Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime

Prof Prop !

you linkmaster you !

Siegelman redux.

March 24, 20042008- The NYPost questions Patersons’ decision to sleep in Albany capital area hotels.

That was supposed to be 2008, right?

Ooops. let me see if I can figure out how to get backstage to fix that.

Thanks

timelines for Spitzmas!

Good afternoon LHP, good afternoon dawgs -

This whole deal stank on ice from the beginning. There was an obvious and concerted effort to take Spitzer down. It’s just very unfortunate that Spitzer was arrogant and stupid enough to play right into his opponent’s hands.

It’s kind of hard to cry, “Foul!”, when you’ve put yourself into the situation

Patterson doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who is going to let himself be railroaded out of office, but Bruno in the Governor’s office would be a frickin’ nightmare, so I hope he strikes me right.

They are pulling this even after they were busted. Bush League Justice at it’s finest.

Just as curious to me is the Detroit Mayor case. How exactly did those text messages surface?

So?!?

Sorry, a little late with my proposed new “Zed”.

FWIW, I believe that is coming from the Wayne County, MI District Atty, not from the DoJ

Good afternoon, all…

I keep thinking, “Who gives a crap??”

Really, with the United States in financially questionable times, a war, illegal wiretapping, tent cities springing up, and on and on…who gives a rip that some guy paid a prostitute for sex?

a timeline!
Happy Birthday emptywheel!
and thank you lhp

I’m sure Tweety, Pumpkinhead and Pimpster will be all over this on the TeeVee.

OK, I feel like a tech goddess! This was my first ever “edit while live” and I fixed the 2004 into 2008! Whoohee!

has NY AG Cuomo made any kind of statement about any of this ?

how about Manhattan DA ?

congrats!!! great timeline as well

This post is not about whether Spitzer paid for sex, it is examining possible reasons why the FBI and USAO SDNY seem to have deviated from SOP in this case.

who gives a rip that some guy paid a prostitute for sex?

That is not what this is about. This was (and is) a political prosecution.

Spitzer was going after the wrong people. He had to be stopped. So they stopped him.

It’s too bad he thought he was invincible.

Why would they? They have no role in this case. You mean to criticize SDNY? I think that is a wee bit premature, don’t you? There is still the possibility that there is a logical explanation that does not include a political hit job.

Though it is interesting that after that gush of Nifong-like leaking we are now getting a steady drip, drip, drip of info that is not looking so good for my beloved feds.

If Michelle Hirshman were looking for my advice (not that she has asked) I would suggest that maybe time is on her, and her client’s, side.

((((( LHP )))))

Great timeline … EW will be thrilled !

Thanks for this post, I was curious about the strange stories coming out on this -particulary the Stone angle. I think it is clear the the Bush Cheney administration is using selective prosecutions to to eliminate threatening Democrats, and for the smaller fry, in an attempt to lower the ratio of GOP / Dem slezae, particularly Abramoff. Sptizer was easy picking becuase he was guilty as heck, and he had scads of enemies of all stripes in addition to Spitzer. There are fishy things about the Detroit Mayor flap -I read he was deposed or a witness about something unrelated and they sprung a bunch of gotcha questions on him.

It is good to know about it. This is an old tradition in US politics. Look at what happened to many progressive era and Depression era reformers.

But for those who are caught by this corrupt slective justice who are guilty of a crime, what can be done? Better to concentrate on innocent who have been caught up (bogus voter fruad convictions of ordinary people, and Siegelman, press for progress (and explanations of lack of progress) on invetigations of GOP slime, and most of all, full speed ahead on presidential, and most importantly, congressional races.

I want 60 Democratic seats in Senate, and 60 majority in House, that will fix a lot of problems.

Yeah, I know,sangemom.

I just am trying to find some sanity from a public that wants so much to persecute someone for something stupid, but not life-or-death.

meant to type:
[Spitzer] had scads of enemies of all stripes in addition to Bush and Cheney

was the idea that he would be using campaign funds reasonable -considering his personal wealth? and that is not to say that wealthy politicians aren’t idiotically tight enough to do something so dumb, but I mean specifically in Spitzer’s case.

Siegelman redux.

Siegelman was totally innocent.
Spitzer did actually pay a hooker for sex.
There is a difference.

thank you.

Who’s Bernard Spitzer?

Elliot’s father. Stone was harassing him with crank phone calls.

It begins to look like someone is trying to hound Paterson into resigning, thereby making Republican Joe Bruno the Governor of NY State?

yes I know these are forces of unlimited hubris, but might this tip their hand and cause public questioning of their motives ? a Dem too far ???

I believe that is coming from the Wayne County, MI District Atty, not from the DoJ

That is true, though I’m also a little curious about how the messages came to light. (I’m in the Detroit area, but confess that I haven’t followed the details so far.)

If you need something more than intrinsic interest to whet your curiousity, consider how the exchange of favors between government bodies can, shall we say, affect the playing field down the road.

1.792 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen loosheadprop and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:

Once again you knock it outta the park but after a moment’s thought I’m wonderin’ what this whole thing says about the depth of corruption in our entire system and particularly in the system of justice. Now that we see the outline of the whole deal and the conflagration of corruption from Joe Bruno to the national bankin’ establishment through the US Department of Justice, what strikes me is that nothin’ ken be done about it even though everyone knows what the fuck is goin on. This has been goin’ on for 7 years, for God’s sake and not a damned thing is done about any of it! Can you tell me why the Democrats don’t force impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives in order for all this shit to get rammed down the corporate media’s throat?!!

