Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Wall Street lawyer to head SEC?

Bloomberg says Mary Jo White in line to head securities agency

"Obama is not going to clean up financial corruption by pinning a sheriff's badge on Wall Street's protector-in-chief." Thus speaks San Diego attorney Gary Aguirre about today's report from Bloomberg News that Mary Jo White is under consideration to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Aguirre, who won a big lawsuit against the SEC, and was exonerated by two Congressional committees and the SEC's own investigative team, now represents whistleblowers who challenge wrongdoing inside the agency that was created in the 1930s to protect the public from Wall Street, and now protects Wall Street from the public.

Mary Jo White epitomizes the method by which Wall Street lawyers control the so-called regulatory agency. The method is called the "revolving door." There are two ways the scam works: 1. A big Wall Street law firm will represent a crook who has stolen money from the public in a securities scam. The law firm gets its client off the hook by dangling a $2 million-a-year job in front of the SEC lawyer who is in charge of the case; 2. When the SEC is looking for someone to head its enforcement branch, it will choose a Wall Street lawyer who represents the crooks, rather than someone inside the agency who sincerely wants to chase bandits.

If President Obama names Mary Jo White to head the agency, she would represent both sides of the revolving door phenomenon. She was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which is responsible for policing Wall Street. Then she joined the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, which defends securities miscreants, among other things. If she went back to a government role, she will have come full circle, and Americans would be justified in having even more cynicism about the agency than they have now.

Gary Aguirre has had personal experience with her. After a successful law career in San Diego, he retired, but got restless. He boned up on securities law and joined the SEC. He had excellent reasons to believe that a now-defunct hedge fund had talked with John Mack, formerly associated with the hedge fund, about an upcoming acquisition. The hedge fund made a bundle betting on the acquisition. Aguirre thought that Mack should be interviewed. Mary Jo White covertly contacted top people in the SEC on Mack's behalf. Aguirre was fired. Mack went on to head Morgan Stanley. The two Congressional committees and the SEC's own investigator vindicated Aguirre, who won the suit against the agency. Now, according to Bloomberg, White might rejoin the government. If she is indeed a candidate, I for one hope this story will be repeated and repeated and repeated in the vetting process.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Birdwatching bonanza, earliest sunset of the year, bulb planting time

Venus shines its brightest

"Obama is not going to clean up financial corruption by pinning a sheriff's badge on Wall Street's protector-in-chief." Thus speaks San Diego attorney Gary Aguirre about today's report from Bloomberg News that Mary Jo White is under consideration to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Aguirre, who won a big lawsuit against the SEC, and was exonerated by two Congressional committees and the SEC's own investigative team, now represents whistleblowers who challenge wrongdoing inside the agency that was created in the 1930s to protect the public from Wall Street, and now protects Wall Street from the public.

Mary Jo White epitomizes the method by which Wall Street lawyers control the so-called regulatory agency. The method is called the "revolving door." There are two ways the scam works: 1. A big Wall Street law firm will represent a crook who has stolen money from the public in a securities scam. The law firm gets its client off the hook by dangling a $2 million-a-year job in front of the SEC lawyer who is in charge of the case; 2. When the SEC is looking for someone to head its enforcement branch, it will choose a Wall Street lawyer who represents the crooks, rather than someone inside the agency who sincerely wants to chase bandits.

If President Obama names Mary Jo White to head the agency, she would represent both sides of the revolving door phenomenon. She was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which is responsible for policing Wall Street. Then she joined the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, which defends securities miscreants, among other things. If she went back to a government role, she will have come full circle, and Americans would be justified in having even more cynicism about the agency than they have now.

Gary Aguirre has had personal experience with her. After a successful law career in San Diego, he retired, but got restless. He boned up on securities law and joined the SEC. He had excellent reasons to believe that a now-defunct hedge fund had talked with John Mack, formerly associated with the hedge fund, about an upcoming acquisition. The hedge fund made a bundle betting on the acquisition. Aguirre thought that Mack should be interviewed. Mary Jo White covertly contacted top people in the SEC on Mack's behalf. Aguirre was fired. Mack went on to head Morgan Stanley. The two Congressional committees and the SEC's own investigator vindicated Aguirre, who won the suit against the agency. Now, according to Bloomberg, White might rejoin the government. If she is indeed a candidate, I for one hope this story will be repeated and repeated and repeated in the vetting process.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gary Aguirre's Sacking Should Spur Probe

Next Article

John Moores dumped 46 percent of Peregrine during company-imposed blackout periods

Where has the SEC been all this time?
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader