FYI..: .. SEC issues bizarre letter to NV court, DOJ getting involved in OSTK case.
Location: Blogs Bob O'Brien's Sanity Check Blog - Posted by: bobo 5/22/2006 8:51 AM
So, what is one to make of the bizarre letter from the SEC to the court in the Nanopierce case? - tinyurl.com
Why bizarre?
Well, for starters, in the world of courts and lawyers, one doesn’t send two-page letters instructing the court to ignore everything they have heard, and just get with the federal regulation program as interpreted by the federal body being implicated as remiss.
Further, it was addressed to the clerk of the court, and presented exactly zero support for its position – instead, it merely declared that the NASAA (and by extension the NCANS) brief was bad and wrong, and that the court should ignore the points articulated therein.
You know, just because.
There was no formal pleading. No stabs at compliance with the rules. No citation to legal authority, nor any attempt at supporting the SEC's position. Just a lot of words, hyperbole, ‘lil GW-style declarative proclamations, and not much else.
This is such a breach of legal protocol it is as though the new GC of the SEC walked into the court in a swimsuit and tossed his back-of-a-bar-tab response at the judge with a “pay attention, #######” flick of the wrist.
This is just plain weird. No attempt to observe decorum, no legalistic art or even competence – just a terse, rambling, “you can’t do that cause we say so” memo so ill crafted it has some of my attorney friends scratching their pates in confusion.
Read the letter.
And then wonder aloud at the arrogance and hubris required to imperiously instruct the court to ignore their sworn duty to treat the allegations of the plaintiff as legitimate… as it would jeopardize the SEC’s stranglehold on r egulating the Wall Street boy’s club.
And we can’t have that.
Wild.
Here’s my hunch – the SEC has no idea how to respond to the briefs presented, so they don’t even try – they simply appeal to the court to ignore everything except their demands that they get with the program and start marching in step.
They can’t cite case law to support their declarations. They can’t offer examples. They can’t refute NASAA’s contentions, and they certainly can’t just say, “Do away with state regulators, state laws, and while we are at it, the concept of states!” They can’t even explain why, in a legal sense, the NASAA and NCANS briefs are wrong (because they aren’t). They can simply articulate how difficult having the DTCC held accountable via the state channels would be for them.
Golly. That’s a shame.
How ‘bout we get some discovery, and then the DTCC can PROVE that they aren’t regularly defrauding the nation?
How about that for an idea?
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According to the NY Sun today, the DOJ is getting involved in the OSTK tussle with Rocker and Gradient.
Apparently, if the accusations are true, the DOJ doesn't turn quite the blind eye to misbehavior that the SEC apparently has.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and view their perspective vis a vis the journalists who have been effectively excused from being investigated by Cox - he has pretty much stalled the subpoenas, and I see no evidence that they are going to be pursued any time soon.
Maybe the boys with cuffs can do something.
Sounds like we are going to find out.
Copyright ©2006 Bob O'Brien
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