Conspiracy of Banks Rigging States Came With Crash

[AllentownJake]

May 18 (Bloomberg) -- A telephone call between a financial adviser in Beverly Hills and a trader in New York was all it took to fleece taxpayers on a water-and-sewer financing deal in West Virginia. The secret conversation was part of a conspiracy stretching across the U.S. by Wall Street banks in the $2.8 trillion municipal bond market.

The call came less than two hours before bids were due for contracts to manage $90 million raised with the sale of West Virginia bonds. On one end of the line was Steven Goldberg, a trader with Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd. On the other was Zevi Wolmark, of advisory firm CDR Financial Products Inc. Goldberg arranged to pay a kickback to CDR to land the deal, according to government records filed in connection with a U.S. Justice Department indictment of CDR and Wolmark.

West Virginia was just one stop in a nationwide conspiracy in which financial advisers to municipalities colluded with Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Wachovia Corp. and 11 other banks.

They rigged bids on auctions for so-called guaranteed investment contracts, known as GICs, according to a Justice Department list that was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on March 24 and then put under seal. Those contracts hold tens of billions of taxpayer money.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=axH24KWxjVDE&pos=10
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Hardworking good businessman, Mr. President. We know where you stand.

[Donnachaidh]

1. wow - the unrec squad is early

You must really be popular Jake. :rofl:

I k&r'ed but it got disappeared.

[AllentownJake]

2. Banking fraud is a legit business practice to some on here. nt

[glitch]

7. Just doing God's work. nt

[Greyhound]

8. This is at the heart of their meme and bringing it up always draws a reaction.

The "reality based community" only likes reality as they define it.

All sheep share a common destiny.

[rudy23]

3. Remember this article from Spitzer, right before his arrest?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html

Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime
How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers

By Eliot Spitzer
Thursday, February 14, 2008

Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets.

Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers.

Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York's, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices.
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What did the Bush administration do in response? Did it reverse course and decide to take action to halt this burgeoning scourge? As Americans are now painfully aware, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure and our markets reeling, the answer is a resounding no. (snip)

[AllentownJake]

4. Elliot shouldn't have done what he did

but something tells me everyone finding out about it is very much related to what he was saying.

[rudy23]

5. I've always thought so. Look at the timing. Too bad he put himself in that situation.

We could use his credibility right now.

[AllentownJake]

6. He's probably lucky they had a hooker thing on him

Otherwise he'd probably be dead.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

9. The Fleecing of America is nigh on complete. n/t