News

Report: SEC Gave "Preferential Treatment" to Wall Street CEO
Attempts to Question Morgan Stanley's John Mack "Connected" to Firing of SEC Lawyer

By BRIAN ROSS and RHONDA SCHWARTZ
October 6, 2008

The SEC gave "preferential treatment" to Wall Street executive John Mack during an insider trading investigation three years ago because Mack was about to become CEO of the Morgan Stanley investment banking firm, the SEC's inspector general concluded in a report obtained by ABC News. The report recommended disciplinary action against the SEC's chief of enforcement, Linda Thomson, and said the firing of an SEC lawyer was "connected" to his persistent attempts to take Mack's testimony.

"There's a culture at the SEC that they're not willing to take on the big boys, whether big economically or big politically," said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) who requested the inspector general's investigation.

<snip>

Grassley asked for the investigation after a SEC lawyer who sought to take Mack's testimony, Gary Aguirre, was fired. "I was told that it would be very difficult to get approval to take his testimony because of his powerful political connections," Aguirre told ABC News in an interview for Good Morning America. When he says he persisted, he was told to go on vacation and then notified he had been fired.

<snip>

The report concluded, "there was a connection between the decision to terminate Aguirre and his seeking to take Mack's testimony."



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blo...ory?id=5970263&page=2

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At the link, you will also find a link to the report itself.

[pleah]

1. K&R

[barbtries]

2. they're so slimey

someday maybe the bad guys will do the losing. bastards.

[UpInArms]

3. kickin' this back to the top - because they are so slimy

:kick:

[jjanpundt]

4. Maybe it's time for a complete overhaul of the SEC n/t

[OakCliffDem]

5. CEO's get all the justice that money can buy

And their stockholders get to pay for it