It seems the SEC "stood down" repeatedly for those in the Bush Family Circle.

[seafan]

Remember former SEC attorney Gary Aguirre's testimony that an insider trading investigation was squelched?, from 2007

In a December (2006) hearing of the Judiciary Committee, just before Congress changed hands, Grassley and the panel's then-chairman, Specter, uncovered further evidence of Justice Department collusion in efforts to thwart congressional inquiry and intimidate whistleblowers. This involved the unheard-of step of subpoenaing confidential discussions between a whistleblower and congressional staff.
That hearing focused on charges, by former Securities and Exchange Commission attorney Gary Aguirre, that an investigation into insider trading by one of the largest hedge funds was squelched by SEC officials. Aguirre had wanted to take testimony from a prominent Wall Street figure, who was also a major fundraiser for President Bush. When he pressed the point, he was not only prevented from doing so -- he was fired.

Jeb Bush's former business partner Armando Codina takes $255 Million from FEC stock sale in buyout., from 2007

In another example, Tuesday’s purchase of Florida East Coast Industries, a railway and real estate company, by Fortress Investment Group, was preceded by soaring options trading almost a week earlier. As many as 16,747 options contracts on Florida East Coast were traded last Wednesday alone – almost 27 times the average daily trading volume for April of just 623 contracts.

Trading in options to buy shares of Florida East Coast Industries Inc. surged to the most ever last week before the railroad operator said it will be acquired by private equity firm Fortress Investment Group LLC.

Let's not forget, Jeb Bush joined Lehman in 2007:


Did the SEC overlook Lehman insider trading?, February 23, 2009

Regulator Faces Fresh Scrutiny Over Trading Inquiry at Lehman, February 22, 2009



Kucinich on Stanford Group Fraud: Who Told SEC to "Stand Down?", February 21, 2009



The signs all point back to revelations such as this one:


May 5, 2006: "Intelligence Czar Negroponte Can Waive SEC Rules"

President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations. Notice of the development came in a brief entry in the Federal Register, dated May 5, 2006, that was opaque to the untrained eye.

Unbeknownst to almost all of Washington and the financial world, Bush and every other President since Jimmy Carter have had the authority to exempt companies working on certain top-secret defense projects from portions of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. Administration officials told BusinessWeek that they believe this is the first time a President has ever delegated the authority to someone outside the Oval Office. It couldn't be immediately determined whether any company has received a waiver under this provision. .....

Now, who is in charge of these criminal investigations?

[gratuitous]

1. No, it was all those po' folk

Forcing banks to write mortgages! That's what caused our economic crisis! Poor people! Don't you people listen to Rick Santelli?! He worked for Drexel Burnham Lambert, so he should know.

[aquart]

67. Ah, Drexel. I went to the auction of their office stuff.

Got an IBM Selectric. Good ol' Drexel.

[scarletwoman]

2. The Octopus. That's what we're up against. (nt)

[defendandprotect]

32. Presume. . .

You'e referring to Danny Cassalaro's investigation --

Have you read the book on this -- keep meaning to buy it.

[scarletwoman]

54. You presume correctly.

No, I haven't read the book, I've only read a number of articles about him, his research, and his "suicide".

I was trying to find my way to an old Columbia Journalism Review article about him from some years back last night but I couldn't get the link to work. I found a google cache of the article, but my tired old computer kept crashing, so I finally gave up trying to post it last night -- I couldn't stay up any later.

I hope to give it another try in a bit...

sw

[defendandprotect]

57. You might be interested . . .

in scanning the reviews of the book on him by Keith & Thomas . . .

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0922915393/ref=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

Everytime I go in to check a book, I intend to order that one but . . . something always happens!

[scarletwoman]

58. Actually, I spent some time there last night. I read every customer review. (nt)

[EFerrari]

3. Kick

[B o d i]

4. Reading this thread and the one you posted earlier re: Iran Contra redux, I'm starting to freak out

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5118451&mesg_id=5118451

It's even worse than I thought. I don't know what to do. I want to just climb in a bottle and never climb out again, but that won't help anything.

Anybody have any good suggestions on how to bring the entire network of crooks to trial for what they've done and continue to do?

