Many lawyers are troubled by the lack of criminal prosecutions of bankers. The concerns find support in astute comments by Judge Rakoff on the lack of criminal prosecutions. Judge Rakoff has a sound basis to comment because he has presided over a series of cases about events at banks and other large financial houses, and he worked as a federal prosecutor early in his career. See Wikipedia for a review of his career and some of the cases he’s handled. Judge Rakoff’s comments apparently are the text of a talk he is giving today at a securities conference today at Columbia. His remarks are part of the fine content available at the Columbia’s Blue Sky blog.
One hopes the Second Circuit will not seize on the remarks as an excuse to take Judge Rakoff off of any case on his docket.