Rakoff Seeking Truth of Wall Street Wrongdoing Labeled Rogue
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff doesn’t shy away from high-profile fights.
In 2005, he challenged the Department of Defense for holding suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba without identifying them. The Pentagon protested his order to release their names, saying it would undermine their privacy rights and in a few cases threaten national security. The judge rejected most of the arguments from the military and forced it to reveal the names, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its May issue.
“I’m not by nature reticent,” Rakoff, 68, says from behind his glass-topped desk in his chambers in lower Manhattan. “I wonder if Rush Limbaugh is ever going to come after me.”
Rakoff sits on the court for the Southern District of New York, which covers Wall Street. He has presided over a number of heavyweight financial lawsuits and currently is overseeing the case of former McKinsey & Co. head Rajat Gupta, who’s charged with insider trading. The judge is also embroiled in a battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission over what he considers its tepid enforcement of the law.
On Nov. 28, Rakoff threw out the SEC’s $285 million settlement of a lawsuit with Citigroup (C) Inc. for selling $1 billion of toxic mortgage securities in a collateralized debt obligation that defaulted in 2007. As part of the agreement, New York-based Citigroup neither admitted nor denied the agency’s allegations, a clause that has been standard in such settlements for at least four decades. Rakoff said he wanted the SEC to reveal more facts about Citigroup’s wrongdoing so he could judge whether the settlement is fair.
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We need more Judges like Rakoff, with honor and integrity to enforce the laws affordable to us, already by the Constitution of the United States of America. Why are these judges not doing their jobs, because the ones who are not are not being reported to the proper authorities. Their is a commissiion for this and nodody uses it. You are also afforded the the right to “a substitution of judges”, and even “a change of venue” if you thinkk that your rights are being violated. No judge wants to be overturned on appeal either. So make uour voices heard, occupy the courts!
This Judge is a Patriot – when our great grandchildren look back at the Bankster Era, there will be a few brave souls who will be the Paul Reveres and the MLKs of our time. Thank you, Judge!