Oscar Wilde.jpgChanneling his inner Oscar Wilde (and Lee Corso), judge Jed S. Rakoff had a message for BAC and the SEC on that proposed $33 million settlement: not so fast my friend. If the SEC is going to declare victory in the Merill bonus impropriety game, it’s not going to be at the expense of shareholders. Citing the comedy Lady Windermere’s Fan, the judge proved that there are those in the legal system tuned in to the symbiotic relationship forming between bailed out bank and failed regulator and overturned the Merrill bonus settlement.

The judge quoted Oscar Wilde’s “Lady Windermere’s Fan” in the end of his ruling to say that a cynic is someone “who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
The proposed settlement, the judge continued, “suggests a rather cynical relationship between the parties: the S.E.C. gets to claim that it is exposing wrongdoing on the part of the Bank of America in a high-profile merger; the bank’s management gets to claim that they have been coerced into an onerous settlement by overzealous regulators. And all this is done at the expense, not only of the shareholders, but also of the truth.”

If the SEC is going to seal the deal they need to understand the new landscape. Shareholders don’t pay for this sort of impropriety; multi-billion dollar taxpayer-funded bailout money does.

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Comments (23)

  1. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 1:51 PM

    BOOM goes the BLANUS!

  2. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 1:51 PM

    Greg Michaels and Oscar Wilde…
    Thanks, Bess.

  3. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 1:54 PM

    That Greg BLANUS sure is a dandy.
    Dennis K

  4. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 1:54 PM
  5. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 1:58 PM

    He looks so regal in that picture

  6. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 1:59 PM

    why is there a picture of Stephen Fry with this article?

  7. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:01 PM

    @6 go back to watching antiques roadshow or bob’s full house. Stupid Brit.

  8. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:02 PM

    @7 is that a Lehman reference?

  9. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:04 PM

    Greggums,
    Why does everyone think you are a poof? Oh, in case you were wondering,the procedure to correct my vagitosis when very well. Jaron, Fuquan and Big Baby Jesus and I are celebrating in the jacuzzi. See you later sweetie!
    Love,
    Mom

  10. Posted by american bandersnatch | September 14, 2009 at 2:05 PM

    If we’re going to be quoting dead Englishmen: As George Orwell nearly said “In certain kinds of writing, particularly those of Greg Michaels, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning.”

  11. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:07 PM

    The Importance of Bieng Blanus
    by Greg Michaels

  12. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:07 PM

    The British have bad teeth.
    Boom! Take that!
    Proud American

  13. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:10 PM

    Amanda Drury has great tits
    Boom! Take that!
    Proud Australian

  14. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:12 PM

    @11
    Definitely a one-act play.

  15. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:14 PM

    An Ideal Husband-
    Starring Charles Gasparino
    A Play by Greg Michaels

  16. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:16 PM

    Too Imprimatur
    Didn’t Read

  17. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:19 PM

    Greg:
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.
    -Oscar

  18. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:24 PM

    Greg, I dont know quite how to say this, but, stop being a little nancy boy and act like a f***ing man
    - Oscar Wilde

  19. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 2:28 PM

    @13 Butterface.

  20. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 3:21 PM

    19 = MCC

  21. Posted by enjointhis | September 14, 2009 at 4:02 PM

    My goodness, it’s a beautiful, big “screw YOU” to both the SEC and BOA’s counsel. He throws down the gauntlet to the attorneys (by telling them they’ll try the case in 4 1/2 months…) & instructing the SEC to pursue BOA’s lawyers. Totally worth a read and a nasty, snarky laugh at the boyz/girlz who thought they were too clever by half. The only down side? It’ Andy Cuomo’s wet-dream.

  22. Posted by NotNasser | September 14, 2009 at 7:30 PM

    “There’s only one thing worse than inattention from a judge; that’s attention from a judge.
    “And if you’re a sodomite, it can really be a pain in the ass.”
    - Oscar Wilde.

  23. Posted by guest | September 14, 2009 at 9:23 PM

    Poor Ken and the good ole’ boys in Charlotte… RIP

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