http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/ND17Dj05.html
The poison drip never stops. Last week, regulators in the United States fined Goldman Sachs US$22 million for failing to prevent research analysts from feloniously advising favored clients of changes to stock recommendations. And federal prosecutors reportedly will offer immunity against a back-office manager of the busted commodities firm MF Global in return for testimony against its former chief, Jon Corzine, who ran Goldman Sachs before becoming senator and governor in New Jersey.
Corzine allegedly signed off on the improper transfer (that is, theft) of customer funds to meet margin calls for the firm’s own account.
A $22 million fine for research violations sounds like a slap on the wrist for a technical violation, to be sure, but it points to a red thread which, if we follow it carefully, will illuminate flaws in the American economy that are no fault of Goldman Sachs. The Corzine case is straightforward: either he stole the money or he didn’t, and either the Justice Department will press the matter upon a former Democratic senator and governor, or it won’t.