ML-Implode News - Wall Street's Biggest Heist Yet? How the High Wizards of Finance Gutted Our Schools and Cities

Wall Street's boot on interest rate swaps dates back at least 17 years.Â Â In February 1995, Smith BarneyÂ Â (now co-owned by Citigroup and Morgan Stanley) fired Michael Lissack as a managing director in the firm's public finance department after he publicly accused the firm of cheating Dade County, Florida out of millions on an interest rate swap.Â Â Lissack went on to become the scourge of Wall Street by expertly detailing how counties and states were being ripped off by Wall Street.Â Â He even set up thisÂ amusing web siteÂ to do battle with the firm.Â Â The case became known as the "yield burning case," an esoteric term that the public could hardly fathom, much like the Libor scandal today.
In 2000, the Securities and Exchange Commission settled the yield burning matter with 21 firms and imposed fines of $172 million, a minor slap on the wrist given the profits of the firms.Â Â Arthur Levitt was Chairman of the SEC at the time and came from the ranks of Wall Street.

Which brings us full circle.Â Â If you've ever wondered where all of those revolving doors between Wall Street and Washington would eventually lead us, we've just found out.Â Â It leads to the regulators becoming just as jaded and compromised as Wall Street.

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Wall Street's Biggest Heist Yet? How the High Wizards of Finance Gutted Our Schools and Cities - Pam Martens