• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

No one could have predicted…

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

We will not go back.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

In my day, never was longer.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Getting Off Easy

Getting Off Easy

by John Cole|  April 29, 20038:29 am| 5 Comments

This post is in: Outrage

FacebookTweetEmail

Why do people sometimes distrust big business? Try this on for size:

Citigroup’s Salomon Smith Barney unit was first among the worst, according to Monday’s settlement between regulators and 10 investment banks. To settle charges stemming from allegations that it slanted research to support a voracious appetite for investment banking fees, Citigroup agreed to pay $400 million, the largest fine among those involved.

All together now: FOUR HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS. When the fine is that high, it means they can’t even begin to estimate how often they screwed you and me and for how much. Here is how they did it:

Hundreds of documents obtained by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer paint a picture of a firm that perverted the stock analyst role from researcher to booster for its investment bankers. Regulators allege that Jack Grubman, who helped his firm win about $790 million in banking fees, issued “fraudulent” reports on two clients, Focal and Metromedia Fiber Networks. On Feb. 1, 2001, Grubman issued a buy recommendation on Focal, but in an e-mail to an institutional investor he admitted Focal was overpriced. Regulators also alleged that Grubman upgraded his opinion of AT&T without disclosing a conflict: In return for the positive opinion, Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill made a $1 million contribution to an exclusive preschool in Manhattan, ensuring that Grubman’s two children could go there.

Why aren’t these bastards in jail? What exactly does the SEC do when it takes a grandstanding NY Attorney General to make this shake out? Is this Grubman related to the punk who rank over all those people at a trendy vacation spot?

And don’t forget this little tidbit:

Three weeks ago, Citigroup renamed the tainted Smith Barney unit Citigroup Global Markets.

File this under things we need to remember:

Soylent Green is people.

Citigroup Global Markets is the corrupt Saloman Smith Barney.

Someone should make a banner.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Matt Welch on the French
Next Post: Welcome To Your New Home, Muhammed »

Reader Interactions

5Comments

  1. 1.

    JKC

    April 29, 2003 at 9:03 am

    Good point.. probably one of the few times I’ll agree with you, John.

    (FYI- I think Elliot Abrams has been a fine AG)

    If the Bushies and the GOP continue saying “I see nothing…” in the face of ever-growing numbers of corporate scandals, then I predict a long, dark time in the wilderness for them. That would not be a good thing. Opposition parties should be strong and vibrant to keep us honest…

  2. 2.

    John Cole

    April 29, 2003 at 9:08 am

    Actually- Ashcroft and the GOP have been prosecuting these guys. I’d file this under non-partisan business scum. For every Enron, there is a Global Crossing.

  3. 3.

    JKC

    April 29, 2003 at 9:26 am

    “I’d file this under non-partisan business scum”

    No argument from me, John. I don’t give a fig which party they gave money to. If they’re crooks, put ’em in jail.

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but Herr Ashcroft’s prosecution in the Enron case seems to be…well, sort of glacial. I know building these cases takes time, but I don’t think his heart is really in it.

  4. 4.

    HH

    April 29, 2003 at 9:45 am

    Citigroup seems to have more to do with Joe Lieberman than anyone else if I remember right… as for Enron, Drudge reported that charges are forthcoming this week.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. diablogger.com says:
    April 30, 2003 at 3:03 am

    http://www.diablogger.com/archives/000257.html

    I was lounging outside the coffee house next to a group of students who were cramming for finals. There was

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - BarcaChicago  - Off the Gunflint Trail/Boundary Waters 7
Image by BarcaChicago (7/17/25)
Donate

Recent Comments

  • NotMax on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 18, 2025 @ 12:29am)
  • Jackie on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 18, 2025 @ 12:22am)
  • Jackie on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 18, 2025 @ 12:11am)
  • JaySinWa on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 18, 2025 @ 12:01am)
  • Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom on War for Ukraine Day 1,239: A Brief Thursday Night Update (Jul 17, 2025 @ 11:57pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!