Friday, January 2, 2009

So called "scapegoating" may be a smart way for prosecutors to get to the big timers guilty of mortgage fraud

An article entitled, "On the Trail of Mortgage Fraud," by Don Thompson of the Associated Press, was forwarded to me by a friend. The article is worth reading for background on the current "whys" as to how the financial melt down came about. However, I take issue with Michael Cardoza, the San Francisco attorney representing one of those charged (with fraud, I believe) in central California. Cardoza, as quoted by Thompson, complains, "Now they're just picking off the little people...They're doing scapegoats is what they're doing." While, Cardoza implies, "... the people on Wall Street walk."



Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think, not too many years back, the higher ups at Enron were ultimately sacked, not as a result of prosecutors calling before Congress, Enron corporate level officials (who testified so as to protect themselves and each other--remember Jeff Schilling, who was "out of the conference room" when crucial decisions were put on paper and signed off on?), but by the prosecutors who started with lower level employees, who might have witnessed improprieties of their bosses and had more to gain by coughing up information that would get them out from under the fire. It is my understanding that this kind of information solidified the cases against the higher ups.




So Mr. Cardoza can cry no fair picking on my client, that's his job; but in rebuttal, I would point out that, based on the Enron process, starting with "scapegoats,' and working up to corporate level S.O.B.s would appear to have merit.

1 comment:

Dana Robinson Slote said...

well-said; and if the PI doesn't find a buyer i may turn to you as my "alternative" news source - bravo!