SEC Lawyer Uses Retirement Party To Call Out Agency As A Bunch Of Timid Wusses/ By Joe Patrice
04.09.14 - 1:07 PM
SEC Lawyer Uses Retirement Party To Call Out Agency As A Bunch Of Timid Wusses
By Joe Patrice
Surprisingly this lawyer isnt named Captain Obvious.
Hes James Kidney, an SEC Enforcement lawyer who joined the agency in 1986 and served there ever since with a four-year detour to work at Aetna. At his well-attended (about 70 people) retirement party, he fulfilled the dream of every retiring employee and called out the B.S. hed witnessed in his years on the job. And at the SEC, that B.S. dealt mostly with a revolving door culture of fearful superiors more interested in harassing low-level offenders while turning a blind eye to anyone with responsibility on Wall Street.
This must have been an awesome party.
What else did he say?
Theres no video of this speech, but the quotes that have surfaced are thrilling enough.
Kidney said his superiors were more focused on getting high-paying jobs after their government service than on bringing difficult cases. The agencys penalties, Kidney said, have become at most a tollbooth on the bankster turnpike.
The revolving door culture of regulators is a cliché. And like most clichés, its totally accurate.
Kidney went on to say the SEC has little interest in afflicting the comfortable and powerful. No kidding. Heres how committed the SEC is to the comfort of Wall Street bigwigs: in a laughably symbolic gesture, they moved their office to neighbor Union Station so Wall Street senior executives barely have to step off the Acela to have their soft-ball interviews.
Now dont get me wrong, the SEC does come down hard on some people. Just the wrong people:
It is a cancer, Kidney said of the agencys use of numbers. It should be changed.
Theres a signaling advantage to statistics like these. They can tell Wall Street that the SEC is serious. But if the statistics are founded on harassing low-level targets instead of making a serious effort to pursue financial crime, they come across as the empty lip service they are. Sadly, its empty lip service that can financially ruin folks at the bottom of the totem pole.
http://abovethelaw.com/2014/04/sec-lawyer-uses-retirement-party-to-call-out-agency-as-a-bunch-of-timid-wusses/
2naSalit
(92,452 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,011 posts)Michael Lewis is making waves with his new book about High Frequency Trading, ( Flash Boys)
which involves a whole lot more than anyone realized.
Maybe this guy could add a match to the bonfire.