Business Corruption - USA

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Wed, 2009-02-04 14:34

NorthReport

This is just criminal.

Obama needs to properly fund the SEC so they can rout out this kind of crooked behaviour.

Madoff whistle blower assails SEC

http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090204.wmadoff0204/BNStory/Business/home

The man who waged a decade-long campaign to alert regulators to problems in the operations of fallen money manager Bernard Madoff told the U.S. Congress Wednesday that he had feared for his physical safety.

Harry Markopolos also assailed the Securities and Exchange Commission in his first appearance before lawmakers. The SEC failed to act despite receiving credible allegations of fraud from Mr. Markopolos about Mr. Madoff's operations over a decade.

Wed, 2009-02-04 14:39

NorthReport

Daschle WithdrawsFormer Senator Is Second Pick Today to Pull Out Over Taxes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/02/03/DI2009020301669.html

Real World, USA: Hi Mr. Sabato, Perhaps this rash of withdrawals is more a symptom of the D.C. climate than the administration's cabinet choices. At least the candidates are withdrawn, unlike the corruption we have seen in prior administrations (KBR). Are there any honest/qualified possibilities out there?

Larry Sabato: Thanks for pointing this out. I hate to dwell totally on the negative. I've been in and around politics since I was 7, and while most people refuse to believe it, some of the finest human beings I have ever known have been in politics--yes, even some in high office! They are not perfect, and none of us is. I'm sure they are some relatively untainted individuals out there who can be tapped to give us public service for the right reasons, who believe what George Mason wrote in 1776, that "magistrates [officeholders] are our servants, and at all times amenable to us."

Wed, 2009-02-04 20:07

NorthReport

This can't be true, can it?

Banks could still find wiggle room in pay caps

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g1yfesvnsA7ZB8bjtTI64XX-_uaQD96530H00

Wed, 2009-02-04 21:39

NorthReport

These clowns always make me chuckle, sort of.

With their approach corruption will definitely never be adequately addressed. Jesus, where do these people come from!

Corruption at the Top

Corruption is increasingly blatant and growing in both scope and frequency, even among wealthy democracies of the industrialized world. Will this come to an end

http://www.realtruth.org/articles/090203-004-analysis.html

Wed, 2009-02-04 21:48

NorthReport

Corruption in America's Gilded Age

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3614.html

On Wall Street a man's reputation, his associations, and his money all had to be evaluated before anyone put any confidence in his paper, precisely because men adept at producing financial information knew how unreliable it was.

Wed, 2009-02-04 22:00

Fidel

''Is there an epidemic of cholera there or something? Or have gangsters taken hold of the place?'' -- Khrushchev in America

Wed, 2009-02-04 23:59

NorthReport

This has got to be one of the sadest things I have read about in quite a while.

Kids for cash

Editorial: Judges Sentenced

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20090128_Editorial__Judges_Sentenced.html

The setting is Pennsylvania coal country, but it's a story right out of Dickens' grim 19th-century landscape: Two of Luzerne County's most senior judges on Monday were accused of sending children to jail in return for kickbacks.

The judges, Luzerne County President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., 58, and his predecessor, Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan, 56, will serve seven years in jail under a plea agreement.

They're alleged to have pocketed $2.6 million in payments from juvenile detention center operators.

When a federal judge reviews their plea, though, the question ought to be whether the punishment is adequate - along with the judges being bounced from the bench, disbarred, and losing their pensions.

If the allegations are true, Ciavarella and Conahan were involved in a disgraceful cabal far worse than one that merely lined their pockets.

First, the judges helped the detention centers land a county contract worth $58 million. Then their alleged scheme was to guarantee the operators a steady income by detaining juveniles, often on petty stuff.

Many of the kids were railroaded, according to allegations lodged with the state Supreme Court last year by the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, an advocacy group.

In asking the court to intervene in April, the law center cited hundreds of examples where teens accused of minor mischief were pressured to waive their right to lawyers, and then shipped to a detention center.

One teen was given a 90-day sentence for having parodied a school administrator online. Such unwarranted detentions left "both children and parents feeling bewildered, violated and traumatized," center lawyers said.

"Very few people would stand up" to the Luzerne judges, according to the law center's executive director, Robert G. Schwartz.

Fortunately, Juvenile Law Center was willing to do so, along with backing from state Attorney General Tom Corbett's office and the state Department of Public Welfare.

The blind justices on the state's high court, though, took a pass. Only last month, they offered no explanation in declining to take up the law center's request that the court step up.

Now, the state Supreme Court should revisit the issue, since the scope of corruption alleged at the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre could further undermine confidence in the courts statewide.

Authorities need to redress running roughshod over juveniles' rights - a process also likely to bring damage suits. While the local district attorney pledges to "do our best to right the situation," this calls for an independent, outside review.

The two judges' downfall may have rooted out the worst perpetrators of this evil scheme, but the abuse of power alleged in Luzerne County is so startling that it should send shock waves for reform around the state court system.

