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Say That Again

by Mike Masnick

Tue, May 21st 2002 11:24pm





Spitzer Just A Shakedown Artist

from the you-tell-'em dept

Earlier today I complained about the Merrill Lynch settlement for being toothless and unlikely to change a thing. Dan Gillmor does a much better job trashing the agreement. He points out the most important point: out of this $100 million settlement, the people who got screwed by the lying and misleading analysts of Merrill Lynch get a grand total of $0. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Gillmor says New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is just another government shake-down artist, getting these firms to pay up a fine that goes directly into the government coffers - and not the people harmed by the actions. It was a weak move by Spitzer, who previously had indicated he really wanted to make a difference. Too bad he couldn't follow through.

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  1.  
    identicon
    alternatives(), May 22nd, 2002 @ 12:12am

    Not shocked.

    Consider that companies are 'citizens', yet if you or I did what companies do (Bhopol, exploding pintos, Enron-style misrepresentation) we would be locked up 'till we died.

    At this time its more profitable to break the law and pay the fine. Look at SBC, Microsoft, and now this as examples.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 22nd, 2002 @ 5:46am

    No Subject Given

    Er, I head spitzer in an interview point out that private lawsuits were not effected by the settlement. Since when does the government give fine money to victims anyway? That's what civil suits are for.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Timaaay!, May 22nd, 2002 @ 7:40am

    Re: No Subject Given

    Yeah but Merril Lynch didn't have to admit they did anything wrong which means its more difficult (although in todays litigious society I doubt it will take long) to get a civil settlement.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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