[earthboundmisfit]

5. Me too

Same names keep surfacing re MONEY and POWER - and the BFEE...

[EFerrari]

9. One step at a time.

Don't freak out. Just put the information in your pocket. The first step is for people to know.

[scarletwoman]

10. I know what you mean. I started finding out about all these connections years ago, and I STILL don't

know how to deal with it, other than just be aware.

sw

[conscious evolution]

18. You really want to freak out?

Start reading DUer Octafish.

[blm]

23. Keep pressing Obama WH to open the books on BCCI - every other matter that endangers the country is

related to what occurred at BCCI. The BFEE crime wave never stopped, even with the BCCI report of Dec 1992 that called for further examination and access to documents - BUT - a few powerful Dems made sure to protect Poppy Bush and his cronies from further scrutiny throughout the 90s setting up their return to WH.

[defendandprotect]

30. Yes . .. execute the laws on our books -- !!! Congress full steam ahead -- !!!

* As the corporates/GOP began to overturn New Deal -- Truman began by an attack

on Labor with Hatch Act/? And that's now run it's course so that from our highest

union representation at about 39% we are now down to I think near or below 10%.

Attacks on labor/unions have been relentlessly pursued.

* The HUAC was used to demonize liberals and to push them out of govenrment ---

and to begin to make liberal/progressive dirty words synonomous with "commie."

* Of course, Cold War was used to frighten Americans and keep MIC going --

* Ike and Kennedy were both betrayed in their peace efforts by CIA --

* Assassinations of national leaders -- from JFK to MLK, Jr., Bobby.

As women's movement began to take off internationally, they were pushed back by

violence. African-Americans faced great rightwing violence in trying to overturn

Segregation. So, too, have homosexual community faced continuing violence.

J. Edgar Hoover feared the rise of a "black messiah" but overall they understand

the threat to their cause from any leadership rising for any cause.

* Whatever was left of a "free press" at the time of the JFK assassination, they

destroyed it. "The myth of a free press died with the assassination of JFK."

* And then the attacks on the financial restrictions of the New Deal began.

If we want to undo this, we have to have some idea of the patterns they follow.

This isn't all of it of course -- it begins with genocide and the use of "white male

propaganda" as history to demonize the Native American.

The Imperialists are back and they are as suicidal as ever!

[midnight]

55. Restitution.

[Zhade]

6. KICK REC

PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE

[EFerrari]

8. The financial meltdown is exposing old crime scenes.

Amazing.

[catzies]

22. Heh. Allow me to coin a very clumsy phrase

"If a rising tide lifts all boats, a falling tide exposes all crimes."

[varelse]

52. ...or uncovers all the bodies, anchored to the bottom :(

[Supersedeas]

63. that the thing the burns Wall Street "reporters" the most: how exposed the crooked system is

[Stevenmarc]

7. Papa Bush had a the SEC bury W's Harken insider trading issue

[Last Stand]

20. That's what happens when you put the family lawyer on the SEC. nt

[robertpaulsen]

41. That's something I IMMEDIATELY thought of when I read the OP.

I'm quite sure this goes back to GrandPoppy and Brown Brothers Harriman. Look the other way as long as possible, then when the treason is too big to cover-up, slap em on the wrist and say move on.

[Last Stand]

11. This story is WAAAAY too big to ever be told.

This is another JFK. There'll be a fall guy and some minor sub-plots exposed, but the true depth of this story will threaten too many people on both sides of the aisle.

[blm]

24. and the powerful will always have a few minions popping up here to demean those refusing to

move past the criminality of these operations and continue to demand accountability for those involved and their operatives around the globe.

[defendandprotect]

34. Perhaps ....

we should consider that the minions usually pay/buy services . . . ?

[tridim]

25. Michael Moore is going to tell it.

He's recruiting whistle blowers as we type.

[defendandprotect]

35. If we would actually protect them we'd have plenty of them!!

[stillcool]

12. Yikes...I hate when I get a big dose..

like that. In bits and pieces it goes down much easier.

