No One Likes A Trust Fund Baby Either

Today's NYT Select has a mistitled op-ed, "Memo to Spitzer: No One Likes a Bully." A bully actually backs up his words, wimpy former AG Spitzer hasn't done more then throw tantrums. Like most insecure rich boys he tends to overcompensate with tough guy talk which is currently directed at a 78 year old man.

Trust Fund Baby Eliot Spitzer Loses Again

This was not unexpected but followed the pattern of previous Spitzer prosecutions. Typically, Spitzer could threaten indictments and force settlements even in dubious cases since his victims had everything to lose. But Spitzer simply could never win in a trial. Accordingly, his tactics didn’t work if there was no settlement since the cases were extremely weak to begin with. Thankfully honorable men like Dick Grasso have the courage to standup to the demagogues and prevail:

Yet another of former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's legal cases flamed out yesterday, as a state appellate court dismissed the heart of his suit against former New York Stock Exchange chief Dick Grasso. We sympathize with current AG Andrew Cuomo, who now gets to pick up the pieces.

That's about all that's left after the appellate judges tossed out four of the six counts that Mr. Spitzer brought against Mr. Grasso in 2004 over a $187.5 million pay package. Mr. Spitzer, who is now Governor, had claimed authority to sue Mr. Grasso under New York's "not-for-profit law," arguing that the pay was "unreasonable." But as the court ruled yesterday, Mr. Spitzer had also done an end-run around the law, claiming authority not found in any statute. As a result, the court ruled, "the Attorney General does not have the authority" to proceed with most of the case.

Trust Fund Baby Gov. Eliot Spitzer a Spoiler Rich Kid Says Majority Leader

Bruno calls Spizter out in todays NY Post:

"Let's face it, this is a fellow who grew up having anything that he pleased, being able to say anything that he wants to say," Bruno said of Spitzer, whose father is a wealthy real estate developer.

"That's how he grew up. So it's kind of hard for him sometimes to relate to the average person, the common person..."

Eliot Spitzer takes a perverse pride in being hated by businessmen because it allows him to burnish his populist credentials. But as shown in ‘Spoiling for a Fight’ he is terribly insecure about being considered another bratty trust fund baby and frequently overcompensates with tough guy talk and threats (“I’ll call my daddy!”). Unlike Bloomberg, who earned the money he used to enter politics, Spitzer had to rely on daddies money to win the race for attorney general.

A Sordid Past

By abusing his ability to criminally incite firms Spitzer was able to force them to negotiate settlements while his office illegally leaked documents and Nifonged the firms in the press. For someone without scruples, it’s easy work given that the firms he attacked didn’t have any choice but to deal with him. Besides the WSJ, the MSM was content to portray the rich publicity hound as some kind of class warfare hero, conveniently ignoring his consistent failures to score a real conviction. His term as AG was undoubtedly harmful for the consumers he claimed to represent who now bare the burden of the higher costs of regulation.

Spitzer Goes Low Brow

His newest brainless proposal – regulating violent video games and movies – shows the dearth of political ideas in his administration. His number one campaign promise - to reform the budget - recently failed miserably and took his ratings down substantially.

In other Spitzer news it’s only a matter of days before he reverts to his old habits and threatens Raoul Felder with criminal indictment.

Governor Spitzer's Budget Failure

All the histrionics and posturing have brought the rookie governor no closer to cleaning up Albany as he promised. It turns out that without being about to threaten criminal indictments Mr. Spitzer is rather impotent. The trust fund baby still has his millions but at least he is in a place where he can't do any real damage. The NY Post reports on the governors failure:

Bruno, despite a shrinking majority and a criminal probe of his private business dealings, relied on his instinctive sense that Spitzer was a bully who would blink rather than fight beyond the budget deadline. And he parlayed that into a nearly $1 billion windfall for Long Island schools and his leftist allies in the totally self-centered hospital workers union.

The record-high, $123 billion budget deal neither reforms nor reshapes New York's notoriously special-interest-driven spending plan, other than at the edges.

