Madoff on Fooling SEC: 'Just Be Casual'

'New York Times' analysis finds 350 instances of banks getting free passes

(NEWSER) - The Securities and Exchange Commission has repeatedly allowed Wall Street's biggest banks to avoid penalties specifically intended to punish and deter fraud, a New York Times analysis of SEC records reveals. Over the past decade, the SEC has on almost 350 occasions granted waivers exempting big financial companies from sanctions, allowing banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to continue to enjoy advantages, like protection from shareholder lawsuits, that are supposed to be reserved for the most dependable companies. More»

Daniel Ruettiger, 12 others accused of 'pump-and-dump' scheme

(NEWSER) - Daniel Ruettiger—the man who inspired the 1993 movie Rudy, about an undersized student who earned a spot on Notre Dame's football team—is paying a full-sized $382,866 to settle fraud charges with the SEC, reports the Wall Street Journal . Ruettiger and 12 accomplices were charged with a "pump-and-dump" stock scheme that generated $11 million in allegedly illegitimate profits in energy drink company Rudy Nutrition. More»

SEC official quashed Stanford probe then sought to represent him

(NEWSER) - The SEC in April faced the release of a report slamming it for bungling an alleged Ponzi scheme. So what's a watchdog to do? Sue Goldman Sachs the same day, the agency's own internal watchdog told a Senate committee yesterday. Inspector-general H. David Kotz said it "would strain credulity to think it was coincidental," the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

$500M penalty amounts to just 2 weeks of profits

(NEWSER) - The SEC is boasting that the $550 million settlement it agreed to with Goldman Sachs is the "largest-ever penalty paid by a Wall Street firm." That may be true, but that doesn't mean it's actually going to chasten Goldman. Top put things in perspective, Pro Publica notes that the fine is...

• ... less than Goldman gave away to small businesses as a PR move in November.
• ... less than one-tenth of the value Goldman stock gained yesterday on news of a settlement.

Former partner knows where it is, may cut deal

(NEWSER) - Bernie Madoff has a secret stash, and his partner in crime knows where it is. The Ponzi schemer has told fellow federal prisoners he funneled $9 billion to three people—“I think it was personal friends,” the source tells the New York Post —and he suspects Frank DiPascali is using his knowledge of the recipients to make a deal with prosecutors. More»