[seafan]

13. A few notes on John Negroponte, whom Bush authorized to waive SEC rules beginning in 2006:

...John Negroponte, the new ambassador to the UN (2001), who served under Reagan as ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985. He is known for his role in the cover up of human rights abuses by CIA trained paramilitaries throughout the region. Coincidentally? Honduran exiles associated with the paramilitary forces that had been living in the US, were exported to Canada prior to Negroponte's Senate confirmation hearing, thus rendering their testimony unavailable.

President George W. Bush appointed Negroponte to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in February 2001, and after substantial opposition from Senate Democrats the nomination was ratified by the Senate on September 15, 2001, four days after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. According to CBS News,

At the United Nations, Negroponte, 64, was instrumental in winning unanimous approval of a Security Council resolution that demanded Saddam Hussein comply with U.N. mandates to disarm.(8)

During Colin Powell's speech to the Security Council on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, Negroponte could be seen sitting behind Powell's left shoulder.

In the New York Review of Books, Stephen Kinzer reported that the messages sent by nominating Negroponte were that "the Bush administration will not be bound by diplomatic niceties as it conducts its foreign policy." A State Department official told him that "Giving him this job is a way of telling the UN: 'We hate you.'"(9)

Because the Iran-Contra figures were never pursued, they have returned, more virulent than before.


We all see why *just moving on* is NOT an option, Mr. President.

[defendandprotect]

33. Didn't we all learn you can't build a house on a crumbling foundation????

[barbtries]

14. book,marked

gotta get to work, i want to read this.

the bushes will never go away, will they? :cry:

[Sancho]

15. It wasn't just the SEC, AG Crist also looked the other way...

There were several cases in Florida of investment complaints that Crist refused to investigate. Don't fool yourself, the whole bunch of snakes are in it together.

[deminks]

16. Thank you for tying it all together. K&R

I tried to post the Lehman article last night, but it sank out of sight with apparently no interest.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5118438&mesg_id=5118438

[City Lights]

17. K&R nt

[conscious evolution]

19. K&R

The more light that shines on these cockroaches the better.

[Solly Mack]

21. K&R

[Roland99]

26. I am Jack's complete lack of surprise

I mean, CNBC has been harping on this ALL WEEK!



:eyes:

[Cary]

27. Two words:

Harken Energy.

[mod mom]

28. and don't forget how * tried to push SS into privatization.

:mad:

Unfortunately, there are Dems involved as well. As our friend Autorank describes it-it's the MONEY Party!

[defendandprotect]

36. "Bipartisan" is to only be guarded against . . .!!!

[Wetzelbill]

29. K&R

[defendandprotect]

31. Also most of these criminal records went down with WTC#7...!!!

Conveniently . . .!!

[EFerrari]

37. seafan: you may be interested in what Joe Cannon says in this update

about Stanford. Cannon still isn't over the primaries but try to read around the tone. I'd forgotten ENTIRELY that Stanford was raided in Venezuela on suspicion of spying last year:

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2009/02/pirates-of-caribbean-stanford-drugs-and.html

[seafan]

44. Great addition, EFerrari, many thanks. Cannon also reports on 2 Caribbean airlines Stanford owned.

See related post #43 below.

[blm]

60. Well, how much more coincidence do some need to finally admit BCCI intrigue never really ended?

.

[malaise]

46. There are a lot of dots to connect

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/aristide.htm

Jean-Bertrand Aristide's plane stopped for food and fuel on the Caribbean island of Antigua on Sunday before departing for South Africa, government and airport officials said, But a South African official said there had been no recent contact with Aristide or any offer of asylum.

[Janice325]

38. k&r

I feel like crying, 'cause I have no idea when the shit from these filthy fuckers will end, much less when/if they'll be actually be punished for their actions. :cry:

I hope Karma shows up soon.

[valerief]

47. the shit from fuckers ends when you die. there has always been shit from fuckers

and always will be. they have to be shampooed out regularly, just like we have to shampoo our hair regularly. well, until we're bald. and I think that's their objective.

[varelse]

39. K&R

:kick:

[98Beatsies]

40. We need some serious reform in this country...

the SEC was asleep at the wheel

[seafan]

48. Welcome to DU! Glad to see you in our midst. n/t

[KansDem]

42. K&R!!! Don't forget the "timely" stock sales of W and Harken...

Published on Wednesday, October 30, 2002 by the Boston Globe
Board Was Told of Risks Before Bush Stock Sale
Harken memo went to SEC after probe

by Michael Kranish and Beth Healy

WASHINGTON - One week before George W. Bush's now-famous sale of stock in Harken Energy Corp. in 1990, Harken was warned by its lawyers that Bush and other members of the troubled oil company's board faced possible insider trading risks if they unloaded their shares.

