Sunday was the fifth Anniversary of the demise of Lehman Brothers. Here we are, five years after the onset of the financial crisis, caused in large part by reckless lending and risk-taking in major financial institutions. And still, not one executive has been charged or imprisoned! This stands in stark contrast to the savings and loan debacle in the 1980’s, where prosecutors sent more than 800 bank officials to jail. In the wake of such fraud and corruption, how is it possible there are still no criminal indictments? Punishment is not the only way to modify behavior, but it works. Instead, executives now realize that they face virtually no consequences for reckless lending, exotic investments and fraud. Thus, these actions continue. For five years, we have heard about a grand, covert, financial scam that collapsed America’s entire economy, starting with the housing industry. And for just as long, we wait for one of the fraudsters to go to jail. While we wait, the architects of America’s economic collapse are still sitting comfortably in their penthouses and mansions, planning their next moves. More in the Huffington Post [...]

After a wait of almost 18 months, the acronym-friendly Jump-start Our Business Start-ups Act (or JOBS Act for short) will go into effect on Monday, September 23. When President Barack Obama originally signed the law in April 2012, most observers took the new law at face value. Supporters insisted that it would undo many of the impediments to initial public offerings (IPOs) that were the direct consequences of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, originally passed in 2002, and would significantly revamp the way in which private capital is raised in the United States, thereby creating jobs and fostering growth. After much delay and procrastination, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally adopted rules in July to implement these changes, months after the Congressional-imposed deadline had past. Experts, however, began feverishly focusing on another group of beneficiaries to the JOBS Act liberalizations – namely, alternative investment vehicles, such as hedge funds and private equity funds. More in Forbes [...]

As the U.S. government remains under pressure to hold individuals accountable for the financial crisis, a federal commission is launching a review that could actually reduce sentences for white-collar criminals. Those pushing for lighter sentences for white-collar offenses such as securities, healthcare and mortgage fraud include not only the American Bar Association, the nation’s largest trade group for lawyers, but also a growing number of federal judges. The judges’ position could have particular weight, since they are the ones who turn to the advisory guidelines in imposing sentences. More on Reuters [...]