Let loose the hounds of legal justice, the class-action attorneys who will take on the corporate cheats, the ones who have been lying to investors depending on their investments for their retirement.
Many Wall Street companies have been trying to bury – to keep out of sight of their investors – their home loan failures. They hide it so their stock prices don’t plummet. It’s reckless, and it needs to be fixed, punished and we need to make an example of these profiteers to put a stop to it.
But in 1995, Congress made it impossible to go after these crooks to get your money back.
Do Americans a favor, Congress. Change the rules. Yesterday.
The culprit is the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, which a Republican, business-friendly Congress passed.
The greed underlying it is appalling and mystifyingly irresponsible.
President Bush [your president, not mine], in a Texas gubernatorial race, campaigned against class action lawyers who protected investors in security fraud cases — no doubt feeling the heat from his own questionable transactions and his corporate buddies.
So here’s what we’re left with: big name firms such as Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch are accused by their shareholders of covering up their home loan problems. It’s been all over the news. How could they not know? They did, but didn’t like being held responsible. The answer? Return the claws to the civil attorneys, so they can defang the corporations.
The New York Times laid out the prevailing interpretations of the law by the U.S. Supreme Court nicely in a recent article.
“The plaintiffs must show that misconduct was plausible,” a story by Jonathan D. Glater said, “not just possible, and must include ‘enough factual matter’ to suggest that a wrongful act occurred.”
Former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt helped us plunge into this misbegotten abyss.
Levitt wasn’t an investors’ advocate. He was a stooge for the cheats.
Under his guidance, the country has a securities law that will aid profiteering wrongdoers and grant solace only to those who look the other way.
Shame on you Mr. Levitt.
Examine the facts: Such firms as Xerox, Bristol-Myers, Qwest have ripped off investors because – well, for greed – but also because there’s little fear of being sued. They have fabricated revenues. They have disguised expenses as investments and established off-balance sheet partnerships to inflate profits because the chances of being held accountable are almost nil.
As waves of security frauds swamp our financial beaches, confidence in our stock market has eroded worldwide.
Lets get some lawyer who will fight like junk yard dogs for the average American. A strong plaintiffs’ bar of attorneys can protect private pensions and investments. Turn them loose.
Onward.
Richard Alexander
If you or a family member have been wrongfully injured call us at 1.888.777.1776 or use this form, delays can hurt your case, so please don’t hesitate to contact us.
