Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The John and Andy Show Part Two

You can just smell that Andrew Cuomo smells opportunity.  The self-aggrandizing New York State Attorney General has just subpoenaed John Thain in regards to the Merrill Lynch bonus payout push-up.  
It is being reported on CNBC (and now on Marketwatch) that Andrew Cuomo (one of the few law enforcement folks who actually take the word law and enforcement as serious commitments, in my experience) has decided to subpoena former CEO Thain under the Martin Act (a securities guy's nightmare, as it is a criminal fraud statute!) related to the bonus payment move-up.
I'll say this - if Cuomo starts bringing charges related to the collapse and bullcrap that has gone on over the last year and a half, especially if he starts targeting the fools who paraded their companies around CNBC claiming they were "Well capitalized" days before collapse, I'll kiss Cuomo on the lips - and I'm not gay.
Well don't pucker up just yet, John and Andy have done this dance before as you can read for yourself in The People's Lawyer or The John and Andy show. Andy will, no doubt,  score some political points on Goldman Sachs's ex-man in Merrill Lynch, but only for show. As with the auction rate securities the billionaires will keep most of their stolen loot while Andy grandstands and parades recovered crumbs as a big victory in front of the little guy: unless and he smells the curtains of the White House and goes off range, in which case a Spitzer style push back would not be far behind.  Still he could do a lot of right things for his own reasons. Oh what you wanted then done for the right reasons, on Wall Street. Better wake up and smell the bacon.

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