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> designed to go after the smallest possible players SEC doesn't have infinite resources to go after every possible financial crime. They go after the ones th

> designed to go after the smallest possible players SEC doesn't have infinite resources to go after every possible financial crime. They go after the ones that have the highest likelihood of successful prosecution. This is the case with most prosecutions like this.

spaceribs 5y ago
> SEC doesn't have infinite resources to go after every possible financial crime. So that makes token gestures acceptable?
throwaway0a5e 5y ago
That's called "revenue policing" and the only people who like it are the people high status enough to not be subject to it.
- notsureaboutpg 5y ago
  Whatever it's called doesn't matter. There's not a viable alternative. If you don't prosecute charges with substantial evidence, the risk of loss increases and eventually the department bleeds money at too large a degree and gets shut down causing no enforcement
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  > the only people who like it are the people high status enough to not be subject to it Everyone at the SEC is keenly aware that bagging a high-ranking financier is a ticket to higher office.
  - slickrick216 5y ago
    Which is quite frankly disgusting even if society does have a somewhat merited hatred of bankers.
  - jessaustin 5y ago
    Can we come up with an example of an SEC official building upon an investigation of a "high-ranking financier" in order to obtain high office?
    - verbify 5y ago
      Not SEC, but US attorney for the Southern District Preet Bharara apparently made his fame by going after Wall Street bigwigs. I don't know much about him besides his Wikipedia page (which could be edited by a PR firm), but it seems that was his career trajectory.
      - shard 5y ago
        Another not-SEC example would be Eliot Spitzer who parlayed his policing of Wall Street corruption as the Attorney General of New York into a governorship.
    - byset 5y ago
      SEC pursued junk bond pioneer Michael Milken in the 1980s, Ivan Boesky before that… unsure of specifics of SEC personnel getting to “high office” because of that but seems obvious that high profile successful prosecutions would be career-making (Granted those examples are from the 80s but i would think there are more recent examples…) Milken was prosecuted by Rudy Giuliani which didn’t hurt Giuliani’s career, but Rudy was a US district attorney or something, not SEC Agree with your sentiment generally though, seems like a boatload of people could have been put away after the financial crisis but they instead profited from bailouts
      - version_five 5y ago
        Milken's prosecution didnt really hurt his career much either. Hes still a billionaire (and if I remember right, his brother did very well too). PS - read Den of Thieves again - there is an imo strong parallel between what was going on with junk bonds in the 80s and what is happening now with VC money. When Milken was indicted, he couldn't keep all the balls in the air anymore and the whole thing fell apart. I'm very interested to see what parallel will play out this time and when.
  - trhway 5y ago
    >bagging a high-ranking financier is a ticket to higher office. And not bagging is a ticket to a very nice corner office I guess :)
    - jessaustin 5y ago
      The fact we haven't come up with a single SEC-to-higher-office example seems to indicate that your scenario is more common...
  - clipradiowallet 5y ago
    > Everyone at the SEC is keenly aware that bagging a high-ranking financier is a ticket to higher office. Just speculating here, but I imagine everyone at the SEC is also aware that going after someone with 9-figures-and-higher wealth may not be cut and dry. At those levels, the person you are going after can wreck your [and all your colleagues] lives in new and interesting ways that aren't apparent.
    - rdtwo 5y ago
      That’s why they go after 7 and 8 figure guys they are way easier to pick off but still juicy
    - acuozzo 5y ago
      > At those levels, the person you are going after can wreck your [and all your colleagues] lives in new and interesting ways that aren't apparent. Which is exactly why having that much wealth should be impossible or illegal. No single person should have that much power. With that being said, who am I kidding? It's obvious that the old forms of power haven't gone away and never will.
- stale2002 5y ago
  Do you have an alternative solution, to getting around the problem of the fact that they don't have infinite resources? Do you think that they should just go after crimes, at random, even if that means that much less crimes are successfully caught, because of the inefficient use of resources?

spaceribs 5y ago

> SEC doesn't have infinite resources to go after every possible financial crime. So that makes token gestures acceptable?

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

That's called "revenue policing" and the only people who like it are the people high status enough to not be subject to it.

notsureaboutpg 5y ago
Whatever it's called doesn't matter. There's not a viable alternative. If you don't prosecute charges with substantial evidence, the risk of loss increases and eventually the department bleeds money at too large a degree and gets shut down causing no enforcement
JumpCrisscross 5y ago
> the only people who like it are the people high status enough to not be subject to it Everyone at the SEC is keenly aware that bagging a high-ranking financier is a ticket to higher office.
- slickrick216 5y ago
  Which is quite frankly disgusting even if society does have a somewhat merited hatred of bankers.
- jessaustin 5y ago
  Can we come up with an example of an SEC official building upon an investigation of a "high-ranking financier" in order to obtain high office?
  - verbify 5y ago
    Not SEC, but US attorney for the Southern District Preet Bharara apparently made his fame by going after Wall Street bigwigs. I don't know much about him besides his Wikipedia page (which could be edited by a PR firm), but it seems that was his career trajectory.
    - shard 5y ago
      Another not-SEC example would be Eliot Spitzer who parlayed his policing of Wall Street corruption as the Attorney General of New York into a governorship.
  - byset 5y ago
    SEC pursued junk bond pioneer Michael Milken in the 1980s, Ivan Boesky before that… unsure of specifics of SEC personnel getting to “high office” because of that but seems obvious that high profile successful prosecutions would be career-making (Granted those examples are from the 80s but i would think there are more recent examples…) Milken was prosecuted by Rudy Giuliani which didn’t hurt Giuliani’s career, but Rudy was a US district attorney or something, not SEC Agree with your sentiment generally though, seems like a boatload of people could have been put away after the financial crisis but they instead profited from bailouts
    - version_five 5y ago
      Milken's prosecution didnt really hurt his career much either. Hes still a billionaire (and if I remember right, his brother did very well too). PS - read Den of Thieves again - there is an imo strong parallel between what was going on with junk bonds in the 80s and what is happening now with VC money. When Milken was indicted, he couldn't keep all the balls in the air anymore and the whole thing fell apart. I'm very interested to see what parallel will play out this time and when.
- trhway 5y ago
  >bagging a high-ranking financier is a ticket to higher office. And not bagging is a ticket to a very nice corner office I guess :)
  - jessaustin 5y ago
    The fact we haven't come up with a single SEC-to-higher-office example seems to indicate that your scenario is more common...
- clipradiowallet 5y ago
  > Everyone at the SEC is keenly aware that bagging a high-ranking financier is a ticket to higher office. Just speculating here, but I imagine everyone at the SEC is also aware that going after someone with 9-figures-and-higher wealth may not be cut and dry. At those levels, the person you are going after can wreck your [and all your colleagues] lives in new and interesting ways that aren't apparent.
  - rdtwo 5y ago
    That’s why they go after 7 and 8 figure guys they are way easier to pick off but still juicy
  - acuozzo 5y ago
    > At those levels, the person you are going after can wreck your [and all your colleagues] lives in new and interesting ways that aren't apparent. Which is exactly why having that much wealth should be impossible or illegal. No single person should have that much power. With that being said, who am I kidding? It's obvious that the old forms of power haven't gone away and never will.
stale2002 5y ago
Do you have an alternative solution, to getting around the problem of the fact that they don't have infinite resources? Do you think that they should just go after crimes, at random, even if that means that much less crimes are successfully caught, because of the inefficient use of resources?