The warning from Harken's lawyers came in a legal memorandum whose existence has been little noted until now, despite the many years of scrutiny of the Bush transaction. The memo was not received by the Securities and Exchange Commission until the day after the agency decided not to bring insider-trading charges against Bush, documents show.

It appears that Mr. Bush had insider information, that he was told that such insider information could be considered material, was given express warnings about what the consequences could be.

The memo, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe, does not say directly whether Bush would face legal problems if he sold his stock. But it does lay out the potential for insider-trading violations by Bush and other members of the Harken board, and its existence raises questions about how thoroughly the SEC investigated Bush's unloading of $848,000 of his Harken stake to a buyer whose name has not been made public.

The SEC cleared Bush after looking into whether he had insider knowledge of an upcoming quarterly loss at Harken. But the SEC investigation apparently never examined a key issue raised in the memo: whether Bush's insider knowledge of a plan to rescue the company from financial collapse by spinning off two troubled units was a factor in his decision to sell.

The plan engineered by one of the company's largest shareholders, the endowment fund of Harvard University, raised uncertainty about the value of Harken after the breakup. The question is, did Bush sell believing that the stock might soon dip?

''It would certainly have raised a question in the mind of a reasonable investigator,'' said Theresa Gabaldon, a professor at George Washington University and author of the textbook ''Securities Regulation.''

--more--
Common Dreams

Yeah, it's nice to have low friends in high places...:grr:

[seafan]

43. Whaddya know: Stanford also owned 2 small Caribbean airlines: "Paging Daniel Hopsicker", indeed.

Cannonfire reports:

Here's where it gets really interesting. Stanford also owned not one but two airlines: Caribbean Sun Airlines, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Caribbean Star Airlines, based in Antigua. The two entities are, we are told, unrelated.

Man, this rabbit hole is infinite.


Many Florida connections to this jet with 4 tons cocaine on board that crashed this week in Cancun., September 28, 2007

Update: Jet loaded with cocaine/heroin that crashed in Yucatan September 24 linked to CIA. October 6, 2007

Bush Fundraiser Linked to CIA Cocaine Plane, October 29, 2007



FBI uncovers drug money-for-aircraft laundering scheme through Miami bank (McCain connection), February 4, 2008

The DC 9 with 5.5 tons coke is part of this FBI case. Owner Royal Sons is linked to Huffman, February 9, 2008



This pot is starting to boil.

[leftstreet]

45. K&R

[acmavm]

49. So important not to just let them walk away. Or else our kids will pay like

we did because they will come back.

Jeb's kid was down in Florida popping off the other day. This family has been screwing America and the American people for generations.

Who is the most powerful family in America? Do you know?

[tomp]

50. remember, they stood down to protect dim son....

....in the Harken case, too.

[Catshrink]

51. Nope. Nothing to see here. Move along.

[McCamy Taylor]

53. Jeb Bush needs to be prosecuted so he can never run for president.

[blm]

64. The entire Bush clan needs to be fully exposed so FASCISM can be fully blocked

at long last.

[LuckyLib]

56. As many as 16,747 options contracts on Florida East Coast were traded last Wednesday alone – almost

27 times the average daily trading volume for April of just 623 contracts." This certainly redefines "insider trading" -- the SEC has been asleep at the wheel where the Bushistas have been concerned.

[defendandprotect]

59. Unfortunately .. . .

Don't know much about Stanford --

Can you elaborate on this a bit and what you think could be happening?

[LuckyLib]

61. I'm just beginning to read up on Stanford. But 27 times the daily volume in trading is a huge sign

that somebody knows something and the action is on high speed.

[defendandprotect]

62. Yes . . .

echoes of 9/11 . . . !!???

Confusing . . .

[leftofthedial]

65. everything decent and true in this world

stood down for the buhgang.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

66. most things stood down for the Bushes

including major gov agencies