Wall Street Criminal Referrals: 96% Decline

How deep in the tank have our regulators gone over the years to protect Wall Street rather than upholding their mandate to provide real investor protection?
Really deep.
How might we measure the depth?
Check out the following incredible statistic highlighted by one of my favorite financial journalists, that being Bloomberg’s Jonathan Weil. 

In 1995, bank regulators made 1,837 criminal referrals to the Justice Department, according to data the Times reporters [Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story] obtained from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. From 2007 to 2010, the average number of referrals for criminal prosecution was 72.

The plunge makes it seem like this must have been the result of a policy choice, perhaps motivated in part by a desire to promote financial stability.

Weil might be too deferential here.
Is there any doubt that the plunge — a 96 percent decline in criminal referrals — was largely the result of a regulatory system that was bought and paid for by the industry itself? I have no doubt. As a nation we have paid the price in spades as a result.
Despite whatever anybody might say, that 96 percent decline in criminal referrals is the legacy of all those who ran Wall Street’s regulatory oversight during this period of time.
The numbers do not lie although certainly many a regulator and others involved in this travesty of justice certainly may have in order to cover their a$$ over the years.
Props to Weil, Morgenson, and Story for bringing us the badly needed truth.
Navigate accordingly.
Larry Doyle
Please pre-order a copy of my book, In Bed with Wall Street: The Conspiracy Crippling Our Global Economy, that will be published by Palgrave Macmillan on January 7, 2014.
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I have no business interest with any entity referenced in this commentary. The opinions expressed are my own. I am a proponent of real transparency within our markets so that investor confidence and investor protection can be achieved. 

This entry was posted on Friday, August 23rd, 2013 at 7:00 AM and is filed under General, regulation, regulatory capture, Wall Street Washington Incest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.