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Recent articles related to the financial crisis.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
by Dollars and Sense
Recently posted to the WSJ
website. If you didn't think it was possible for Bernie Madoff's alleged $50bn ponzi scheme to get any juicier, it turns out that U.S. Atty General Michael Mukasey's son, Marc Mukasey will be working for the defense. He works for Bracewell & Giuliani (where Rudi is a partner); one of their specialties is white-collar crime.
This is the same SEC that issued a mea culpa
a couple of days ago for missing numerous signs that Madoff was engaged in fraud.Cox: No Evidence Yet of Wrongdoing by SEC Staff in Madoff Case
Madoff to Wear Monitoring Device; Mukasey Recusal
By AARON LUCCHETTI, KARA SCANNELL and AMIR EFRATI | DECEMBER 17, 2008, 5:07 P.M. ET
WASHINGTON -- Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said Wednesday that no evidence of wrongdoing by staff has surfaced yet in connection with the agency's failure to investigate credible claims about money manager Bernard Madoff, at the center of an alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
The investigation by the agency's inspector general is just beginning. Mr. Cox ordered the probe Tuesday after he learned of "multiple failures" by staff over a decade to look into allegations about Mr. Madoff's business.
He stressed that there was "no reason to believe" information about the alleged multibillion dollar fraud was suppressed by any SEC staff. He stressed that the SEC's staff was "extraordinarily professional," saying, "I'm enormously proud of them."
In an extraordinary admission that the SEC was aware of numerous red flags raised about Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, but failed to take them seriously enough, on Tuesday Mr. Cox ordered a review of the agency's oversight of the New York securities-trading and investment-management firm. The review will include whether relationships between SEC officials and Mr. Madoff or his family members had any impact on the agency's oversight.
...
[Here's the bit about Mukasey:]
Also Wednesday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey recused himself from the Madoff probe, the Justice Department said.
Marc Mukasey, partner at the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm in New York and the attorney general's son, is representing Frank DiPascali, a senior official at Madoff Investment Securities.
Justice officials said the involvement of Mr. Mukasey's son on the defense side of the case made it necessary for the attorney general to remove himself from overseeing matters in the investigation.
The probe is being led by investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors in New York's Southern District, where both Marc Mukasey and his father previously served as assistant U.S. attorneys.
...
Read
the full article.
Labels: Bernard Madoff, Bracewell and Giuliani, Christopher Cox, Marc Mukasey, Michael Mukasey, ponzi, Rudi Giuliani, SEC
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12/17/2008 06:09:00 PM 
