Pretty good summary of the issues here. http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...u-dot-s-bid-to-impose-financial-death-penalty
To me, this really crystalizes the issue of an out of control government. You get on their wrong side or in their crosshairs, and they will try to destroy you. They have plenty of drones willing to do the dirty work, whether it is this US Attorney or the goons who prosecuted Zimmerman.
I assume Stevie Cohen didn't cough up enough protection money in the last election cycle or put his money on the wrong horse. After all, we are dealing with chicago thugs here. By comparison, Jon Corzine hasn't been prosecuted at all. All he did was preside over several billion dollars of investors deposits vanishing. But hey, like Hillary said,"What does it matter?"
Back to SAC. Let's assume there was some illegal behavior going on, insider trading,etc. The fact is however, it was clearly relatively minor in comparison to the size fo the funds involved. But Cohne is a big trophy fish, and he won't knuckle under either. Can't have that. So the government oversteps and brings in the heavy artillery, statues designed to be used against the mafia and drug lords. They ask for forfeiture of everything, including client funds. Like John Coffee said, it's like you dump an eyedropper of chemcials in Lake Superior and they want to drain the whole thing.
It's a familiar trick. Overcharge to coerce a plea deal. Same as with Zimmerman. Then try the case in the media to pollute any jury pool.
It sends a message. If you're very successful here, you have a big target on you. You might as well move to mexico and deal with kidnappers because at the end of the day, it's the same game.
To me, this really crystalizes the issue of an out of control government. You get on their wrong side or in their crosshairs, and they will try to destroy you. They have plenty of drones willing to do the dirty work, whether it is this US Attorney or the goons who prosecuted Zimmerman.
I assume Stevie Cohen didn't cough up enough protection money in the last election cycle or put his money on the wrong horse. After all, we are dealing with chicago thugs here. By comparison, Jon Corzine hasn't been prosecuted at all. All he did was preside over several billion dollars of investors deposits vanishing. But hey, like Hillary said,"What does it matter?"
Back to SAC. Let's assume there was some illegal behavior going on, insider trading,etc. The fact is however, it was clearly relatively minor in comparison to the size fo the funds involved. But Cohne is a big trophy fish, and he won't knuckle under either. Can't have that. So the government oversteps and brings in the heavy artillery, statues designed to be used against the mafia and drug lords. They ask for forfeiture of everything, including client funds. Like John Coffee said, it's like you dump an eyedropper of chemcials in Lake Superior and they want to drain the whole thing.
It's a familiar trick. Overcharge to coerce a plea deal. Same as with Zimmerman. Then try the case in the media to pollute any jury pool.
It sends a message. If you're very successful here, you have a big target on you. You might as well move to mexico and deal with kidnappers because at the end of the day, it's the same game.