....JP Morgan was prepared to pay whatever it took to buy off officials in Jefferson County. In 2002, during a conversation recorded in Nixonian fashion by JP Morgan itself, LeCroy bragged that he had agreed to funnel payoff money to a pair of local companies to secure the votes of two county commissioners. "Look," the commissioners told him, "if we support the synthetic refunding, you guys have to take care of our two firms." LeCroy didn't blink. "Whatever you want," he told them. "If that's what you need, that's what you get. Just tell us how much."
Just tell us how much. That sums up the approach that JP Morgan took a few months later, when Langford announced that his good buddy Bill Blount would henceforth be involved with every financing transaction for Jefferson County. From JP Morgan's point of view, the decision to pay off Blount was a no-brainer. But the bank had one small problem: Goldman Sachs had already crawled up Blount's trouser leg, and the broker was advising Langford to pick them as Jefferson County's investment bank.
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That such a blatant violation of anti-trust laws took place and neither JP Morgan nor Goldman have been prosecuted for it is yet another mystery of the current financial crisis. "This is an open-and-shut case of anti-competitive behavior," says Taylor, the former regulator.
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Read the whole thing at Rolling Stone here.
2 COMMENTS:
"It’s Easter, so here’s a meaty, ethical question. Are bankers somehow more wicked than the rest of us? Is there something about the occupation that attracts the rogues or turns the honest into cheats?"
From Times Online UK http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article7086278.ece =)
These guys are sacrilegious..they worship money...there is no right or wrong...its the bottom line even though there is no bottom....over time people will begin to understand how hard these guys and their buddies screwed not only us..but our way of life...you'll see
"Among the key matters discussed, most of which we have discussed previously extensively on Zero Hedge, were the hot topic of Megabanks and their worthlessness (but don't tell Dimon or Blankfein). It is no secret that should all the US megabanks be forced to mark their assets to market, all of them would be immediately insolvent. "
http://tinyurl.com/y8gws4e
Hudson knows....watch parts 3 and 4
On the Edge with Max Keiser – And Michael Hudson
http://tinyurl.com/yb2sygc
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