Impeachment is a political process and in this case if we don’t use the political tools the Founders gave us then we’re left with a completely corrupted legal system…shit this country is gettin ta look more and more like Nazi Germany every fuckin’ day!

KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, THERE IS NO COMPROMISIN’ WITH FASCISTS!!

Despicable!

Maybe a few more scales fall from eyes out of it though.

…consider how the exchange of favors between government bodies can, shall we say, affect the playing field down the road.

Somehow I just don’t see the folks in a Democratic state prosecutors office in a Democratic state would be cooperating all that much with the current Republican controlled DoJ.

YMMV

I can only imagine who is being blackmailed with nsa/doj info.

oh hell - I wouldn’t trust a man or woman who didn’t, in the ’70’s, try what was out there - otherwise, we’d be looking at electing an automaton, a mindless, incurious cipher with a lack of curiosity akin to the Beloved Leader, George W.

And hell, even Incurious George checked out The Dark Side (not that he came out the other side any better for it).

I have no interest in electing a robot with no experience in the real world…..

Bullseye, as per usual lhp. Thanks for all your work.

Aloha, LHP! This is ominous… “US Forces Surround Sadr City”

http://www.aswataliraq.info/lo.....rSection=1

This is how these “fascists” work. They turn the apparatus and the power and reach of the government against anyone they want to take down.

Since basically, I would guess, that everyone has some skeletons in their closet, even it is not illegal activity and even it is in the distant past, they will find it, fabricate it even with false witnesses and do the hit job.

The high price call girl operations are servicing the very wealthy, leaders in industry and government. Since the johns know it’s illegal they will get into problems trying to make and hide the payments for it. Such an easy way to entrap anyone. But the fact is that most of these rich boys are playing.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Spitzer is not charged with anything. The structuring I know didn’t apply from the minute they tried to make that claim. No where did it saw the Spitzer withdrew cash.

Then the pulled up that ridiculous law about transporting across state lines - the Mann act. He didn’t transport anyone. That will never stick.

What do they have on him? That he had sex with his socks on with a skanky 20yr old?

Tis was a hit job. And he was getting too close to the frauds on Wall Street.

And he was getting too close to the frauds on Wall Street

Exactamundo!

He was getting ready to go after the Municipal Bond rating agencies. (Moody’s, Fitch, etc.)

Mukasey that scum lying bastard came from SDNY where he was a judge.

Rove was firing all non co operating USAs all around the country because they want exactly that kind of political SELECTIVE prosecution.

That’s how it works. Someone DECIDES what cases to go after. They SELECT who and what they will target and they do it with political considerations.

LHP!

Remarkable compilation. Eye-opening, to say the least.

At a guess, lhp, what are the chances that NY might (soon?) have yet another new Governator, the Bruno, perhaps. (horrible thought!)

OT- but have you any thoughts regarding the latest SCOTUS decideration on ‘Treaties’. Good thing or bad? And why, oh why, if ’tis ‘good’ did the ‘libruls’ not get on board?

YMMV

In all seriousness, it does. I’m from Chicago. Make of that what you will, but at least in part it is a historical reference.

I don’t mean to be cryptic, but so far as large African American electorates in particular are concerned, there have been all sorts of ratfuck-looking shenanigans going on for some years now to try to create inroads into those voters for conservative causes. I have seen nothing that makes me think local Dem politicians are immune by definition to the associated blandishments.

Slightly off topic, but has to with corporate finance and fruad, so I want to point out a new horror from McCain.

Getting true story on McCain out there is absolute top priority. I read his recent statement on the economy. I thought McCain might be the least evil of the GOP candidates. I was wrong. He if a full-on self-righteous, bully boy, pompous, ignorant asshole, and dangerous goofball ideologue, and bloodthirsty warmonger. All of the GOP candidates were extremely dangerous nutballs, it turns out.

On economy, McCain is drinking lunatic laissez fair freemarket moonshine. Apparently he is adopting asinine and dangerous Steve Forbes type thinking that the current financial panic is the fault of government overregulation. Yes, you read that correctly. Unbelievable. I have heard about the five states of grief (Anger, Denial, Barganining, etc. etc.). I think for maniac free market ideologues, there are the four stages of disappointment when faced with another failure of laissez faire ultra free market moonshine: Denial, Anger, Blame the Government, Run asap into Loony town.

So, the ignorant idiot McCain is proposing a blue ribbon commission of accounting experts to review the mark to market corporate accounting. What he means by that is get up a cover to destroy any remaining corporate accounting standards. Now, if society were composed of millions of millionaires who bought securities with their own money and held them long term, did not trade them, and could decide for themselves what to do, and had the wealth to not be destroyed by financial bubbles, we would not need mark to market accounting.

But we need mark to market in this world, with vast global markets of traded securities, corporations with limited liability and separation of ownership and management, and possibilities of bank runs, and in a population where most people are not millionaires, and therefore cannot stand the loss of a significant fraction of their wealth. In our world, destroying mark to market accounting standards for corps would mean frequent repetition of the financial crisis wore than what we have now.