Another Spitzer Claim Bites the Dust - WSJ Op/Ed

Remember when Trust Fund Baby Spitzer tried to blackmail AIG Chairman Hank Greenburg? When Greenburg didn't rollover, Spitzer went to the press to conduct the trial there. The WSJ fills in the details on the recently released report that exonerates Greenburg and raises questions about Spitzers methods:

One of his smears accused Mr. Greenberg of bilking the Starr Foundation, a New York charity. A report released this month by an independent committee exonerates Mr. Greenberg of that charge, even as new facts have emerged about Mr. Spitzer's nasty prosecutorial methods.
...
We now know this was merely one more hardball attempt to bludgeon Mr. Greenberg into settling the unrelated AIG charges. Sources who were part of the discussions at the time now say that Mr. Spitzer made clear that, unless Mr. Greenberg admitted guilt in the AIG case and personally wrote a check for north of $500 million, the AG would go public with the Starr allegations.
...
Mr. Greenberg is fortunate in that he is wealthy enough to defend himself and is also at the point in his life when he has little to lose from fighting a legal case to restore his reputation. Many of Mr. Spitzer's other targets weren't so lucky and had no choice but to settle or risk ruin. Mr. Spitzer and his former gang of bully boys in the AG's office owe Mr. Greenberg and the Starr Foundation an apology.

Trust Fund Baby Eliot Spitzer - Millionare and Still an Insufferable Brown-noser

Trust Fund Baby Spitzer shows that daddy's money isn't enough to avoid the politicians job of obsequious fawning over whatever victim group is hot this week. Swine politicians love to attach themselves to these tragedies. They get to appear to care and not actually have to do anything.

The sleazy millionaire is willing to shed his dignity and self-respect because one day it might by him a few votes - now that's dedication! What wouldn't he do for a positive press release?

My favourite part is his generosity with the taxpayers money, "pledging that the state would help the families with housing and employment." The sad part is the people who wouldn't send a dime of their own money would probably support it - as if the governments money just falls from the sky.

Another Prosecutorial Failure on Wall St

It makes good headlines to go after those rich Wall St guys but the charges almost never stick. These guys have a worse conviction rate than Spitzer.

“Chin held that while federal prosecutors proved that defendant David Finnerty engaged in interpositioning, they failed to prove fraudulent or deceptive conduct within the meaning of the securities laws.…Before Wednesday's ruling, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District had already dropped charges against seven of the defendants... Chin's decision "is a vindication" of Finnerty."

Finnerty was vindicated but the abusive prosecution already ruined his life. Where is the punishment for these state thugs who “provided no real evidence” of any crime but charged him anyway? Of the 15 traders charged, over half of them have had the charges dropped.

The game for the prosecutors is to make outrageous charges to get some headlines. Overcharge the traders so that they are looking at 120 year sentences if convicted to force the settlement. Since the prosecutors never had a case in the first place they have to rely on threats and bullying people into a settlement. If it falls through – who cares? They already got their headlines and disgraced the people that were charged anyway. Plus it worked for Spitzer.

It won’t be the last time.

Trust Fund Baby Elliot Spitzer’s Sleazy Start in Office

Remember the mediocre New York politician who abused his office and tax payer resources to personally benefit his wife? No NOT Hevesi.

Trust Fund Baby Elliot Spitzer was barely excreted on to the steps of the Capitol when it was exposed that he is putting his wife in an office at the capital at your expense. Her official position in his administration? She doesn’t have one. Her job? That’s not clear either. So much for everything changing – the dirt is already piling up.

New York taxpayers are paying to have Ms. Trust Fund Baby play office manager a few days a week.

How is this any different from what Hevesi did?

More Market Freedom? – Regulatory Tide Turning

Remember when Trust Fund Baby Elliot Spitzer tried to shake down H&R Block for the crime of offering retirement accounts for the poor? It was hard to miss since it was front page news everywhere. You may have missed the fact that Spitzers abusive prosecution failed again becuase the only media play it got was the Wall Street Journal Op/Ed Page.

Trust Fund Baby Spitzer is leaving the AG post in disgrace (unfortunately he isn’t disappearing for good) after a long string of embarrassing losses. At the same time regulations from the post Enron era are being rolled back.