Thu, 2009-02-05 00:15

NorthReport

Juvenile Law Center Refiles and Expands Luzerne County Civil Rights Case with PA Supreme Court

http://jlc.org/news/18/luzernerefile/

Attorneys at Juvenile Law Center have submitted an expanded motion in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, renewing their request for immediate relief on behalf of hundreds of Luzerne County youth who have been the subjects of delinquency hearings before Judge Mark Ciavarella. The motion will be officially filed on Friday.

In April, 2008, Juvenile Law Center filed an application for extraordinary relief on behalf of youth who were adjudicated delinquent without the benefit of legal counsel. The Supreme Court denied the motion, without comment, earlier this month.

State records, statements from adjudicated youth, and transcripts of Juvenile Court proceedings all confirm that hundreds of youth in Luzerne County appeared without counsel during the most critical phases of delinquency proceedings as a consequence of unlawful waivers of counsel, resulting in unconstitutional admissions of guilt, delinquency adjudications, and out-of-home placements.

In light of recent developments, Juvenile Law Center has expanded the class of those affected by Judge Ciavarella’s alleged illegal actions to include all youth adjudicated delinquent and placed in detention from 2003- May 23, 2008.

The petition states, “Only by assuming jurisdiction can this Court assure the citizens of Luzerne County and the Commonwealth that justice will be done.”

“The information filed by the U.S. Attorney this week revealed that problems in Luzerne County juvenile court were far deeper and more widespread than those we alleged in our 2008 application to the Supreme Court,” says Robert Schwartz, Executive Director, Juvenile Law Center. “Judges are expected to uphold the law and Juvenile Court judges have an added responsibility to protect and guide troubled youth. That didn’t happen for hundreds of youth in the county. There is an enormous need for an independent entity to review these cases and provide relief for every one of these youth. It is time for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to restore public confidence in the Luzerne County Juvenile Court.”

Juvenile Law Center is asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to take immediate action and declare the delinquency procedures in Luzerne County a wholesale subversion of the juvenile justice system and exercise jurisdiction not only over the class of youth named in the previous application, but over the cases of all youth who were adjudicated delinquent by Judge Ciavarella during the period 2003 through May 23, 2008. The U.S. Attorney’s allegations against Judge Ciavarella, detailing unprecedented abuses of power, only underscores the harm inflicted by his unconstitutional practice of conducting delinquency hearings without counsel

Thu, 2009-02-05 09:20

abnormal

[quote=NorthReport]

This can't be true, can it?

Banks could still find wiggle room in pay caps

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g1yfesvnsA7ZB8bjtTI64XX-_uaQD96530H00[/quote]

There's plenty of wiggle room.

Without seeing the actual legislation it's tough to make any sort of definitive statement about how to do it but I can think of a few possibles. And of course this says nothing about how to address existing employment contracts. Typically they include some pretty significant severance packages. They don't necessarily qualify as golden parachutes but they're still pretty rich. I know if I was close to retirement getting let go with two or three years of salary and a full pension wouldn't seem to be too bad a fate.

I'm more concerned about how they actually think they're going to hire and/or promote people. As an example, if you've got a producer who's compensated via commission why would he/she ever consider being promoted to the executive suite if that encompassed a huge drop in pay? Ditto trying to hire someone in from outside that's got a successful track record and isn't at a company that's subject to restrictions.

Thu, 2009-02-05 10:50

#10

wwSwimming

I would say at this point, criminal behavior is standard operating procedure in most American corporations and many municipalities.

I would think eventually the world would learn, after witnessing the spectrum of scams from Enron to Madoff, and everything between, before, and since - you can't trust American businesses, with exceptions.

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http://LASIK-Flap.com ~ Health Warning about LASIK Eye Surgery

Fri, 2009-02-06 08:02

#11

abnormal

Swimming, I doubt that American corporations and municipalities are particularly different than those anywhere else in the world.

Fri, 2009-02-06 09:41

#12

NorthReport

How much corruption goes unreported, we'll never know Madoff update: Markopolos tells SEC white collar criminals worse than the mob

http://www.examiner.com/x-1997-SF-Financial-Fraud-Examiner~y2009m2d4-Madoff-testimony-says-white-collar-criminals-worse-than-the-mob

Government has coddled, accepted, and ignored white collar crime for too long.

It is time the nation woke up and realized that it's not the armed robbers or drug dealers who cause the most economic harm, it's the white collar criminals living in the most expensive homes who have the most impressive resumes who harm us the most.

They steal our pensions, bankrupt our companies, and destroy thousands of jobs, ruining countless lives.

Fri, 2009-02-06 10:36

#13

Fidel

abnormal wrote:
Swimming, I doubt that American corporations and municipalities are particularly different than those anywhere else in the world.

Ha! I think the Yanks would actually be better off if they returned to full-fledged imperialism. At least then the poor and those struggling in America would know for sure who has all the money.