But as long as there is a government that does anything, and has any rules at all, you can blame whatever bad that happens on the government. So, there is a panic, there are some government standards regarding corporate accounting practices, therefore, the panic is the fault of those government accounting standards. QED. Obvious. Only a fool or commie could deny that airtight logic

McCain is a nutcase, an arrogant self-righteous ignoramus a fraud and would be a complete disaster as president, in all, every and each area of governance. I don’t even car about his global warming stand anymore, because from what I have seen, he is too ignorant to do that correctly, even if he is on the right side of the issue.

—

Also, I read that when asked recently about what he thought interest rates should be, McCain was stumped, and then blurted out ‘zero’ after a moment.

So, Spitzer down and McCain on the rise. Heaven help us.

1,792 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen GrouchoPotato:

“I can only imagine who is being blackmailed with this nsa/doj info.”

And that’s why we haven’t had impeachment yet…because those bein’ blackmailed have yet to understand that it will only end when they are willin’ ta stand up and take the blackmailers with ‘em. More importantly though, if the Dems who are bein’ blackmailed don’t toss all the chips into the pot now…none a this criminality is ever gunna see the light of day.

KEEP THE FAITH THERE IS NO ROOM FOR FEAR!!

And lookie here: Another Israel surrogate:

Mukasey graduated in 1959 from the Ramaz School, a Modern Orthodox Jewish prep school in Manhattan. He is an Orthodox Jew.[11] His wife, Susan, was later a teacher and headmistress of the lower school at Ramaz, and both of their children (Marc and Jessica)[12] attended the school…

Mukasey practiced law for 20 years in New York City, serving for four years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the federal prosecutor’s office[2] in which he worked with Rudolph Giuliani. In 1976, he joined the New York law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, to which he returned after retirement from the U.S. District Court.[15] Mukasey began teaching at Columbia Law School in the Spring of 1993 and has taught there every spring semester since.[16]

Mukasey’s stepson, Marc L. Mukasey (formerly surnamed Saroff)[17], as of 2007 leads the white-collar criminal defense practice in the New York office of Bracewell & Giuliani.[18] The Mukaseys have a professional relationship with Rudy Giuliani; Mukasey and son are also justice advisers to Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign.[19] Mukasey administered the oath of office to Mayor-elect Giuliani in 1994 and 1998…

I assume you are aware that the Wayne county prosecutor bringing charges is an African-American woman? Not that that fact has any bearing on the price of beans anywhere…

and:

During his tenure on the bench, Mukasey presided over the criminal prosecution of Omar Abdel Rahman and El Sayyid Nosair, whom he sentenced to life in prison for a plot to blow up the United Nations and other Manhattan landmarks uncovered during an investigation into the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[15] During that case, Mukasey spoke out against leaks by law enforcement officials regarding the facts of the case allegedly aimed at prejudicing potential jurors against the defendants.[22]

Mukasey also heard the trial of Jose Padilla, ruling that the U.S. citizen and alleged terrorist could be held as an enemy combatant but was entitled to see his lawyers. Mukasey also was the judge in the litigation between developer Larry Silverstein and several insurance companies arising from the destruction of the World Trade Center

I think it is more likely that after the tizzy of “OMG we caught him with a hooker” wore off, they sat down and actually looked carefully at the evidence they had and the elements of the money laundering statutes and realized that they might not have an actual crime to charge him with (except for the Mann Act–they have him cold on that, but DOJ doesn’t use it on johns absent some aggravating circumstance, so they leave themselves wide open if they go that route)

I assume you are aware that the Wayne county prosecutor bringing charges is an African-American woman?

I am. I might add, so am I, so believe me I know how little that can mean, according to the situation.

I happen to think that every policeman, judge, politician and prosecutor should be locked into a secure facility for a few weeks and be forced to experience the physical effects of meth, powder and crack cocaine, and marijuana, and then, and only then, be allowed to legislate as to the criminal sentencing for each person charged with an offense related to those substances, after personally experiencing each and every one of them.

Hell, they make policemen experience, as part of training, the effects of a taser…

Maybe then sentencing sanity would ensue. Nobody ever said public service would be a piece of cake - personal sacrifice - first, you show *me*…

Makes sense to me.

1,792 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen prostratedragon:

“I have seen nothing that makes me think that local Dem politicians are immune by definition to the associated blandishments.”

Yes indeed, I’ve worried about that with regard to Obama for some time…I think that may be why McCrazy and the fascists have been struttin’ around lately like they’re in fascist heaven. But no matter, the whole rotten game must be exposed…and remember we got Al Gore waitin’ in the wings here.

KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, NOBODY IS GUNNA GET AWAY CLEAN!!

He was getting ready to go after the Municipal Bond rating agencies

6 months ago a Wall Street Friend told us -

SubPrime is Grenada, Bond Rating Agencies are Iraq

and per your o/t - Sadr City above - did you read this piece over at Prof Cole’s place ?

scroll down to Battle of Bagdad

Anti Semitism is NOT appropriate on any thread of mine, or ever.

And my essential point here is really to raise the possibility that the new eavesdropping order has created an additional mode of political currency. Maybe this case is an example, though from what little I know Mayor Kilpatrick is no one’s choice of a poster child for the rights of targets, lacking even the offsets of having effectively taken on some big public controversy as Gov. Spitzer had.

Hey, Norske!8D

first and foremost - the legislators - which somehow should rhyme or alliterate with “self-righteous”, but doesn’t, unfortunately…

hell is breaking loose there.

