Unfortunately, this is a civil action and the most we can hope for are some SEC fines (which are ludicrously low). Too bad this isn't a criminal case, but at least it's some karmic return for the "Wyly Coyotes," who funded the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry. (They also funded George W. Bush's attacks on John McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries.)
Oh, and by the way: The Manhattan district attorney's office referred this case to the SEC in 2005. Wonder what took them so long?
Samuel Wyly and Charles Wyly -- billionaire brothers in Texas who have spent millions funding political campaigns -- committed violations of federal securities laws and fraud by using offshore accounts to secretly trade the shares of public companies whose boards they sat on, reaping more than $550 million in profit, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint filed Thursday.
The politically-active Wylys, who have been generous donors to Republican causes over the years, have faced questions in recent years -- including a Senate probe -- about whether they ran an extensive network of tax shelters.
"The cloak of secrecy has been lifted from the complex web of foreign structures used by the Wylys to evade the securities laws," said SEC deputy director of enforcement Lorin L. Reisner. "They used these structures to conceal hundreds of millions of dollars of gains in violation of the disclosure requirements for corporate insiders."
The SEC alleges that the brothers created an elaborate network of accounts and companies in the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands that they used to trade more than $750 million in stock in four public companies they served as board members. The SEC charges that they also committed an insider trading violation concerning one of the companies, earning almost $32 million.
The Wyly's attorney and stockbroker were also charged.
They also own Michaels, the national arts and crafts chain. So we can blame them for scrapbooking, too!
and not be a crook!
Here's a lie we need to correct in this country:
Honest, hard work will get you to the top.
Bullshit. That's not how billionaires think. That's what suckers like us in the middle-class are taught to think.
And who are the people who teach us that? Our employers. And who are they? At best, they are small-business people or corporate managers who have drunk so much of the kool-aid that they think THEY can be rich by through honest, hardwork too. They believe it even more because they get a slightly larger carrot waived to them than we do. The true masters, the wealthy, pump out the American-dream propaganda of apple-cart to executive office riches and success and we all lap it up.
True wealth is gained by wheeling and dealing, a lot of it manipulative or dishonest by people who's morals are parked at the doors of their businesses everyday. Ask any top earner. They had to step over a few bodies to get to financial security.
That's why we have lobbyists, swift-boat ads, off-shore accounts, derivatives, and used-car salesman, etc. Because the people who really have power and influence didn't earn it through hard work. They were willing to do things you and I are not.
Sick country isn't it?
The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a Lunatic Asylum. -Havelock Ellis
They are innocent entrepreneurs who are being demonized by the evil agents of socialism who hate all things free and pure.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Yeah, but that scrapbooking thing, they need to serve time for that. Hard time.
textbook description of "an ongoing criminal conspiracy", subject to the RICO laws. shouldn't all their assets be seized, until they prove they weren't the fruits of this criminal conspiracy? or does that statute only apply to small-time drug dealers?
At least the Gubbermint is going after the small guys.
Working their way up the food chain.
Speakin' of Forbes, that fortune got its start in opium smuggling in China in the nineteenth century. I guess assholes know assholes.
Shape of...a crooked right-wing billionaire.
Form of...a diabalolical, tax-evading douchebag.
companies in the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands that they used to trade more than $750 million in stock . . etc . . and you think these guys are stupid?
Goobernatorial candidates these guy's are currently funding.
I will use my powers of Rand to see behind the invisible forcefield that hides the funding of free market politicians from the prying eyes of the evil untalented socialists who destroy the nation with their misguided moral policies, and let you know.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Aside from the fact that a civil case is easier to prove, once the SEC is done, anyone who lost money on these trades will be able to go after these guys too.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
pigs at the trough. they're fat enough; now can 'em.
Good to see the spotlight being shined on some of the men behind the scenes. Thanks C&L, Susie, and everyone else helping to expose these power brokers behind the scenes.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
the crime is the system (capitalism) which grinds the little people every day, until they have nothing, no dignity, no respect, and very little hope. without the overarching system making it possible, these things would not happen.
The Secret of Oz (wonderful banking documentary)
http://fliiby.com/file/878768/opvdbqn6ll.html
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
fine! I hope you learned your lesson!
Another store to avoid. Last week it was Target after the CEO endorsed Michele Bachmann.
I didn't know that about Target. I already boycott Michael's. Verizon? Big Sean Hanitty supporter.
Assholes like these two and their soulmate T. Boone Pickens really frost my balls. They have the audacity to malign a man like John Kerry who served on Swift boats in Viet Nam. Swift boat duty was dangerous as hell and was voluntary. I'd be willing to bet these two fuckers never served. And yet they felt it was okay to smear a hero? Assholes.
all the attorneys that the Wylys used to perpetrate their crimes end up being strung up by their balls by the SEC.Give them adjoining cells witht the Brothers Wyly.
Do they go to jail like Martha did HAHAHAHAHA I think not
My girlfriend loves Michael's. Well, that chain is closing stores and loosing money.
The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a Lunatic Asylum. -Havelock Ellis
I mean really. Nothing. They'll probably get an apology from the SEC for even bothering them.
these men are "Captains of Industry" real "Movers and Shackers" with true vision.
worst kind of scum, America has to offer. Talk about a sense of entitlement. Sheesh.
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