Dylan Ratigan joined by Eliot Spitzer Explains Lehman Brothers Report

[democracy1st]

Run time: 10:51 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBUzzfCw5qs   Posted on YouTube: March 13, 2010 By YouTube Member: MoxNewsDotCom Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: March 13, 2010 By DU Member: democracy1st Views on DU: 2056

 
Full Report:
http://lehmanreport.jenner.com/


READ the first part of the 2,200-page report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/11/lehman-bankruptcy-report_n_495668.html



Lehman Bankruptcy: Bank's 'Accounting Gimmick,' Was Like 'A Drug,' Emails Show

The arcane "accounting gimmick" employed by Lehman Brothers as the firm failed in 2007 and 2008, was like "a drug" propelling the bank to conceal the true nature of its financial health, according to bankruptcy documents released yesterday.

As news organizations pore through the 2,200 pages of documents released by Anton Valukas, the examiner in charge of sifting through the most expensive bankruptcy in history, new details have surfaced about possible criminal actions by Lehman executives.

An executive referred to by Lehman execs as the firm's "balance sheet" czar -- who later went on to become the firm's COO -- likely had knowledge of the firm's highly creative accounting maneuvers, notes The New York Times.

At the center of the controversy is a technique called "Repo 105," under which Lehman was able to move $50 billion off of its balance sheet in the second quarter of 2008 alone, MarketWatch reports. Here's more from Market Watch:

Repo 105 is essentially a type of secured loan and is booked that way in the accounts -- leading to an increase in both assets and liabilities.

Lehman's trick was to use a clause in the accounting rules to classify the deal as a sale, even though it was still obliged to repurchase the assets at a later date. That meant the assets disappeared from the balance sheet, and it could use the cash it received to temporarily pay down other liabilities.... was crucial for maintaining the group's credit rating as rating agencies and investors began to focus more on leverage and demanded lower risk.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/12/lehman-bankrutpcy-repo-10_n_496463.html




Geithner: European Reforms Would Harm U.S. Interests

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has cautioned the European Commission about its latest attempts at financial regulation, warning that American banks, hedge funds and private equity funds would be discriminated against by the proposed rules.

In a letter to Michel Barnier, Europe's new Commissioner for Internal Market, Geithner expressed concern over the directive's "third country" provision, which would restrict European investment in non-European funds, the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal report.

Geithner joins British officials and Canadian investors in his criticism of the measure. The U.K. has argued that the reforms are tantamount to protectionism, and British Financial Services Secretary Paul Myners -- who recently accused Europe of "regulatory hypochondria," according to the WSJ -- has urged the EU to "eschew regulation for its own sake." And the Institutional Limited Partners Association, a Canada-based group representing private-equity investors, also sent a letter to Barnier expressing similar concerns

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/11/geithner-european-reforms_n_494876.html

[midnight]

1. This well be hard to prove? Really?

[flyarm]

2. K&R ! Thanks for posting this!! eom

[ooglymoogly]

3. Quelle supreeeeez....we've been robbed!!!!!....and to think

our Gubment is complicit. Call out the Police!!!!, oh wait they are involved too. Where to turn....

[skorpo]

4. They are such crooks. Now I understand what happened.

[bbgrunt]

5. the treasury and the fed! Let's have that audit NOW!!!

[greiner3]

6. As all this was coming out in the open;

The sleaze balls (Big bank CEOs eg) needed to get Elliot out of the way because he WOULD have put them in jail. They set him up.

[Enthusiast]

7. This shit should be

completely rooted out. It should be priority number one.

When are they going to regulate? I am losing all faith in the Obama Administration.

[ooglymoogly]

8. This will be swept under the rug....a rug that is now a microscopic pin point on

the huge, stinking, maggot filled pile of shit so high it should be called K something; So lofty you need sanctioned ropes,pitons and the most enigmatic climbing gear, to scale its misty heights; A mountain that must, in the end, crash of its own weight; A virtual mountain swept there by our lopsided, good ol' boy "justice" "System". Who would have guessed uncle Tom "justice" could reach such dizzying heights?

[Enthusiast]

12. I am sick to death of this.

With no law and order our nation is finished. To me this is of far greater urgency than fighting a war in Afghanistan.

[ooglymoogly]

13. It is the dying of the very soul of this country. The wars

are just a greedy distraction from it's care.

[KoKo]

9. K&R

[DallasNE]

10. When, How And Why

Did all of these special off-book accounting rules get put in place. Enron showed the way whereby the auditors hid behind the accounting rules and took down a company. It looks like pretty much the same thing happened here with Lehman Bros. My question is why has nothing been done to prevent this same scheme from being done over and over again as seems to be the case. Until we clean up the accounting industry we will be subjected to this fraud happening again and again.

[Skink]

11. Bernie Madoff just made up his returns.

[Bozita]

14. Recommended viewing because we're gonna see this again. And again. And ...

Banksters need rules. Auditors need rules. Rules with real jails with real fucking bars for miscreants.

We're just gonna keep repeating this shit until we figure it out.

[girl gone mad]

15. The bailouts were deeply unpopular from the start.

Lots of people knew it was fraud, even if we didn't have the specifics. We weren't conned so much as our government is captured. If heads don't roll soon, this nation may be finished.