Hi all - just taking in the wireless here at starbucks… am on the road again, as evidenced here:

http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com/2008/03/4k.html

cbl2, your link goes to TomDispatch article by Michael Schwartz, was that the intention? (It is about the Battle of Baghdad.)

SubPrime is Grenada, Bond Rating Agencies are Iraq

Brrrr! I shudder to think about “Iran” in that sequence.

lhp-from your august 2007 article link at the very top–

” Stone’s attorney passed on the information about Spitzer after Stone was approached by federal agents in the wake of the message left on Bernard Spitzer’s voice mail in August, a source with knowledge of the matter said. Stone has denied leaving the message and declined to meet with the FBI.

The source said the FBI did not contact Stone about the letter. Stone was told of Spitzer’s alleged use of Florida prostitutes by a call girl whom he was ”chatting up” at the swingers club Miami Velvet in early September, the source said.”

======

i’m not believin’ this one, i need some eye bleach.

i had forgotten about the harrassment of bernard, what ever came of that?

the beginning of the article, that i didn’t copy, states that stone resigned from dole’s campaign after someone placed an ad in a ’swinger’s’ magazine for a threesome with stone and his wife, they didn’t give any more detail than that…..i thought, why would someone resign cuz someone ELSE put an ad in a mag to embarass you, but it gets better…….remember, dole was a few years ago……

and this article ends with a quote from him, that he got from a ’call girl’–AT A SWINGER’S CLUB ! september 2007

aw my gawd! in september! after the harrassing phone call to eliot’s father in august……

november 2007–stone sends fbi a letter about spitzer’s black sex socks……

he’s sure got a lot of ’info’ about spitzer by now…….

i’m starting to wonder if this wasn’t a pissin’ contest over a girl at this point. or started out that way.

one thing is, you can bet stone has already spent a lot of change tryin’ to get info from every call girl he knew……wonder if they can trace ’that’ money?

scarletp–

hiyah

heyyo

yes, Battle of Bagdad was my intent

fyi- skirmishes now being reported in Karbala, Hila, Kut - via al jazeera

Thanks, maybe I’ll spend some time at A-J this evening, before checking out Bush’s War II, that is.

ooooh, Shuster layin’ the wood to HRC re NAFTA, and her supposed opposition to it…. (On Hardballs).

(I *love* Shuster right where he is)(though Gregory’s new show I find annoying)….

Excellent Post!

Spitzer’s behaviour was morally despicable but when will the Dems learn how to deflect these politically motivated attacks? At the moment Tweetie is harping endlessly on how Hillary’s “lies” about her trip to Bosnia will play into the hands of the future swift-boaters as if they (the Swift Boaters) were a legitimate part of the political process. Rather than challenge Tweetie and respond that the Swift Boater attacks were nothing but lies, Hillary’s designated defender is endlessly repeating the upbeat spin about how her trip to Bosnia was itself a qualification for commander-in-chief.

there is no other race to focus upon for 24-hour news outlets.

Whaddya expect?

Hey, I’ve taken overseas trips. I guess I’m qualified to be commander-in-chief too.

Thanks for clearing that up, lhp.

Watching the interminable delays in the issuance of the next layer of indictments in the Alaska GOP oil corruption scandal, mixed with rumors that at least one prominent Democrat, ex-governor Tony Knowles, will be indicted in the upcoming group, and that real estate dealings of Achorage’s current mayor, another Democrat, are being invetigated, I can’t help but wonder that with Mukasey’s ascendance to AG, even the Alaska DOJ investigation is going to go political, neglecting openly corrupt GOP figures and digging very hard to find slights done by prominent Democrats. Your timeline of the shit coming down on Spitzer reinforces my suspicion.

Did I mention that McCain was corrupt?
I found something on McCain’s economic remarks at Thinkprogress. Thinkprogress goes far too easy on McCain, though. There is a nutcase fringe group who is blaming the current crisis on government over-regulation. One of their big rallying cries is the ‘down with mark to market’ that is code for down with any corporate accounting standards at all. McCains’ statements show he is traveling with this group of dangerously confused nutcases. From Thinkprogress. I would rather have ol’ Socks-on Spitzer than the ignorant nutcase McCain anyday.

—
It’s not surprising that McCain went easy on the financial industry today. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, his campaign has received $1,241,736 in donations from commercial banks and mortgage lending interests.

Several of his advisers and fundraisers are also lobbyists who have represented firms involved in the housing crisis. For example, the firms of Charlie Black, Richard Hohlt, and Juleanna Glover Weiss have made over $2 million in contracts from JP Morgan, and Black and Hohlt’s firms have received $1.9 million from Washington Mutual, the in-house lobbyist for Citigroup.

