‘Inexcusable’ - Mutual funds

[dArKeR]

IN THE PAST two weeks, state and federal investigators have charged a handful of the country’s largest mutual funds with improper trading practices. And the probe is widening. An estimated 88 mutual fund complexes, as they’re known, and about 34 broker-dealers have now reportedly been identified in connection with the recent inquiries. Early this week, Stephen Cutler, chief of enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission, told a Congressional panel investigating the scandals that so-called late trading—allowing privileged clients to trade after the market closes at 4 p.m.—may occur at as many as 10 percent of the mutual fund companies contacted by his agency, and that almost 30 percent of broker-dealers surveyed indicated they’d let some customers engage in market timing—quick in-and-out trades that take advantage of pricing lags between different markets...

John Bogle: There is clearly illegal, late-date trading going on. It’s like, “Can I send this money in late and I’ll give you a lot of benefits if you let me do it?” Or: “Let me loot your stockholders and I’ll make it worth your while.” That’s what is going on, and it is inexcusable. The time-zone trading is equally bad, but generally apparently legal. Though to me, if you let that go on, you have violated some proper business conduct, fiduciary duty, whatever exists.

http://msnbc.com/news/990310.asp?0cl=c1

[SoCalDem]

1. What amazes me, is how "efficient" the outing of these crooks is,

AFTER they steal all the money..

It was the same with the Enron & pals 401-k debacle.. It was the same with the Savings & Loan nonsense in the 80's..

It's OBSCENE.. The bad guys steal the money, send most of it offshore, buy a few trinkets for the wife & kiddies, build a mansion in "tax-free" Texas or Florida, and THEN they get caught.. The congress/attorney general's office huff & puff about the outrage, hold hearings, fine them (some will do a little r&r at a Club Fed B&B)....BUT.....and it's a big BUT... the little guy never sees any of his money..

With computers, there has to be a way to track what people were cheated out of, and every stinking thing these crooks own shold be SOLD and the money distributed by percentage to the everyday people they stole it from..


If a guy walks into a 7-11 and steals $200.00 he will go to jail for a long time, and will have to pay resitution, but these freaks walk away..

Would YOU do a couple of years at a Club Fed, if you knew your family was living it up at the mansion, and when you got out, you would still have hundreds of millions of dallars waiting for you in Grand Cayman?? I would !!!

[Noordam]

2. kick

:kick:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. kick

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. It's a lucrative way to make a buck if you're a stocktrader.

I keep thinking of my snooty Republican relatives in New York. They all find their jobs from word of mouth. I don't think any one of them has ever opened the New York Times to read the Employment Ads. And many of them got jobs as stock traders and in the bond market. Those boys brought home gobs of money, enough to set up their own divey weekend bars in the get-away places in Long Island and shared rent with friends for weekend houses. It was an obscene lifestyle for very young kids to experience right off the bat and I knew that there was something that was terribly out of proportion.

However, without all this talk of the scandals in Wall Street, I never had anything tangible to bring to the table. I do know that a little modesty will bring them back on the same page with the rest of us, because their attitude was, "I got mine and I don't want to give any of it to the lazy welfare queens in this country."

Personally, I think we're losing more to the Welfare Corporate Kings of this country, than to any other group.

[KoKo]

5. Yes, Backlash. 20 Something kids were raking it in during the Bubble,

and no one was training them or mentoring them in ethics or anything else. Life was good and it was a "free-for-all" while it lasted. And, if some of them didn't spend it all,they still have enough left to live well on for many years, while the people who invested don't have a way to make up what was stolen. I knew some of those kids. It was hard to take for those of us who came into the job market in lean times when there were Laws and Ethics.

I don't blame them, for it. I blame Dodd and Lieberman who fought in 1993 to relax the SEC rules and the rest of he politicians who relaxed them even further during the late 90's.

But, no one will go to jail. SoCal's correct. It just get's "wiped out" like the S&L Debaucle. "Nothing to see there.....move along."

I actually fear that some folks will think Bush is cleaning this mess up rather than blaming the Repugs for this who unfortunately had some complicity by Repug-Lite Dem cohorts in the House and Senate. Instead they will blame Clinton, as usual.

[Cocoa]

9. they overrode a Clinton veto

and yes, Dodd was the one leading the fight.

Lieberman was also part of it, I remember seeing him try to defend himself on "Frontline" after Enron, which was seen as a direct consequence of that law.

[realFedUp]

8. we're losing more to the Welfare Corporate Kings of this country

indeed.

[Superfly]

6. Which funds are getting hit?

anybody know?

[SoCalDem]

7. Most of them..

:(

[Don_G]

10. Per AP: 25 to 30 Percent So Far

Probably more after investegations: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGANQUDFQMD.html

[54anickel]

11. Was told tip of the iceberg...

by my investment advisor on Wed. Went to see him about rolling over my 401K (yes one of many to join the ranks of unemployed).
He said his firm was notified of 80 subpenas (spelling?) having been served so far. He was also told it was "the tip of the iceberg".
Good thing, this will result in tighter regulations.
Bad thing, none of us that were screwed will probably see a dime.

[bleedingheart]

12. Kick! Very Important!

[SoCalDem]

13. cspan website has the videos of the hearings, if you missed them

interesting to watch, but infuriating as well:(