General Sherman may have once left the beautiful skyline of Atlanta charred, but Atlanta now faces a new, and just as deadly, attack: the corruption of some of its attorneys and judges. Recent Atlanta corruption stories have put “Hotlanta” on the national radar of some very powerful, and watchful, eyes.
Recently unmasked is the judge who was arrested in an undercover sting and pled guilty to felony charges. So what, you say? A recent article gives more details about what this married federal judge was doing: possession of cocaine and synthetic heroine, possession of firearms, and giving a stripper his government-issued laptop in exchange for sex. Unfortunately, this judge is not the first to make an unfortunate trade for sex in a troubling economy. It seems a lot of attorneys have been reduced to bartering these days.
The Cannons under the model code for judicial conduct make ethical standards and “conflicts of interest” issues clear for the Black Robe Club. This being the case, how is it that a sitting federal judge can involve himself, judicially, where he, his family, and his friends have had financial and other significant interests?
Even more troubling, and after the case was vacated and remanded by the United States Supreme Court, the case has not yet received a single hearing, despite the fact that the reasons for recusal were brought to the court’s attention in 2004. The wheels of justice may be slow, but has it finally arrived in 2011? There is enough material here for a new reality TV show…..if we could just find willing participants to be taped, hmmmmmm.
Also disturbing, and through extremely unscrupulous tactics, is a willing attorney who specifically tries to undermine and illegally interfere with ongoing court actions. I guess money can buy anything these days. If I were involved with a company of illiquid, overvalued, unaudited assets, with no real business, almost no employees, and accused of fraud, I guess I would hire a thug, too.
The question is, how does a scam of this magnitude, including SEC-sanctioned shady characters, possibly meet this country’s highest listing standards and actually allowed to trade among a vulnerable general investing public? Taxpayers pay approximately $1 Billion a year to “enforce compliance with federal securities laws, promote healthy capital markets, and foster informed investment decision making.”
Can we afford the disgrace and cost of another Bernie Madoff-type scheme? We might be safer stuffing money in the mattress while in the midst of such corruption and incompetence. “Wall Street” definitely meets “Catch Me If You Can” in this real life story. It is now several weeks since being halted, and still no statement from anyone at the company in question. By the time the drumbeat of public outcry is fully recognized, the cons may have moved onto new scams while their victims (especially the elderly ones) struggle to cope with the life-changing losses and shattered lives.
