Fraud and Corruption in the US Courts are Tightly Linked to Failing Banking Regulation and the Global Economic Crisis - presentation in the 16th World Criminology Congress, Japan
US Judge Jed Rakoff, Clerk Ruby Karjick, SEC, and Bank of America colluded in conducting simulated litigation for the unlawful taking of $5.8 billions from shareholders by banking executives. Review of the US District Court records shows that the litigation was fraud from the start. At the end, no person was held accountable, no money was paid back, and the shareholders were ordered to pay to themselves a penalty of $150 millions. Corruption of the courts is a central cause of the financial crisis, which is often overlooked. Conditions in the United States destabilize civil society and socio-economic development worldwide.
- Jed Rakoff Ruby Krajick
- US Judge Clerk of the Court
Kobe, Japan, August 8 - "Corruption of the US courts is a central cause of the financial crisis, which is often overlooked," says Joseph Zernik, PhD, of Human Rights Alert (NGO), [1] who presented in the 16th World Criminology Congress analysis of fraud in civil litigation in the US District Court, Southern District of New York, under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) v Bank of America Corporation (BAC). [2, 3]
The main topic of the Congress was criminality underlying the current global financial crisis.
SEC v BAC is of particular significance, since the case was:
- * Litigated in the US District Court, Manhattan key court in corporate regulation;
- * Widely reported by media, and
- * Was staged as restoration of enforcement of US banking regulation.
The underlying matter was the unlawful taking of $5.8 billions by banking executives during the merger of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch in late 2008, and charges of Securities Fraud.
The presentation at the World Criminology Congress used the case to demonstrate:
- * The inherent fraud in the electronic record systems of the US courts (PACER & CM/ECF), [4,5] and
- * The role of the US courts in undermining banking regulation and permitting criminality by financial institutions.
The study was based on analysis of electronic record systems, as implemented in the US District Court in NYC, and litigation records in the specific case, derived from the court itself, through FOIA requests on SEC, and from the Fair Fund Administrator.
The Court itself denied access to the summons, to the minutes, and to the electronic authentication records in the case, in apparent violation of the law. However, the summons, discovered through FOIA request on SEC showed that no valid summons was issued, executed, or waived. SEC also confirmed that no records existed for the minutes of the proceedings in this case. Court records showed that the case docket was opened without the required Civil Cover Sheet, and rulings were made on matters, where no motions were docketed (e.g. for the proposed settlement agreement).
Initially, SEC and BAC sought a settlement, where the victims the shareholders would have paid $33 millions in penalty to the US government, while no executive were to be held accountable, and no moneys were to be returned to the shareholders. The final settlement agreement still held no executive accountable, and required no executive to return moneys that were unlawfully taken. However, the victims the shareholders were eventually ordered to pay $150 millions to themselves.
In contrast, investigation of the same matter by State of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, as summed up in letter to the US Congress, [6] prompted independent financial analysts to call for criminal indictments of BAC executives, then US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke.
Mainstream media, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Times of London, covered the litigation dozens of times, falsely reporting that Judge Jed Rakoff was determined to get to the bottom on the matter, and that SEC was determined to prosecute the perpetrators.
"US Judge Jed Rakoff, Clerk Ruby Karjick, SEC, and Bank of America colluded in conducting simulated litigation," [7] concludes Dr Zernik.
In a separate presentation, Dr Zernik provided evidence of racketeering by California judges in Los Angeles through financial institution, real estate and foreclosure fraud, [8,9] and close ties between the LA-JR (Los Angeles Judiciary Racket), the Los Angeles-based Countrywide, and later Bank of America. [10]
Combined, the two presentations demonstrated the central role of corruption in the state and US courts in criminality underlying the current financial crisis - the main subject of the 16th World Criminology Congress.
The presentations proposed that the United States has entered an unprecedented constitutional crisis, in which the executive and the legislative branches are undermined by the judiciary.
The crisis is highlighted by:
- * Unprecedented deprivation of life, liberty and property with no due process of law; [11]
- * The recent blocking of access to the US courts by the US Supreme Court in a wide range of cases, [12] and
- * Immunity provided to financial institutions for large-scale criminality against the People in return for "settlements" paid to the US government. [13]
The resulting conditions were compared to the Robber Baron Era, where the Robber Barons were immune from prosecution.
Accordingly, it was proposed that:
- * The current financial crisis was unlikely to be alleviated unless corruption of the justice system in the United States was addressed, and
- * The United States faced an increasing risk of social unrest.
Conditions in the United States were pointed out as destabilizing civil society and socio-economic development worldwide.
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LINKS
[1] 11-02-12 Dr Joseph Zernik Bio
http://www.scribd.com/doc/48763278/
[2] 11-08-01 Zernik, J: Fraud and corruption in the US courts is tightly linked to failing banking regulation and the financial crisis, 16th World Criminology Congress presentation
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61351562/
[3] Zernik, Joseph: Securities and Exchange Commission v Bank of America Corporation - Simulated Litigation and Simulated Banking Regulation in the United States
http://www.scribd.com/doc/44663232/
[4] 10-08-18 Zernik, J: Data Mining of Online Judicial Records of the Networked US Federal Courts, International Journal on Social Media: Monitoring, Measurement, Mining, 1:69-83 (2010)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38328585/
[5] 11-07-06 Request filed by Windsor and Zernik with US Attorney General Eric Holder for Review of Integrity of Public Access and Case Management Systems of the US Courts
http://www.scribd.com/doc/59480718/
[6] 09-04-23 RE: SEC v BAC (1:09-cv-06829) State of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Letter to US Congress and analysts' responses:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/41079990/
[7] Simulated litigation
Texas Penal Code Section 32.48. SIMULATING LEGAL PROCESS.
