RCP: Corzine Steals Billions Sans Charges, Errant Whale Watcher Faces Prison

[nonniey]

"Justice may be blind, but who works overtime to make it deaf, dumb, and stupid?

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2012/04/16/corzine_steals_billions_sans_charges_errant_whale_watcher_faces_prison_99618.html

Which would you imagine might attract more aggressive enforcement from the Justice Department: the theft of $1.2 billion from supposedly segregated customer brokerage funds, or lying about an alleged incident of whistling to attract the attention of a whale so that whale watchers could get a better peep? If you said the latter, then you appreciate the extent to which federal law enforcement priorities have run off the rails.

We know for a fact that enormous sums of money legally off limits have disappeared into the maw of disgraced Senator John Corzine's gambling counterparties, all of whom seem to have taken the oath of omerta. We know that Corzine personally asked employees at MF Global, the financial firm he headed until recently, to transfer the funds. We know that his underlings balked at signing false statements attesting the transfers to be legal. So how is it that the man ultimately responsible for this brazen theft and spectacular bankruptcy gets away with performing a perfunctory Sergeant Schultz "I know nothing" routine in front of his old Senate buddies, after which he is left free to walk out the door without handcuffs?........."

Click Link for the rest of the article.

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2012/04/16/corzine_steals_billions_sans_charges_errant_whale_watcher_faces_prison_99618.html

[Corcaigh]

Another illustration of how patently unfair the justice system is.

If you steal billions, you have brilliant lawyers who can protect you.

If you don't, you can't afford competent lawyers to protect you against over-zealous prosecutors who pump up charges with ridiculous penalties in order to 'encourage' a plea bargain to a lesser offence. More than 95 percent of cases which result in a felony conviction do not go to trial. :mad:

[Predicto]

I'm not at all sure that the law is done with Mr. Corzine. Unfortunately, finding charges that will stick will not be easy because the transactions are so complicated. I hope they nail him.

The rest of the editorial is the usual unfocused angry conservative bunk. Corzine's wrongdoing has zero to do with the other case. The person in the other case is not in trouble for being an "errant whale watcher," she is in trouble for (allegedly) lying to prosecutors. That's a problem no matter who you are (except maybe Bill Clinton ). The editorial is comparing apples to cinderblocks to make a dumb point.

[Jumbo]

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[Bliz]

Another illustration of how patently unfair the justice system is.

If you steal billions, you have brilliant lawyers who can protect you.

If you don't, you can't afford competent lawyers to protect you against over-zealous prosecutors who pump up charges with ridiculous penalties in order to 'encourage' a plea bargain to a lesser offence. More than 95 percent of cases which result in a felony conviction do not go to trial. :mad:

I'm guessing you haven't met many prosecutors in your life (except maybe while you were at the Defense table ). Sounds like you have some personal issues going on here. Not happy with a charge a friend/family member got?

Most prosecutors are good, honest hardworking people with an extremely difficult (these days life-threatening), but very important job to do. And they take it seriously. "Pumping up charges with ridiculous penalties to "encourage" a plea bargain" can get you disbarred. Prosecutors and defense attorneys spend more time in court than anyone else. They know the judges. They know each other. A habitual trumper of charges will come to the attention of judges and the defense bar very fast.

For the most part, prosecutors are very good about not bringing a case unless they think they can get a conviction. That's one reason why there are so many plea bargains. Because they usually don't indict unless they have a pretty damn good reason to do it.

Note your stat, wherever it came from, and assuming it's accurate - "convictions" don't go to trial. Not felony indictments. What does that tell you? Only that lots of people who are guilty get charged then take a plea because it's the smart thing to do. That happens a lot. Some people fight their charges, and sometimes they win and sometimes they don't.

The rich and famous have major advantages in the justice system. No doubt. But don't blame prosecutors for that. It's the justice department bringing this claim against the whale watcher.