http://dailyreckoning.com/incarcerate-corzine/

Incarcerate Corzine
By Eric Fry

*** begin quote ***

12/09/11 Laguna Beach, California – If wishes were horses, beggars would ride, according to a 16th century British proverb.

Continuing that logic, if wishes were $1.2 billion of missing client assets at MF Global, the company’s former CEO, Jon Corzine, would not be a criminal. But alas, wishes are neither horses nor missing client funds…so beggars don’t ride and CEO’s that “misplace” $1.2 billion of client funds are criminals.

Does Corzine deserve his day in court? Absolutely. Let’s give him several days in court…after which let’s give him several years in jail.

*** and ***

Seems a bit Enron-esque, doesn’t it. Enron was, of course, the massive fraud perpetrated a decade ago that prompted the anti-corruption Sarbanes-Oxley financial regulation bill, which then-Senator Corzine voted for.

“It’s really rather simple,” writes Karl Denniger in The Market Ticker, “No more off-balance sheet anything — anywhere. There is only one purpose for such ‘instruments’ and games — hiding the amount of risk you have on and exactly where and how you are exposed. There is no other reason for these vehicles; if you are willing to take the risk you should have to do so in the open on your balance sheet where it can be seen.

“Next,” Denninger continues, “enforce Sarbanes-Oxley. Start with indictments. Sarbanes-Oxley, which Senator Corzine voted for, makes the CEO and CFO responsible for knowing — not merely responsible for attesting to what they [happen to] know — and it also makes them personally responsible for the sufficiency of internal controls. ‘I didn’t know’ was a common defense after the Tech Wreck began and it got many executives off — Sarbanes-Oxley was passed to specifically deny executives this defense.

“Last,” says Denninger, “make it a criminal felony to operate a financial firm holding customer funds of any sort for any period of time — even one day — while ‘underwater.’… That would do it… We must put a stop to this crap.”

Agreed. Let Corzine be the first high-profile test case under the legislation he himself endorsed. I think the term is “poetic justice.”

*** end quote ***

Seems that since SarBox has been hung like a millstone around every business, then let Corzine get a taste of it.

# – # – # – # – #