Citigroup to pay $285 million in SEC CDO fraud case

[banned from Kos]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Citigroup-to-pay-285-mln-in-rb-4238342968.html?x=0&.v=4

The settlement is the third by the SEC against a major bank it accused of marketing a CDO, and then betting against it or allowing others to do so.

In June, JPMorgan Chase & Co agreed to a $153.6 million settlement over the Squared CDO 2007-1, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc in July 2010 accepted a $550 million accord over the Abacus 2007-AC1 CDO. (ID:nN1E75K13Z)

As part of the settlement, Citigroup will give up the $160 million of alleged improper fees and profits plus $30 million of interest, and pay a $95 million fine.

SEC keeps cracking down!

[Chimichurri]

1. That's it? That's nothing to them. It's a good start but they collect more in fees in

a few hours than that.

[renate]

2. I wish I understood these things... has that got anything to do with this Rolling Stone article?

"Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?"

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/is-the-sec-covering-up-wall-street-crimes-20110817?link=mostpopular3

Incidentally, I found that article through a link on this page:

http://www.overstock.com/50257/static.html

For six years Overstock.com has waged a war to expose Wall Street mischief. We did not go looking for a fight, but our company was attacked, and we learned we were not alone: the same manipulation-for-profit tools that Wall Street had deployed against us had also been deployed against many American companies, harming job creation, innovation, and economic growth. We knew that if left unchecked and unexposed, Wall Street's games could ultimately damage U.S. capital markets.

So in 2005 and 2007 we filed two lawsuits. The first case was against a hedge fund (Rocker Partners) and hatchet-job-for-hire research team (Gradient Analytics), both with ties to Jim Cramer. The second case was against a group of eleven Wall Street prime brokers, culminating in Goldman Sachs. The hedge fund in question (Rocker Partners) hired famed lawyer David Boies, and the prime brokers showed up with an army of the most prestigious law firms in America. Our lawyers were Dore Griffinger, Ellen Cirangle, Jonathan Sommer and Catherine Jackson of Stein & Lubin, a small but excellent San Francisco law firm.

snip

That leads us to the main event this coming December, when Overstock.com will square off against Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch (and Merrill's parent, Bank of America) in a San Francisco courtroom. Recently, in the prosecution of this case, we uncovered evidence of collusive action between Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and other Wall Street bad guys, in a scheme designed to fool regulators and profit illegally at the expense of Overstock.com. As a result of this discovery, in December 2010, we added a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act claim and requested treble damages under this RICO claim. We firmly believe the conduct of Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch were "racketeering" and "corrupt." We are moving forward: trial is scheduled to commence next year, on March 5, 2012. At trial we will hold Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch accountable and expose a slew of illegal Wall Street practices to the public.

They won the hedge fund case against Gradient and Rocker and got $5 million.

[girl gone mad]

3. Investors lost over $1 Billion.

Hardly punitive. Who went to jail? Whose compensation was clawed back in full?

[The Magistrate]

4. Hopefully, Sir, Judge Rakoff Will Hike It

A round billion, plus confession of fraudulent practice, is what is really called for here....