Word: spitzers
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Spitzer clearly hopes to ride the outrage against Wall Street to political gain, much as Rudolph Giuliani exploited the Street's insider-trading scandals as a federal prosecutor in New York City 15 years ago. And make no mistake: Spitzer is on to what has become an emotional issue for investors who want to see someone on their side. Long before he arrived, several institutions--the SEC, Congress, the New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers--had looked for but failed to turn up hard evidence of what Spitzer asserts is criminal fraud. Few expect that...
...week, which order that analysts' pay not be tied to specific transactions, that analysts not be permitted to share draft research reports with clients or prospective clients, and that analysts more visibly disclose conflicts of interest. There wasn't a peep of dissent on Wall Street, which, unhappy with Spitzer's bare-knuckled approach to reform, is openly begging for remedies from the industry-friendly SEC. Indeed, the big brokerages uniformly embraced a follow-up investigation the SEC announced two weeks ago, in hopes that Spitzer's state office would yield to a federal authority. But Spitzer isn't backing...
...real crime, securities lawyers say, is that while the problems were well documented, regulators did nothing until investors had lost billions of dollars. Only since Spitzer's investigation turned up blunt double-dealing by analysts has the SEC intensified its efforts, currently looking at other firms too, like Salomon, where telecom analyst Jack Grubman earned more than $10 million a year reeling in underwriting clients. That princely pay had nothing to do with his stock advice. Grubman rated the disastrous stock WorldCom a strong buy until mid-March, although it was down 88% from its June 1999 peak. Salomon--which...
...Spitzer's sudden celebrity and his refusal to let go even now that the SEC has begun its investigation are an embarrassment for Pitt. Just nine months on the job, Pitt has had to reverse himself more often than a new driver learning to parallel park. A former lawyer for big accounting firms and brokerages, he started out on the permissive side of debates over whether accounting and auditing functions should coexist, whether the accounting industry needs its own watchdog group and whether measures are needed to rein in stock-option abuse. In each case, he relented only after...
...with a goal of regulating through consensus and self-policing, a stark change from his predecessor, Arthur Levitt, who was an outspoken ally of the small investor. In the wake of Enron, Pitt hasn't had a chance to test his style, and the hard-charging Spitzer is now making many wonder if Pitt isn't plain soft. "The SEC under Harvey Pitt has been something of a reluctant regulator," says John Coffee, professor of securities law at Columbia University. Damon Silvers, associate general counsel at the AFL-CIO, which has been carping about analyst abuses for a year, says...