SEC watchdog blunts accusations on Goldman timing

Legal News Center

The watchdog of the Securities and Exchange Commission has found no hard evidence that the SEC timed the announcement of its fraud case against Goldman Sachs to eclipse negative news about a separate case.

Inspector General David Kotz's report Wednesday was a response to demands from congressional Republicans who had questioned the timing of the Goldman charges. The SEC announced the charges on April 16, the same day it released Kotz's blistering report on the agency's failure to catch R. Allen Stanford's alleged Ponzi scheme.

But the report says that the way the SEC managed the Goldman case showed it was trying to maximize positive press coverage. Kotz's report says the agency didn't want a congressional panel to break the news first.

Kotz found that the SEC's timing of its Goldman announcement was delayed a day so as not to overshadow its announcement of a settlement with investment firm Quadrangle Group. He said the SEC wanted to maintain a positive relationship with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who was announcing his own settlement with Quadrangle that day

Kotz's investigation also found no evidence that SEC officials coordinated the timing of actions on Goldman with anyone in the Obama administration or Congress to help speed passage of the financial overhaul law.

In his investigation of the agency's handling of the Stanford case, Kotz found that SEC staff had known since 1997 that the billionaire was likely operating a Ponzi scheme but didn't charge him until February 2009. The charges came a few months after the Bernard Madoff pyramid surfaced.

At a Senate hearing last month, Kotz had termed "suspicious" the timing of the agency's civil fraud charges against Goldman.

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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

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New York & New Jersey Family Law Matters We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights. >> read