Another Prosecutorial Failure on Wall St

It makes good headlines to go after those rich Wall St guys but the charges almost never stick. These guys have a worse conviction rate than Spitzer.

“Chin held that while federal prosecutors proved that defendant David Finnerty engaged in interpositioning, they failed to prove fraudulent or deceptive conduct within the meaning of the securities laws.…Before Wednesday's ruling, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District had already dropped charges against seven of the defendants... Chin's decision "is a vindication" of Finnerty."

Finnerty was vindicated but the abusive prosecution already ruined his life. Where is the punishment for these state thugs who “provided no real evidence” of any crime but charged him anyway? Of the 15 traders charged, over half of them have had the charges dropped.

The game for the prosecutors is to make outrageous charges to get some headlines. Overcharge the traders so that they are looking at 120 year sentences if convicted to force the settlement. Since the prosecutors never had a case in the first place they have to rely on threats and bullying people into a settlement. If it falls through – who cares? They already got their headlines and disgraced the people that were charged anyway. Plus it worked for Spitzer.

It won’t be the last time.