| Goldman Sachs purportedly made $15 million trading in subprime mortgage securities. The SEC fined it half million dollars. What kind of signal does that send??? |
| Do not look to the Goldman settlement for guidance. […] The amount of the money penalty bears no relation to the benefits derived by Goldman from its alleged misconduct (reported as $15 million).
In 19th-century America, permissive incorporation laws and rapid economic development led to the rise of the large corporation, […]There was little consideration given to questions of when, as a matter of practical legal policy, an artificial entity should be treated as if it were a person. [T]he pro-business tenor of the S.E.C. under President George W. Bush found expression in written guidelines widely seen as intended to provide a principled basis for limiting fines paid by public companies. The S.E.C. under its current chairwoman, Mary Schapiro, is clearly raising the ceiling on the money penalties it will seek from (at least) high-profile corporate wrongdoers. The question of how best to discipline what Chief Justice John Marshall in 1819 called “an artificial being, invisible, intangible and existing only in contemplation of law” is indeed vexing. A corporation can’t be put in jail, its fines are ultimately paid by investors not responsible for the misconduct Do not look to the Goldman settlement for guidance. More important, the settlement brings the commission no closer to developing a clear standard when it comes to seeking redress for the behavior that led to the economic disaster. Source: "Wall Street Still Doesn’t Have a Sheriff" By RICHARD C. SAUER - NY Times Op-ED - July 25, 2010 |
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