Talk about a total sham and abomination by an institution, FINRA, that is supposed to regulate the financial industry. America truly needs to learn more about this.

Why is the US Justice department prosecuting the fallen Lehman and not Oppenheimer, which is resisting Mass. charges, and TD Ameritrade, E Trade, Wells Fargo and others?

And how is it that Finra managed to sell its own ARS before the freeze, but has failed to seek or achieve justice for the small investors ARS were foisted on?

Keep digging, Sense on Cents, because it does make sense that all federal authorities are looking the other way on this $330 billion fraud.

Membership:

The Commission will have ten members, who must be private citizens and may not be employed by any government entity. [§ 5(b)(2)(B)] Commission members will be appointed as follows: Three each appointed by the Speaker and Senate Majority Leader; two each appointed by the minority leaders in the House and Senate. [§ 5(b)(1)(A-D)] The Chair and Vice Chair must be from different parties and will be selected jointly by the respective leaders. [§ 5(b)(3)] Members are expected to be prominent U.S. citizens with national recognition and depth of experience in fields such as banking, regulation of markets, taxation, finance, economics, consumer protection and housing. [§ 5(b)(2)(A)]

Focus:

The Commission will have two primary areas of focus: (1) an examination of the role that a list of 22 distinct topics played in the current crisis; and (2) an examination of the specific causes of the collapse of each major financial institution that failed (including institutions that were acquired to prevent their failure) or was likely to have failed if not for the receipt of exceptional Government assistance from the Secretary of the Treasury during the period from August 2007 through April 2009. [§ 5(c)(1-2)] Assistance from the Federal Reserve does not appear to trigger the provision.

The commission will “examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States.” The group will meet once appointments are made (i.e. soon) and file a report by December 2010. It is specifically tasked with examining the roles of fraud and abuse, the laxity of regulation, accounting practices, tax treatment of financial products, lending practices and securitization, compensation structures, and “unregulated” financial products (including CDS), among others, in its report. The group will have very broad subpoena power and seemingly unfettered access to agency documents on targeted financial institutions. It will meet in what I believe will be highly-publicized meetings on a regular basis. Among other mandates, the group is told “to examine the causes of the collapse of each major financial institution that failed (including institutions that were acquired to prevent their failure) or was likely to have failed if not for the receipt of exceptional government assistance from the Secretary of the Treasury during the period beginning in August 2007 through April 2009.”

Bottom line is that this group will be doing its work in a very public way and in a way that will likely bring further reputational harm to the financial services industry. Maybe the market is fatigued with industry bashing, but there will be more of it to come over the next year at a time when the big financials are trying hard to move on. Big TARP banks will be targeted especially, but the entire industry will take hits.

BOTTOM LINE: WHERE’S THE PETITION TO DRAFT LD?