(a) A person commits an offense if the person recklessly causes to be delivered to another any document that simulates a summons, complaint, judgment, or other court process with the intent to:
(1) induce payment of a claim from another person; or
(2) cause another to:
(A) submit to the putative authority of the document; or
(B) take any action or refrain from taking any action in response to the document, in compliance with the document, or on the basis of the document.
(b)
Proof that the document was mailed to any person with the intent that it be forwarded to the intended recipient is a sufficient showing that the document was delivered.
The practice is widespread in both the state and US courts.
[8] 11-08-08 PRESS RELEASE: Los Angeles Superior Court - Widespread Corruption and Refusal of the US Government to Take Action_Presentation in the 16th World Criminology Congress
http://www.scribd.com/doc/62137835/
[9] 11-01-07 Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California: Widespread Public Corruption and Refusal of US Department of Justice to Take Action
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46460640/
[10] 10-05-05 Countrywide, Bank of America [NYSE:BAC], and its President Brian Moynihan: Compilation of Records, Evidence of Racketeering
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30975368/
10-05-05 Chairs of US Congress Committees of the Judiciary and Banking are Requested to Join Senator Feinstein's Inquiries on Comptroller of the Currency
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30979882/
11-03-20 PRESS RELEASE: Lomas v Bank of America (KC059379) - Bank of America Continues Racketeering in the Los Angeles Superior Court-
http://www.scribd.com/doc/51160102/
[11] 11-06-14 Corruption of the Courts and Failing Banking Regulation in the United States: Dred Scott redux?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/57707808/
[12] 11-07-06 Chemerinsky, Erwin: the Supreme Court Closes the Door to Justice, Los Angeles Times
http://www.scribd.com/doc/60031276/
[13] 11-07-21 Banks to Pay $25 Billion Bribe for Immunity _Information Clearing House_ ICH
http://www.scribd.com/doc/62136091/
______
Joseph Zernik, PhD
Human Rights Alert (NGO)
Human Rights Alert is dedicated to discovering, archiving, and disseminating evidence of Human Rights violations by the justice systems of the State of California and the United States in Los Angeles County, California, and beyond. Human Rights Alert focuses on the unique role of computerized case management systems in the precipitous deterioration of the integrity of the justice system in the United States.
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http://www.examiner.com/x-38742-LA-Business-Headlines-Examiner
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WHAT DID THE EXPERT SAY ABOUT THE CURRENT FINANCIAL CRISIS?
* Foreclosure fraud: The homeowner nightmares continue
CNN (April 7, 2011)
* About 3 million homes have been repossessed since the housing boom ended in 2006 That number could balloon to about 6 million by 2013
Bloomberg (January 2011)
* "...a system in which only the little people have to obey the law, while the rich, and bankers especially, can cheat and defraud without consequences."
http://www.scribd.com/doc/50753639/
Prof Paul Krugman, MIT (2011)
_____________________________
WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA?
* "...judges tried and sentenced a staggering number of people for crimes they did not commit."
Prof David Burcham, Dean, Loyola Law School, LA (2001)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/29043589/
* "This is conduct associated with the most repressive dictators and police states... and judges must share responsibility when innocent people are convicted."
Prof Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Irvine Law School (2001)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/27433920/
* "Innocent people remain in prison"
* "...the LA Superior Court and the DA office, the two other parts of the justice system that the Blue Panel Report recommends must be investigated relative to the integrity of the system, have not produced any response that we know of..."
LAPD Blue Ribbon Review Panel Report (2006)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24902306/
_____________________________
WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA?
* "...corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California."
United Nations Human Rights Council Staff Report (2010)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38566837/
_____________________________
WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE STATE COURTS IN THE UNITED STATES?
* "On July 26, 2010, Laurence Tribe, Senior Counsel for the United States Department of Justice, Access to Justice Initiative, delivered an important speech to the Conference of Chief Justices, challenging them to halt the disintegration of our state justice systems before they become indistinguishable from courts of third world nations."
Prof Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law School (2010), per National Defender Leadership Institute (2010)
http://www.nlada.net/library/article/national_dojspeechto%20chiefjustice07-26-2010_gideonalert
_____________________________
WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES?
* "More than 100 law professors have signed on to a letter released today that proposes congressional hearings and legislation aimed at fashioning "mandatory and enforceable" ethics rules for Supreme Court justices for the first time. The effort, coordinated by the liberal Alliance for Justice, was triggered by "recent media reports," the letter said, apparently referring to stories of meetings and other potential conflicts of interest involving Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas among others."
More than 100 law professors, as reported by the Blog of the Legal Times (February 2011)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49586436/
_____________________________
WHAT DID CHIEF JUDGE OF THE US COURT OF APPEALS, 5TH CIRCUIT, SAY ABOUT THE US JUSTICE SYSTEM?
* "The American legal system has been corrupted almost beyond recognition..."
Chief Judge, US Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, Edith Jones, speaking before the Federalist Society of Harvard Law School (February 2003)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/50137887/
_____________________________
WHAT DID THE CHAIR OF THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SAY ABOUT THE US JUSTICE SYSTEM?
* In a speech in Georgetown University, Senator Leahy, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee called for a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" on the US Department of Justice.
Transcript of Senator Leahy speech (2009)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38472251/
