Top Ex-Merrill Lynch Energy Trader Guilty

[54anickel]

Why do these things get released in the middle of the night on a Friday?

NOTE TO MODERATOR: These scdandal articles are dated Friday, but the Google search states they were released 5-6 hours ago. Your call.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=4024476

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The former head energy trader for Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , pleaded guilty on Friday to charges that he stole $43 million from Merrill and schemed with superiors to falsify the records of the firm's energy trading division.

Daniel Gordon, 27, of Lyme, Connecticut, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to charges of wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to falsify books and records.

The three charges carry a maximum prison term of 55 years and fines of over $1.25 million. Under the plea agreement, Gordon said he would forfeit $43 million.

His punishment, expected to be far less severe than the statutory maximum, will be based on federal sentencing guidelines. A report suggesting a sentencing guideline range will be submitted to the judge at a later date by the probation department.

In a related move, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Gordon in federal court in Houston. The complaint includes allegations that Gordon aided Enron Corp.'s (ENRNQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) . financial fraud by engaging in a risk-free energy trade, designed to overstate the reported 1999 income of the once high-flying Houston-based energy trading firm.

more.....

http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=governmentFilingsNews&storyID=4024198

U.S. SEC to settle with CIBC in Enron probe-source
WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was expected to announce a legal settlement soon in its probe of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce's (CM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) ties to Enron Corp. (ENRNQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) , a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The settlement, which could be unveiled as early as Monday, was expected to stem from an SEC inquiry into CIBC's role in complex loans made to Enron. The former energy trader's 2001 collapse was the first in a series of corporate scandals to shake U.S. markets.

CIBC spokesman Robert Waite said the bank disclosed in its most recent financial results statement that "we were in discussions with the SEC, but those continue."

Declining to comment on the talks, Waite said no settlement had been reached and he did not know when one might be.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=4026191

Watchdog: About 400,000 Use Tax Dodges

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative estimates by U.S. tax officials show that about 400,000 taxpayers have tried to use offshore credit cards and other means to dodge taxes, the General Accounting Office, Congress' watchdog agency, said on Friday.
The Internal Revenue Service used the 400,000 figure in budget discussions with the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget, the GAO said in a report released Friday. It said the IRS based the estimate on promoters of tax shelters it had identified so far, using "conservative" assumptions about the number of investors linked to each.

The administration's proposed fiscal 2005 budget request is expected early next year.

"We noted that abusive schemes could threaten our tax system's integrity and fairness if honest taxpayers believe that significant numbers of individuals are not paying their fair share of taxes," the GAO said.

snip>
There are so many more, Janus, Strong, Duke Energy. All getting the weekend press.

[Nlighten1]

1. They use tax dodges but they get tax cuts and returns.

And the American public is none the wiser. Don't pay taxes but get money back, oy.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. "Not paying their fair share."

And the rest of us, of course, are the "lucky duckies" who don't pay anything BECAUSE WE DON'T MAKE ANYTHING.


:grr:

Thanks for this; it truly makes my week-end, which I was going to spend getting all my papers in order for tax time.

[54anickel]

3. Sorry, hopefully you are looking forward to a refund. If not, be sure

to write "I am happy to" above the "Pay to the order of" line on your check. :P

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. LOL!

[Robbien]

5. Is not Merrill Lynch one of the top three contributors to GWB's

campaign? So for their money they get this scandel released in the late Friday dump. A good investment for them.

[candy331]

6. The corporate crooks with

the selling of America continues on.

[david_vincent]

7. This would make a great movie

Just how does a guy in his mid-20s become head energy trader at Merrill Lynch, anyway?
I can see Johnny Depp playing this guy who has no moral compass at all, completely unable to detect even that "right" and "wrong" exist, let alone that he should pursue one and avoid the other. Driven by nothing but greed and consumed by his destiny to be a jackass, he'll go through the entire judicial process completely bewildered, because he doesn't understand the concept of wrongdoing. In the end, he'll serve 2 and a half years at the federal country club at Paradise, Nevada, and return to become a grey eminence among New York traders.
Just another pig at the trough. But, like Milken and Boesky, he'll be allowed to keep part of what he stole.
If I were king, he'd spend ten years at hard labor in Alaska, and be forbidden to ever be employed in any financial company.
What does anyone want to bet that he's a product of an Ivy League school for criminals, er, university?

[loudnclear]

8. God, I'm glad there are no Iraq headlines to keep this off the front page!

NOT!!!