Can you really tell the difference between Nigerian phishing spam and Goldman Sach’s Facebook offering?

The WaPo reports that an SEC Inspector General report shows that the SEC gave Bank of America lenient treatment when it fined BoA for its funny business surrounding the Merrill Lynch acquisition, but did not place limits on BoA’s ability to issue securities that would normally be placed on a firm that violates securities law. The whole thing sort of makes you wonder about what other special treatment BoA has been getting all this time, all in an effort to avoid admitting that it is insolvent. Maybe Julian Assange can help us out there?

Goldman Sachs is in trouble in Europe, first over their role in helping Greece hide its true debt picture from the EU, and now for the actions that landed them in hot water with the SEC. There’s one more little wrinkle to this story, though, that could make it much more complicated for the US government, and that wrinkle’s name is Philip D. Murphy.