In fact, McCain has consistently voted against mortgage protections and other steps to help consumers fight unfair credit terms. Some lowlights:

– McCain voted against discouraging predatory lending practices. In 2005, McCain voted against an amendment prohibiting law-breaking high-cost predatory mortgage lenders from collecting funds from homeowners who are forced into bankruptcy court. [S. 256, 3/03/05]

– McCain failed to vote on bill to overhaul mortgage lending practices of FHA. In 2007, McCain failed to vote on passage of a bill that would overhaul the mortgage lending practices of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The bill would reduce the required minimum down payment for an FHA-insured loan and simplify its calculation, requiring a flat 1.5 percent of the appraised value of the home. [S. 2338, 12/14/07]

– McCain failed to sign on to Truth in Lending Act. Less than four months ago, McCain failed to sign on to this bipartisan initiative providing protection to consumers taking out home mortgage loans. Among other measures, it was designed to “establish new lending standards to ensure that loans are affordable and fair.” McCain also refused to co-sponsor this legislation in the 107th Congress as well. [S. 2452, 12/12/2007]

For today’s speech, the campaign had to use “both a large flat screen monitor and two side pannel teleprompters” in order for McCain to “look more natural speaking” in his most extensive speech on the economy to date.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/.....more-20814

OT-Another large construction crane (50 stories) collapses while being stepped, this time in Florida. Unregulated and unlicensed!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-…..313618.stm

I guess the surge works when Muqtada al-Sadr wants it to work:

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s leaders faced their gravest challenge in months Tuesday as Shiite militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr battled for control of the southern oil capital, fought U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad and unleashed rockets on the Green Zone.

Your move, Mr. McCain.

Am I late in observing that we have no presidential candidates (at least between Clinton and McCain) only candidates for commander in chief?

What, pray tell, happened to the ultra-exclusive prostitution ring and its managers. Have state prosecutors nabbed them for prostitution? Have the feds nabbed them for income reporting and tax payment violations? Have tehy paid their parking tickets (DC is notorious for its vigilant meter maids and misters).

Have they been given immunity in exchange for the oh, so vital, constitution threatening news that a politician has paid for sex, in cash or in kind? Or, have the feds left the cheese on the trap in hopes of nabbing Billo or someone else out for a good time? After all, cherry blossom time in DC must be just around the corner.

And one more thing LHP, one can have problems with Israel’s policy and not be anti semetic. That sort of logical flaw is beneath you.

Unregulated and unlicensed and governed by a Bush for a long time.

I’m going to pull a whole comment by masaccio over, from bmaz’s Easter Eggs & Spitzer post at EW’s place:

Well, I finally read the March 13, 2008 article in the NYT which is the third of the here, here, here links in the post. Get this:

The July Suspicious Activity Report by North Fork that flagged Mr. Spitzer’s transactions picked up three wire transfers totaling roughly $10,000 to QAT International, in what appeared to the bank as a possible attempt to avoid a separate legal requirement that banks notify the Treasury Department of transactions of $10,000 or more, officials involved with the case have said.
The requirement to report such large transactions applies only to currency transactions — “the coin and paper money of the United States” — not to wire transactions of the sort that Mr. Spitzer allegedly made, Mr. Serino said.

It is just as I have been saying, there is no requirement to report this transaction. The requirement for special scrutiny of politically exposed persons applies only to foreign politicians, the article says, but many banks track US politicians as well.

The SAR was not required. And it was ignored also. Until the QAT matter appeared.

emph added

Not my field, but it seems to me that masaccio has pointed to a pretty big issue.

this certainly looks like a planned hit job. And smells very strongly of results of domestic spying … thx lhp for the timeline. really lays it out.

Maybe those two are the only ones with flight suits.

Dang - hit submit too fast. I meant to add that masaccio’s point is in keeping with the

NB-Although much has been made about allegations that Spitzer tried to structure 3 wire transfers amounting to approximately $10,000 so that none of them would trigger the $10,000 reporting requirement, that is a misstatement of the law. Checks and wire transfers generate their own paper trail and therefore do not trigger a currency transaction report.

reference in the post (although I’m not sure what NB stands for)

The ring leaders probably will have IRS code violations. I wonder about the hookers. Are they being hauled off to jail?

ET! Long time no thread together.

I met Diane Benson last week. What a wonderful woman. She was sitting next to me at a Valerie Plame event in NYC and we had a nice long chat.

IF Bruno became Governor, and Hillary Clinton became President, would Bruno appoint the successor to her senate seat?

Sorry if this has been asked and answered. :)

shit, harold ford, Jr is on my teevee on msnbc.

I find it interesting that Patterson is getting all his junk out on the table - I suspect he knows EXACTLY what happened to Spitzer and is acting preemptively…

nice timeline there, lhp - I’m thinking emptywheel with like her bd present ;-)

What, pray tell, happened to the ultra-exclusive prostitution ring and its managers

They were arrested on March 6th by USAO SDNY and the FBI. They were arraigned on a complaint–interestingly no indictment–which spells
D-E-A-L to me.

I suspect (with no evidence other than the fact that the conversation between her and “kristen” seems scripted), that one of them was already cooperating by Feb 11th and it is this person’s info that got the wiretap extended.

Yep. He jumped over from Fox.

-G

Spitzer’s personal attractiveness and his engagement in consensual adult sexual practices in private are irrelevant. They are salacious, irresistible bait for the Base. Except when their own engage in it; then it’s about personal fulfillment and an opportunity to seek forgiveness from the Lord and Her faithful.

But the threads of tainted, selective, politically partisan prosecution are beginning to form a whole cloth, one which stretches from Alabama and Mississippi to California to Michigan to New York. Will Mukasey’s Boys investigate that prostitution? Or will they, like Vitter, get a free pass?

Impossible as it seems, the laundry list being left for the next Attorney General is beginning to look considerably longer than the one for his or her president.

Professor LHProp, what a tasty treat for EW!
Well done!

Bob in HI

There is nothing in your comment whatsoever to suggest that Mukasey’s an Israeli anything. You were pointing to a school he attended? That his wife worked at?

