Cuomo

How many sheriffs can there be in one town?  Right, one. There can be deputies and on occasion the sheriff can get other people’s help (a "posse") or fight alone, like Gary Cooper. (OK, Gary Cooper technically played a marshal in “High Noon,” but you get the point.) But there's always one sheriff.

The new New York Attorney General, Eric T. Schneiderman, has big shoes to fill, now that Andrew Cuomo has left the AG’s office to become governor. Well, Schneiderman (pictured) today announced an aggressive plan to root out financial fraud and return money illegally stolen from New York taxpayers and their government. 

As Andrew Cuomo, the Sheriff of Wall Street, moves from his incredibly successful stint as N.Y. Attorney General – note the action he filed just this week against Ernst & Young stemming from the Lehman Brothers meltdown – to N.Y. Governor, Cuomo’s successor, Eric Schneiderman, has begun to announce his team.

Among the interesting election results yesterday were those that involved financial fraud – or, more precisely, state attorneys general with a strong record of prosecution of financial fraud who won election as governor. A notable example is Democrat Andrew Cuomo, overwhelmingly elected as governor of New York over Republican (and Tea Party fan) Carl Paladino.

New York State today filed a lawsuit against Ivy Asset Management, LLC, its former Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Simon, and its former Chief Investment Officer Howard Wohl for allegedly deliberately misleading clients about investments tied to Bernard Madoff. The suit alleges that Ivy and the two principals kept their clients in the dark about damaging financial information about Madoff so Ivy could bring in millions in advisory fees.

A N.Y. state judge has denied a motion by Ezra Merkin to dismiss a complaint filed against him by N.Y. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo stemming from the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. The complaint alleges that Merkin and his investment management company made misrepresentations and omissions to investors, including many charities, who entrusted him with their money.

Bank of America, its former CEO Kenneth D. Lewis, and its former CFO Joseph L. Price have been charged with duping shareholders and the federal government to complete a merger with Merrill Lynch. According to a lawsuit filed today by N.Y. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Bank of America’s management intentionally failed to disclose massive losses at Merrill so that shareholders would vote to approve the merger.

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo today sent letters to Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street and Wells Fargo seeking a wide range of information about their 2009 compensation practices.

The news that Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Dodd will not seek reelection is important for many reasons. For one thing, Dodd currently is in charge of the Senate committee overseeing the reform of legislation governing the financial services industry.

You know how people often say “be careful what you write in e-mail”? Well, here are some great examples from New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s antitrust complaint, filed today, against Intel. Cuomo alleges that the following e-mail demonstrate Intel’s illegal activities (the descriptions are his):