Here's something you might be interested in.
The Regents of the University of California and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) filed suits in separate federal courts today (June 25), according to Reuters. The Regents filed in San Francisco and SANDAG filed in U.S. district court in San Diego. The suits allege financial damage from the banks colluding and manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), an interest rate at which banks borrow from other banks in the London interbank market. The rate is fixed on a daily basis by the British Bankers' Association. The suit charges the 20 banks with lying and agreeing to "knowingly overstate and understate their borrowing costs," according to the San Francisco suit. Borrowers got cheated either way, according to the suit. Defendants include Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Deutsche Bank.
The Regents of the University of California and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) filed suits in separate federal courts today (June 25), according to Reuters. The Regents filed in San Francisco and SANDAG filed in U.S. district court in San Diego. The suits allege financial damage from the banks colluding and manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), an interest rate at which banks borrow from other banks in the London interbank market. The rate is fixed on a daily basis by the British Bankers' Association. The suit charges the 20 banks with lying and agreeing to "knowingly overstate and understate their borrowing costs," according to the San Francisco suit. Borrowers got cheated either way, according to the suit. Defendants include Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Deutsche Bank.
Meanwhile, BofA is trying to divert attention away from their questionable business practices with that asinine persecution and prosecution of "chalk writer" Jeff Olson downtown.
Debate. This is much bigger than Olson case. This rigging involved trillions of dollars. Best, Don Bauder
Right. My point is that the powerful BofA is running scared (and angry) these days. Otherwise they would not have pressed to have Olson charged.
dwbat: All the major financial institutions should be running scared -- for macroeconomic and many other reasons. Best, Don Bauder
Absolutely. The pot is huge and everyone wants a piece of it. The legal fees on all sides will be staggering and it will take years to sort thus out. I guess it was their time to get caught, and will now have to pay up. But they'll still be feeding at the public trough in the future, so ultimately it's the taxpayer getting ripped off,
Jeff: But will those financial institutions that manipulated LIBOR actually pay a significant amount? Will they be fined, say, $25,000? Sorry for the cynicism. Best, Don Bauder
they are afraid others will see the writing on the wall ( or in this case the side walk) and realize they are being "hozed" by the banks.
on a side note, I wonder what the bank manager's cut of the clean up cost was.
Murphyjunk: Hooray to the Reader for bringing this utterly chilling matter to public attention. (There is an excellent piece by Dorian Hargrove June 23.) Hooray to lawyer Tom Tosdal for defending Jeff Olson pro bono. Power-crazed and brains-deficient City Attorney Goldsmith should be removed from office for trying to put this man behind bars for 13 years. Olson was expressing his First Amendment rights by writing anti-bank slogans in soluble chalk. Banks deserve such contumely -- and much, much more. Hooray for Mayor Bob Filner for stating that this case is an abuse of power. We should work to make the Jeff Olson case a national example of San Diego's despotism. And hooray to SANDAG for filing the suit against B of A. Best, Don Bauder
SAN DIEGANS MUST READ DORIAN HARGROVE'S TWO STORIES: The Reader's Dorian Hargrove has covered the Jeff Olson trial in two superb stories -- June 23 and June 25. Among the highlights: Superior Court Judge Howard M. Shore declared that Olson's defense counsel cannot mention the First Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive conduct or political speech during the trial on the grounds that California's vandalism statute does not mention First Amendment rights. Obviously, Shore should be removed from the bench, just as Goldsmith should be removed from office. The city attorney's office argued that because of Olson's actions "a private business [Bank of America] suffered real and substantial monetary damages." For heaven's sake, this is Bank of America, whose depredations, along with other major banks, cost taxpayers trillions of dollars in the 2008/2009 bailout. And no one can protest? There must be an investigation of how Goldsmith's office decided to pursue this matter.
One heartening sign: Huffington Post has picked up the story. I urge San Diegans to send Hargrove's stories to people in the national media. This case is quintessential San Diego oppression. Best, Don Bauder
Don, Huff Post is only one, Drudge, Russian Television (RT) and many more have run the story, and linked to the readers original article,
SurfPup: Daily Kos has picked it up. Hundreds of trenchant comments. Even the Union-Tribune picked it up this morning -- without giving credit to the Reader, of course. The others such as Drudge and Daily Kos are all citing and crediting the Reader. Best, Don Bauder
Matt Tiabbi did a good piece on this recently in Rolling Stone.
SurfPup: I try to follow everything Taibbi writes. He is great. Did Taibbi write about the rigging of LIBOR, or about Jeff Olson and San Diego's despotic culture? Best, Don Bauder
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN COMMENTS ON JEFF OLSON CASE: Sen. Elizabeth Warren read the Huffington Post story and commented, "You've got to be kidding me." Best, Don Bauder
Elizabeth Warren, needed her expertise as an expert witness regarding student loans back in 2006, when she was at Harvard Law School, she would not even take my call/s.
SurfPup: But she is one who is really knowledgeable about the banking and shadow banking systems, and corruption therein; we need her desperately. Best, Don Bauder
Warren probably receives 20 phone calls a day from people seeking help or legal advice and cannot answer them. Also, individuals who are famous cannot risk speaking on the phone with people they do not know.
Burwell: Now that she is a senator, she probably receives more than 20 a day. As a banking expert at Harvard, she probably received a lot, too. Best, Don Bauder