I went to 16 years of Catholic school (if you count college) does that make me a spy or agent of the Vatican?

An Iraqi reporter is reporting on AA, that Sadr is calling on his followers to conduct civil disobedience tactics throughout Baghdad, which has shut down a lot of municipal operations…! I do like that tact, as opposed to a call to arms…!

What kind of bank is North Fork Bank….?

River Bank :0

yup.

The Spitzer SAR by the bank was appropriate considering his dumbass phone call. They did it to cover their own ass. The SAR was ignored, just like most of them are.

It is not until October/November AFTER Stone has been contacted by FBI about his alleged phone call to Spitzer’s old man, that somebody takes that old SAR and runs with it

Yea, until someone overreacts and pops a cap, then the shit will break out.

I thought it might be related to “Dallas”…/s

Excellent LHP!!! EW will be thrilled. This is so blatantly a political takedown, but what’s making me crazy is that Bushco doesn’t even care that people know it. I mean it’s Bush/Cheney/Rove giving the democrats the finger. What will the dems do about this?

And who are the johns #1-8 and 10-….?

Was North Fork Bank a target in any way of investigation into bogus mortgage lending practices???

reference in the post (although I’m not sure what NB stands for)

Note (there shuold be an accent over the “e”) bene = note well

shit, harold ford, Jr is on my teevee on msnbc.

Yep. Pimping HRC.

Color me as monstrously surprised…

Yawn… and as much as Gregory’s new show annoys me - at least he keeps throwing smart women on the air (tonight it’s Rachel), confidence remains high that Pat Buchanan’s head will eventually, on-air, explode…

Out.

Yup, looks like a Bushco takedown twofer.

Ala India… When the British gunned down many of Gandhi’s followers…!

So! You are in league with the Sisters of Mercy? Maybe the Franciscans?

can you say, extortion? It sounds like a convenient little racket. Wonder who cooked it up?

IF Bruno became Governor, and Hillary Clinton became President, would Bruno appoint the successor to her senate seat?

I think so.

Kind makes you head spin doesn’t it?

Client #6

I read your Diane Benson comment soon after it came up - siun or egregious, I think, pointed me toward it. She’s in Juneau finishing a PBS documentary-drama on the life of Alaska civil rights pioneer Elizabeth Peratrovich. Diane wrote the script, helped with the screenplay, and is acting the part of Peratrovich, a Tlingit woman who disobeyed the “No Dogs, Chinamen or Indians!” signs in Alaska after WWII.

I agree that Paterson is VERY wise to act pre-emptively. He is a pretty smart person from all I have seen.

I owe EW for all the hours of joyful timeline perusal she has given me.

Many thanks.

Letting the illegal casino owner’s off scott free in order to nab a single player? Protecting the dealer to get at a single user? The administration’s inversion of priorities, its disregard of efficient use of prosecutorial resources and taxpayer funds, seems complete.

No one is off the street or persuaded not to engage further in allegedly harmful conduct; no profits or “entertainment” resources are affected; and no defense counsel gets to explore what other (GOP?) names might be in the Emperor’s Club’s Washington, DC, or international Rolodex.

But the GOP are a few dirty tricks away from overturning the overwhelming vote of New York citizens for a Democratic administration and imposing on them a Republican party boss as governor. A neat trick even by Haley Barbour’s low standards.

Hi Bob,and it has less calories (not that she needs to worry about that) than the red velvet cake I was considering making for her.

North Fork is a regular bank with branches and checking accounts. It’s a regular retail bank. I believe it began here on Lawn Guyland, the North Fork referring to the end of the Island

I like Patterson too - seems smart, smart, smart…

It suggests that you know the difference between your catechism and the federal rules of criminal procedure. Unlike, say, Ms. Goodling or Mr. Sampson, whom seem cut more from the mold of late sixteenth century emissaries from the Vatican to the Court of St. James.

Based on my anecdotal experience working for and with orthodox jews in this city they would most certainly have at minimal and very pro Israeli filter in viewing the world.

Therefore I would think that if they were in a positon of power it would be impossible for them to ignore the interest of Israel which they all consider to be their “land”, their country. If you don’t know that ask some orthodox jews.

This doesn’t meant that all orthodox jews are “israeli firsters” but I don’t think suggesting this is the least bit anti semitic. That’s just they way orthodox Jews seem to think, in my experience. I would bet Mukasey is no different based on the wiki article.

And who are the johns #1-8 and 10-….?

One of them turned out to be some billionaire british peer

Dang - hit submit too fast. I meant to add that masaccio’s point is in keeping with the

NB-Although much has been made about allegations that Spitzer tried to structure 3 wire transfers amounting to approximately $10,000 so that none of them would trigger the $10,000 reporting requirement, that is a misstatement of the law. Checks and wire transfers generate their own paper trail and therefore do not trigger a currency transaction report.

reference in the post (although I’m not sure what NB stands for)

It is not often that I know something that Mary doesn’t, so I’d like to point out that NB stands for “Note Bene” which, if I haven’t misspelled it, is Latin for something like “Note well” or, to be more colloquial, “Get this!”

Bob in HI
Bob in HI

Maybe the Franciscans?

Franciscans, baby!

North Fork is no longer. As of 2 weeks ago it was bought by Capitol One.

