Charges may come against ex-Bear Stearns execs: report

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors are preparing to file criminal charges against managers of two Bear Stearns hedge funds whose collapse helped kick off the credit crisis last year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Any indictments would be the first major criminal charges brought against Wall Street executives or fund managers stemming from the subprime mortgage crisis.

The meltdown of the two funds last year stoked widespread fears about investments tied to risky home loans, as well as spurring questions about the oversight and risk management operations at Bear Stearns, which is now part of JPMorgan Chase & Co after it was badly weakened by the mortgage crisis.

Former bond portfolio managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin could be charged with securities fraud within the next week, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN1616778220080616

[aquart]

1. YES!

Bear Stearns is a criminal enterprise. Period.

[texastoast]

2. Is Phil Gramm anywhere close to these two?

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html

[damntexdem]

3. Who could trust a company whose name sounds like ursine rear ends?

;-)

[Ian David]

4. Scape-bears? n/t

[cascadiance]

5. They'll get Republicans and Carl Icahn to join them...

... when they charge Bear Stearns with f'ing up the Microsoft/Yahoo takeover which BS was supposed to take care of when they "ran into their other problems"... They gotta make up for the stock option losses somehow!

[bluesmail]

6. May. This is progress, May.

but they'll NEVER get the Big Fishes.

[4_TN_TITANS]

7. Whoo Hoo - Sweet Justice!

:sarcasm: my ass... These clowns will never have to pay anywhere close to the damage they've caused.