Update on Occupy SEC

This bulletin contains an update on what Occupy the SEC (www.occupythesec.org) has been up to for the past 2 months, and what you can do to get involved.

 

 

 

We recently submitted a comment letter to the SEC detailing how we believe the atrocious Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act should be written into regulation.

 

The JOBS Act is dangerous.  Not only does it increase the level of opacity in the markets but also it basically facilitates rampant fraud for the broadly defined "Emerging Growth Company.” Certain aspects of the crowd-funding provisions of the bill also remain problematic. 

 

To get caught up on the JOBS Act check out these two articles:

An article by former regulator Bill Black

Another by Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi

 

 

On July 25th, 2012 we submitted a letter to Chairman Mary Schapiro of the SEC asking for a criminal enforcement action against JPMorgan and Jamie Dimon for violating the Sarbanes-Oxley of 2002 (SOX). We also submitted the letter to the House Financial Services Committee in connection with its hearing on the 10th anniversary of SOX.    We believe the public record, including Mr. Dimon’s recent testimony in front of Congress, contains compelling evidence that warrant an investigation of possible criminality.

 

 

On July 16th, 2012, in light of CFTC's settlement with Barclays over the bank's manipulation of the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) rate, and given evidence that the problem is actually widespread across the industry, Occupy the SEC issued a release calling for criminal prosecutions over LIBOR manipulation and fraud.

 

         

Jamie Dimon had two hearings in Congress about JP Morgan’s “London Whale” losses, one with the Senate Banking Committee and one with the House Financial Services Committee.  We submitted letters to both committees asking for probing hearings.  Unfortunately most of the Senators and House Representatives on those committees are recipients of campaign contributions from JP Morgan.  Knowing this, we assumed correctly that Dimon would not face as many adversarial, truth-seeking questions as he deserved. In anticipation of these softball questions, we put together a list of questions that any uncorrupted politician truly acting in the public faith would ask.  Our letters were covered by the Huffington Post. 

 

 

On June 6th, we marched on the SEC to demand that it investigate Jamie Dimon under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.  After JPMorgan’s much-publicized "London Whale" trading loss, OSEC believed there was a strong case to be made that Jamie Dimon failed to meet (and possibly lied about) the SOX requirements for internal controls over his enormous taxpayer-backed bank.  We felt that the SEC needed to act decisively with the full force of the law guiding it, in lieu of the kid-glove policy it has actually chosen to adopt throughout this crisis. We also marched on the New York Federal Reserve to highlight the fact that Jamie Dimon sits on the NY Fed’s board, showcasing the seemingly nonexistent line between regulators and the banks.  Furthermore, we marched on JPMorgan itself for the simple fact that Jamie Dimon has been one of the most vocal critics of the Volcker Rule, which might have prevented the trading loss which has been estimated at $9 billion (and counting).

 

 

 

In light of the recent scandal coming to light in Europe and in the US over multiple banks colluding to manipulate LIBOR, we plan to rally the greater Occupy Wall Street community to stage a protest. We aim to highlight the widespread corruption and convey it to the general public. We think that the LIBOR scandal is hugely important and it needs to be protested because it’s a clear form of collusion in the so-called “free-market” and furthermore, represents the ways that complex finance is used to make life worse for the rest of us. We also plan to release a press release on the LIBOR scandal soon detailing a concrete position.

 

For more on our initial LIBOR position, please see Occupy the SEC’s blog.

 

 

 

1)   Tell like-minded friends to join our Mailing List

2)   Come to a meeting @60 Wall Street at 7:30pm every Tuesday

3)   Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

4)   Forward our letters to your Senators and House Representatives so that financial reform can gain traction in Congress