March 7, 2008 - A reporter at the NYTimes Metro Desk got a “tip” that a john in room 871 of a Washington Hotel as described in the federal indictment of a prostitution ring was a “New York Official.” March 7th was a Friday.

Also, a reporter for WCBS got a tip about Spitzer and the prostitution ring. She was on Kurtz’s show talking about it.

MARCIA KRAMER, INVESTIGATIVE & POLITICAL REPORTER, WCBS: Well, in fact, the Friday before it broke, I actually got a tip about it and had to call the governor’s office, feeling sort of like a fool, because I was calling to say, is this Mr. Moralistic governor involved in a prostitution ring? They did deny it, but still, it was just an amazing thing to even contemplate, that Eliot Spitzer, who had been, you know, the moral voice of Albany, was suddenly involved in something so sleazy.

CNN Transcript.

Wow, I see McCain has found wesgpc!

Washington Mutual, the in-house lobbyist for Citigroup.

This looks pretty interesting; TP doesn’t have a direct link, but maybe one of their links explains further. For the record, WAMU’s national expansion a few years ago —which might tell you all you need to know about them— did not have the fragrant aroma that one would expect from a true community-minded mortgage lender. And apart from any risk that they share with Citi, they’re high on most lists of financials that might not make it.

It’s Italian too!

Is Benson a Native American herself? She certainly has that some “think for yourself” spirit of the person she will be portraying

Click in haste, repent at leisure. My metaphor seems poured from the cloth, indeed, cut from the mixed mold of silly thought.

Not Jesuits or even Dominicans?

Marcia Kramer? No kidding? This is damming. She has made a career out of getting leaks from SDNY. Back in the Rudy days she had direct dial numbers for the AUSA’s working all the “trial of the century” cases. She would call you up and try to get all sorts of stuff out of you and if you didn’t give her what she wanted, she would complain to Rudy about you.

If it’s Marcia Kramer, I am willing to bet cold hard cash the leaks came from USAO SDNY not from FBI.

I am a proud alumna of St. Francis Prep!

What is sleazy about expensive hookers?

Nothing sleazy about sex per se, but hypocrisy is the killer here. If he didn’t bust people in prostitution biz he could have at least said he doesn’t believe in wasting time in victimless crimes.

I don’t think anyone has no sins. Look at Sol Wachtler or whomever that Chief admin Judge in NYC court was.

Slavery and abuse and underage (children) is prostitution is disgusting and should be prosecuted for CHILD ABUSE.. or trafficking in humans. But screwing? Who the eff cares?

It just gets more interesting.

Aw, I endured 6 years of the Sisters of Mercy who showed little. *g*

McCain has found me? Uh-oh. He might get testy. Where? where? I’m running home, bolting the doors and boarding up the windows.

What can I say? I am disillusioned with Mr. Integrity, Joe straightalk. My former hero is revealed to be an idiot and a jerk. And I never even got no ’Q out of him. (snark)

I take back what I said about Marcia Kramer. She’s just a whiney reporter.

Thank you lhp, always learn so much from you.

EW has not neglected Siegelman–12 posts, see link. Siegelman’s site has a media chronology, but no timeline that I cld. find anywhere. Did I miss it? Seems to be crying out for one, if there is none.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake......2&y=9

The simple brown robes rather than the soldiers’ black ones. It comes out in your writing. In my time with Sister Mary Elephant, I learned little; not even about black patent leather shoes.

So what is the thought among the legal eagles… are they gonna charge Spitzer or not?

Still have the proverbial ruler marks on your left hand?

Would you be concerned if a very high official in the US government had a dual citizenship?

115 - AH, nota bene I’m not here that much and I thought maybe that it was a response to a poster, like EW. nekkid without the periods. *g*

Avoided that but came close to getting my mouth washed out with soap.

LHD and bmaz are, no doubt, more well informed. I think it was bmaz who opined that any AUSA who resuscitated the politically tainted and defunct Mann Act to charge Spitzer would be written off as a laughing stock.

My untutored guess is that they will drag it out with delays fueled by innuendo in order to exact as much political damage as possible, then leave it to the next administration’s USA staff. Should they not charge, well!, that would be a fine example of politicization of the prosecutor’s magisterial authority.

Lava, no doubt, like the hero in Christmas Story.

Lovely job with the timeline, LHP. Don’t you love birthday presents that fit like this, never have to worry about the right color or size?

Way late to the birthday party, but this is quite the Emptywheelish Timeline you’ve got here, LHP! Wow!!

not the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence?

Stone confirmed details of the letter, saying a high-end call girl at an adult-themed club called Miami Velvet told him she was disappointed to have missed a call to entertain Spitzer. She said her friend had taken the call, and she described the details about the socks, Stone said. He referred The Miami Herald to his lawyer for comments.

wow LHP, sure did a lot of work on this.

You sure EW couldn’t have done just as well with a case or REALLY GOOD BEER and an impromptu scrum, or scrim, or whatever you hot rugby babes call it?

Stone refused to meet with the FBI. Instead he threw them a bone.

”The governor has paid literally tens of thousands of dollars for these services. It is Mr. Stone’s understanding that the governor paid not with credit cards or cash but through some pre-arranged transfer,” the letter said.

OF a case OF. dammit

Schwarzenegger (R) replaces Davis (D) in California by extraordinary means.

Siegelman redux.

Someone replaced Siegelman (D) in Alabama?

