Eindelijk eens iemand die zijn mond durft open te doen. Het systeem dat deze deskundige aanvalt, is hetzelfde systeem dat minister Bos met miljarden aan belastinggeld probeert overeind te houden. Harry Markopolos told lawmakers Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission ignored his credible allegations against Bernard Madoff for over a decade. (Photo: Susan Walsh / AP)Washington - The man who waged a decade-long campaign to alert regulators to problems in the operations of fallen money manager Bernard Madoff told Congress today 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 Markopolos about Madoff's operations over a decade.
Because of the agency's inaction, "I became fearful for the safety of my family," Markopolos said at the hearing of a House Financial Services subcommittee.
"The SEC is ... captive to the industry it regulates and is afraid" to bring big cases against prominent individuals, Markopolos asserted. The agency "roars like a lion and bites like a flea" and "is busy protecting the big financial predators from investors," he said.
He spoke as several top-level SEC officials, including the agency's enforcement director, sat three rows back in the packed hearing room, awaiting their turn to testify before the panel.
While the SEC is incompetent, the securities industry's self-policing organization, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is "very corrupt," Markopolos charged. That organization was headed until December by Mary Schapiro, President Barack Obama's new SEC chief.
The SEC has been sustaining volleys of criticism from lawmakers and investor advocates over its failure to discover Madoff's alleged $50 billion fraud, which could be the biggest Ponzi scheme ever, despite the credible allegations brought to it over years. Against the backdrop of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, the SEC is being accused of further eroding investor confidence and lawmakers of both parties are calling for a shake-up of the agency.
Madoff, a prominent Wall Street figure, was arrested in December after allegedly confessing to bilking investors in what the authorities say was a giant Ponzi scheme, possibly the largest ever. His repeated warnings to SEC staff that Madoff was running a massive pyramid scheme have cast Markopolos as an unheeded prophet in the scandal.
"The SEC was never capable of catching Mr. Madoff. He could have gone to $100 billion" without being discovered, Markopolos testified. "It took me about five minutes to figure out he was a fraud."'
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 Markopolos about Madoff's operations over a decade.
Because of the agency's inaction, "I became fearful for the safety of my family," Markopolos said at the hearing of a House Financial Services subcommittee.
"The SEC is ... captive to the industry it regulates and is afraid" to bring big cases against prominent individuals, Markopolos asserted. The agency "roars like a lion and bites like a flea" and "is busy protecting the big financial predators from investors," he said.
He spoke as several top-level SEC officials, including the agency's enforcement director, sat three rows back in the packed hearing room, awaiting their turn to testify before the panel.
While the SEC is incompetent, the securities industry's self-policing organization, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is "very corrupt," Markopolos charged. That organization was headed until December by Mary Schapiro, President Barack Obama's new SEC chief.
The SEC has been sustaining volleys of criticism from lawmakers and investor advocates over its failure to discover Madoff's alleged $50 billion fraud, which could be the biggest Ponzi scheme ever, despite the credible allegations brought to it over years. Against the backdrop of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, the SEC is being accused of further eroding investor confidence and lawmakers of both parties are calling for a shake-up of the agency.
Madoff, a prominent Wall Street figure, was arrested in December after allegedly confessing to bilking investors in what the authorities say was a giant Ponzi scheme, possibly the largest ever. His repeated warnings to SEC staff that Madoff was running a massive pyramid scheme have cast Markopolos as an unheeded prophet in the scandal.
"The SEC was never capable of catching Mr. Madoff. He could have gone to $100 billion" without being discovered, Markopolos testified. "It took me about five minutes to figure out he was a fraud."'
Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/020409R
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Nietsontziende brutaliteit (vandaag): Dubbele bonus voor bankiers ABN
Ongeveer vijfhonderd bankiers van ABN Amro ontvangen dit jaar een dubbele bonus. Naast een prestatietoeslag volgens de cao, krijgen deze managers ook een extra bonus van enkele maandsalarissen. ...
Het gaat volgens Charlier in een deel van de gevallen om zogenaamde retentiebonussen. Deze werden toegekend na de overname van ABN Amro door een consortium van drie banken en lopen nog steeds door. ‘Dat hebben we gedaan op verzoek van De Nederlandsche Bank en het consortium. We moesten de belangrijke mensen op die manier binnen het concern houden.’
Wouter Bos, sinds begin oktober eigenaar van ABN Amro, heeft hiervoor volgens Charlier ook impliciet zijn goedkeuring gegeven. ‘Hij heeft gezegd dat hij de afspraken tussen ABN Amro en het consortium zou respecteren.’ De overige bonussen zijn volgens Charlier niet goedgekeurd door Bos. ‘We hebben het ministerie wel geïnformeerd, maar er was geen sprake van een dialoog.’
Met zo'n regering is er geen hooivork meer te krijgen in nederland.
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