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This is the turn of a new era. Someone who actually commits a securities crime goes to jail! I hope this sends a message to Wall Street and CEO's that they ar

This is the turn of a new era. Someone who actually commits a securities crime goes to jail! I hope this sends a message to Wall Street and CEO's that they are jail-able. Cannot wait to see what happens when the SEC starts to look at people pumping and dumping cryptocurrencies if the decide to regulate it besides ICO's. (https://www.sec.gov/fast-answers/answerspumpdumphtm.html https://www.sec.gov/fast-answers/answerspumpdumphtm.html)

sneak 9y ago
Meanwhile, on Monday, the statute of limitations ran out for indicting James Clapper (then DNI) for lying to congress under oath when he told them that the US military does not spy on millions of americans. Two classes in this country.
- alehul 9y ago
  While that does seem unfair, how airtight would that case have to be? As outlined in another comment here, the CFO and CMO of Equifax appear to have dumped just as much if not more than this employee being indicted, however they're yet to be prosecuted, possibly due to less evidence. Would James Clapper be able to either claim a different definition of spying (i.e. "We collected this information but only accessed it when relevant"), or to claim it was "necessary for national security" to lie?
  - pixl97 9y ago
    >While that does seem unfair, how airtight would that case have to be? And therein lies the issue. If you are rich the state has to spend huge amounts of money to prove the case 'beyond a reasonable doubt', unfortunately for the poor it seems 'the preponderance of evidence' seems to be more than enough to get a criminal conviction.
Xixi 9y ago
I work in a Hedge Fund: my first reaction reading this article was to wonder how someone can be so stupid to even try something like that. Then I read your comment and realize that in fact, the rest of the world (people not in Finance) actually think that you can get away with this. He probably thought that everybody is doing it, so why not? Well, turns out that no, you can't do that, and yes, you can and will get prosecuted for it. So no message sent to Wall Street, we got that memo a long long time ago. Geeks thinking they know everything and disregarding all regulations, however, should take a long, hard look at it. Finance and anything touching it (like securities, which most crypto-currencies are) is very very very heavily regulated.
- kevindqc 9y ago
  Ah yeah, I remember when people went to jail because of the 2008 financial crisis. (sure, apparently nothing illegal was done, it was just recklessness and poor judgement, but I see why people would think wall street always get off scot-free)
  - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
    > commits a securities crime >> the 2008 financial crisis The problem evidenced by the 2008 crisis was that many destructive behaviors were not, in fact, illegal. (Some were, and many of those people are barred from industry or going to jail [1].) [1] http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/03/news/libor-scandal-tom-hayes-jail/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/03/news/libor-scandal-tom-hayes...
    - kevindqc 9y ago
      Yeah which is too bad. If you're reckless in your car and get into an accident, can you be jailed? Yes, for reckless endangerment. Why is there no such thing in the financial world, especially after 2008 :(
      - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
        > Why is there no such thing in the financial world, especially after 2008 Recklessness is well defined in respect of cars. (It wasn't when they first came out.) Recklessness is well defined in respect of selling stocks and bonds. (It wasn't a century ago.) Recklessness was not well defined in respect of certain new financial products in 2008. It is now.
        mcny 9y ago
        > Recklessness was not well defined in respect of certain new financial products in 2008. It is now. I am not too well-versed with laws and legislations (especially because everything sounds partisan) but are you talking about Dodd Frank? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodd%E2%80%93Frank_Wall_Street_Reform_and_Consumer_Protection_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodd%E2%80%93Frank_Wall_Street... The last I read about it, Congress is trying to get rid of it, no? Is there some other regulation that makes what was not against the law in 2008 (actually I don't know much about this either) against the law now?

sneak 9y ago

Meanwhile, on Monday, the statute of limitations ran out for indicting James Clapper (then DNI) for lying to congress under oath when he told them that the US military does not spy on millions of americans. Two classes in this country.

alehul 9y ago
While that does seem unfair, how airtight would that case have to be? As outlined in another comment here, the CFO and CMO of Equifax appear to have dumped just as much if not more than this employee being indicted, however they're yet to be prosecuted, possibly due to less evidence. Would James Clapper be able to either claim a different definition of spying (i.e. "We collected this information but only accessed it when relevant"), or to claim it was "necessary for national security" to lie?
- pixl97 9y ago
  >While that does seem unfair, how airtight would that case have to be? And therein lies the issue. If you are rich the state has to spend huge amounts of money to prove the case 'beyond a reasonable doubt', unfortunately for the poor it seems 'the preponderance of evidence' seems to be more than enough to get a criminal conviction.

Xixi 9y ago

I work in a Hedge Fund: my first reaction reading this article was to wonder how someone can be so stupid to even try something like that. Then I read your comment and realize that in fact, the rest of the world (people not in Finance) actually think that you can get away with this. He probably thought that everybody is doing it, so why not? Well, turns out that no, you can't do that, and yes, you can and will get prosecuted for it. So no message sent to Wall Street, we got that memo a long long time ago. Geeks thinking they know everything and disregarding all regulations, however, should take a long, hard look at it. Finance and anything touching it (like securities, which most crypto-currencies are) is very very very heavily regulated.

kevindqc 9y ago
Ah yeah, I remember when people went to jail because of the 2008 financial crisis. (sure, apparently nothing illegal was done, it was just recklessness and poor judgement, but I see why people would think wall street always get off scot-free)
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  > commits a securities crime >> the 2008 financial crisis The problem evidenced by the 2008 crisis was that many destructive behaviors were not, in fact, illegal. (Some were, and many of those people are barred from industry or going to jail [1].) [1] http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/03/news/libor-scandal-tom-hayes-jail/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/03/news/libor-scandal-tom-hayes...
  - kevindqc 9y ago
    Yeah which is too bad. If you're reckless in your car and get into an accident, can you be jailed? Yes, for reckless endangerment. Why is there no such thing in the financial world, especially after 2008 :(
    - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
      > Why is there no such thing in the financial world, especially after 2008 Recklessness is well defined in respect of cars. (It wasn't when they first came out.) Recklessness is well defined in respect of selling stocks and bonds. (It wasn't a century ago.) Recklessness was not well defined in respect of certain new financial products in 2008. It is now.
      - mcny 9y ago
        > Recklessness was not well defined in respect of certain new financial products in 2008. It is now. I am not too well-versed with laws and legislations (especially because everything sounds partisan) but are you talking about Dodd Frank? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodd%E2%80%93Frank_Wall_Street_Reform_and_Consumer_Protection_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodd%E2%80%93Frank_Wall_Street... The last I read about it, Congress is trying to get rid of it, no? Is there some other regulation that makes what was not against the law in 2008 (actually I don't know much about this either) against the law now?