Paulson is going after Sarbox, and the “Justice” Department got smacked down yesterday with new restraints being put in place in response to the brutal Thompson Memo. From the NY Times:

Under the revisions, federal prosecutors will no longer have blanket authority to ask routinely that a company under investigation waive the confidentiality of its legal communications or risk being indicted. Instead, they will need written approval for waivers from the deputy attorney general, and can make such requests only rarely.

It may be too late. The US’s burdensome regulations helped London eat our lunch.

Comrade Bloomberg and Schumer say that are going to help. With friends like these…

How Cooperation Agreements Make a Mockery of the Right to Trial by Jury

This is from Ellen Podger at law.com:

The demise of Arthur Andersen demonstrated the high cost incurred when challenging a government prosecution. The Supreme Court's reversal of the conviction didn't help resuscitate the company -- serving instead as a mere postscript on Andersen's tombstone. The government's ability to destroy a company, irrespective of legal accuracy, sent reverberations through the business world, resulting in companies across the United States entering into deferred prosecution agreements with the Department of Justice to avoid an Andersen-like destruction.

...availing oneself of the constitutional right to trial by jury is an incredible gamble, with the stakes raised higher than ever before, as the sentencing guidelines provide for draconian sentences in white-collar cases.

...We have to wonder whether this right is fully realized when so many individual defendants and companies are folding to government demands because of the high risk entailed in proceeding to trial.

The government doesn’t bear the cost of its own screwups. The prosecution had no incentive to be right back then and now they have even less of one now since it would be suicide for any company to risk trial. It’s the Spitzer play book, make wild accusations of wrong doing, leak documents to the press, and threaten prosecution to force a deal and claim victory.

We covered this with Enron here: http://nastybrutishandtall.com/2006/10/skillings-show-trial-has-predictable.html

Wall Street Drivel – Now Publishing Op/Eds Praising Spitzer

At first I thought it would be satire, but Donald Kempf appears to be completely serious in yesterdays WSJ Op/Ed, “Spitzer Is Good for Business.”

Somehow he didn’t cover the main issues that most capitalists had with trust fund baby Spitzer’s abusive regime. Spitzer’s main tactic for getting press was to make unsubstantiated accusations and indicting to force settlements. It had to be close to the easiest job in the world, especially since he never had any intention of going to trial. It’s the equivalent of holding a gun the head of the businesses and coercing them to settle. It’s pure prosecutorial abuse, and the press ate it up.

His fiat laws were not subject to oversight, review, or input from the industry, but hey I’m sure his intentions were good. The illegal leaks to journalists smearing the businesses and individuals he was going after (Citigroup, et al) went unpunished and practically unmentioned in the press. The few times Spizter did go to trial, he only went after low level employees he could bully around. Ohh and he still lost.

Thankfully honorable men like Richard Grasso wouldn’t back down and give in to the looter.

We can only conclude from this Op/Ed that Mr. Kempf is signaling he wants a job in politics. He’s rich, and clearly flexible on his principles so he should fit right in. Elliot Spitzer is a great example of why trust fund babies should stick to Greenpeace, where they can’t do any damage to the productive members of society.

FBI: Late to the Party Again- Don’t worry, Chip Burrus is here to help

Having wrapped up that whole terrorist thing the FBI is now jumping on the Hedge Fund Boogeyman bandwagon according to this article in Bloomberg today.

``I'm not interested in civil fines,'' he said. ``If I'm coming in and I'm looking, there are allegations of criminal misconduct. There's obviously a different pucker factor that comes when you start talking to an FBI agent

.
In other words, armed men show up and threaten criminal charges unless there is full cooperation (meaning just admit you did something wrong and we’ll go extort someone else) and a few employees are tossed under the bus. These are Elliot Spitzer style tactics of government intimidation and thuggery with the primary concern being headline and press release generation.

The article goes on to quote Mr. Fife:

``It is an emerging threat because of the dollar value and the number of institutions that are actively taking a look at this,'' Burrus said. ``People that maybe aren't expecting to have this type of a risky investment in their portfolio end up taking a bath.''

It’s an emerging threat because investors weren’t expecting that type of investment? So if an investor doesn’t do his research or ignores the dozens of warnings in the offering documents the FBI will investigate?

I feel safer already.