Bruno (R) to replace Paterson (D) who replaced Spitzer (D) in NY.

I see a pattern developing and it isn’t Democracy.

Also, I read that when asked recently about what he thought interest rates should be, McCain was stumped, and then blurted out ‘zero’ after a moment.

If a Democrat were president and we were experiencing price inflation, the way we have been recently, then the interest rates would begin to creep up. I don’t know how the Fed decides how far to take them, but we know the direction.

You sure EW couldn’t have done just as well with a case or REALLY GOOD BEER and an impromptu scrum, or scrim, or whatever you hot rugby babes call it?

Instead what she got was a REALLY GOOD TIMEline and an impromptu scum, or whatever …

For a really good timeline call xxx-xxxx.

Hey, what do you get a girl who has all the timelines she needs? Another timeline?

Happy Birthday EW.

I’m sure there is no connection, but…..

As it turned out, both the North Fork Bank and HSBC had faced inquiries into their lending practices led by Mr. Spitzer when he was New York attorney general. In the case of North Fork, Mr. Spitzer announced a settlement in 2003 requiring it to refund more than $20,000 to dozens of homeowners and cease what he said was its practice of charging homeowners illegal fees.

This is from the link October/late fall in LHP’s post.

Wow, LHP, your timeline is chilling.
It makes the FBI and DOJ look like partisan tools manipulated by Wall Street and BushCheney.

It would be interesting to lay this timeline next to something like the Cunningham investigation, which also involved hookers, sex, and… but wait a minute, I don’t recall hearing the transcripts of Vitter’s hookers, or of Duke Cunningham’s ‘drive ‘em to the Watergate in a limo’ sexcapades…

oh… wait a minute!… I guess Cunningham and Vitter didn’t piss of Wall Street. Silly me….
Pfffttttt…!

Thanks for the time line. I really underestimated Joe Bruno. Scary how easily wiretaps are obtained. I am really grateful that, so far, Congress has not provided immunity for the telecoms with FISA. Politics is a much nastier business than I thought.

Missed a big puzzle piece: monolines. Monolines given five days to find funds
By Aline Van Duyn in Washington and Michael Mackenzie in New York
Thursday Feb 14 2008 16:50
Eliot Spitzer, New York governor, on Thursday gave bond insurers three to five business days to find fresh capital, or face a potential break-up by state regulators who want to safeguard the municipal bond markets.
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/sup.....1704428366

Bond insurers and the markets
Splitting headaches
Feb 21st 2008 | NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition
….The monolines know that, by threatening to break apart, they may force Wall Street banks to stump up the cash to keep them whole. The banks fear that stand-alone structured-product insurers, cut off from the municipal bit, could not pay all of their claims. This would drag down the value of securities the monolines have guaranteed and increase the banks’ write-downs….The regulator and governor are shedding no tears over lenders’ losses. Their primary concern is the $2.6 trillion, tax-exempt municipal-bond market, used by cities, universities and the like to raise long-term funds, much of it from individuals. Were the monolines to lose their top-notch ratings, they fear, many issuers could struggle to meet higher funding costs.

Municipal borrowers are already being affected by the lack of confidence in the insurers. Overall issuance was 38% lower in January than the year before—though other factors, such as the economic slowdown, were also to blame. …Because the interest rate automatically clicks up if the auction is a dud, hospitals, museums, universities and ports have suddenly found their debt-service bills rising sharply. New York state entities’ weekly borrowing costs have climbed by more than $2m, for instance. Some rates soared to 20%
http://www.economist.com/finan.....d=10733072

Auction-Bond Failures Roil Munis, Pushing Rates Up (Update5)
By Martin Z. Braun
Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) — Bonds sold by U.S. municipal borrowers with rates set through periodic auctions failed to attract enough buyers as banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. that run the bidding won’t commit their own capital to the debt.

Rates on $100 million of bonds sold by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, with bidding run by Goldman, soared to 20 percent yesterday from 4.3 percent a week ago
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/.....refer=home

WOULD YOU LIKE WHIP CREAM WITH A CHERRY ON TOP?

Goldman, Bear Stearns Bankers Targeted in Muni Criminal Probe
By Martin Z. Braun and William Selway
Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. bankers are under investigation in the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal probe of the municipal derivatives business, regulatory documents show….
U.S. prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been searching for more than a year for evidence of rigged bidding and other misconduct by banks that sell investments and derivatives, such as interest-rate swaps, tied to municipal bonds. …. Lawyers in the municipal bond industry have said the criminal probe is the biggest in the history of the almost 200- year-old market, where states, cities and towns have $2.6 trillion of debt outstanding. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also raided three brokers that advise local governments and ran the bidding as part of the probe, which may involve transactions as far back as 1992. …Bear Stearns spokesman Russell Sherman, Goldman spokesman Michael DuVally and JPMorgan spokesman Brian Marchiony declined to comment
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/.....refer=home

Spitzer may have been ensnared with his pants down. On the otherhand, look whose hands are still in the cookie jar that affects all of us. Quite interesting that Bear Sterns was given away via Paulson(grad of Goldman Sachs) with $30 billion taxpayer bailout from helicopter Ben and wrapped with a bow on top to JP Morgan who didn’t have the cash for the buyout. Instead worthless CDO’s that we the taxpayers will be handed. We need to roundup a posse and bring all the bank robbers to the justice tree.