Word: rico
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...fedora and a bulging shoulder holster. Nowadays, however, when federal prosecutors trigger the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, their sights are often set on a very different sort of defendant: a wealthy professional in designer pinstripes and Gucci loafers. In the nearly 20 years of its existence, RICO has evolved beyond its Mob-busting origins to become a powerful legal weapon against the upper reaches of white-collar crime. And because of its broad civil provisions, the statute has also become a tool for transforming common commercial and business disputes into major, expensive racketeering lawsuits...
Recently, few have felt the sting of RICO as much as the denizens of Wall Street. Federal prosecutors have used the law to go after big names like former junk-bond maestro Michael Milken, who is expected to be tried early next year on charges involving securities fraud. Two weeks ago, several executives of Princeton/Newport Partners were convicted for their roles in illegal stock-trading schemes. Two days later, the Justice Department indicted 46 traders at the Chicago Board of Trade and the Mercantile Exchange, 18 of them on RICO charges. And just last week the law was used...
Significantly, 18 of the traders were charged under the often criticized Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Originally passed by Congress in 1970 to combat organized crime, RICO is increasingly being used as a battering ram against the clubby defenses of financial institutions. Because it allows prosecutors to seize all assets -- including homes, salaries and pensions -- of those indicted, many people facing a RICO count offer to inform on their former colleagues in exchange for leniency. Last week Anton Valukas, the U.S. Attorney who supervised the 2 1/2-year probe, advised both Chicago exchanges that if the RICO-charged traders...
...Hist and Lit comrades is heading to Puerto Rico to do T-research for the last few weeks of the summer...
Listening to this, a thought springs to mind: Is the old slugger punch- drunk? This, after all, is the same George Foreman who found religion in a San Juan, Puerto Rico, dressing room in 1977, proclaimed boxing an affront to God and announced he was quitting forever. This is the same Foreman who ballooned to 320 lbs. from a fighting trim of 217, and even today at 255 is far beefier than anyone who wants to hold the title should be. As for the recent wins, all were against unknowns or retreads who will probably never get within spitting distance...