OK, WHERE ARE ALL THE LAWYERS AND LAWSUITS?

I noted before that a couple of whistle blowers had testified before the HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE and LexisNexis now has the transcript¹. Both of them worked at Moody's:

Mr. Eric Kolchinsky is a former Managing Director at Moody's Corporation. He has worked in structured finance for over twelve years, eight of which were at Moody's. While at the rating agency Mr. Kolchinsky focused on rating collateral debt obligations, CDOs. He has also worked at Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and MBIA at their CDO groups. We welcome you this morning.

We'd also like to also introduce Mr. Scott McCleskey, was a Senior Vice President for Compliance at Moody's Investors Service from April 2006 until September 2008. In this role he was responsible for the organization's compliance with rules and regulations established by the SEC and other regulators.

McClesky had a very interesting comment:

Secondly, I found myself more and more frequently excluded from decisionmaking meetings concerning potential violations. I will note that this did not occur on each and every occasion but it did so with increasing frequency and in particularly important matters. This includes an examination conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission which was handled by our legal department and by outside counsel. I was flabbergasted that I, the designated compliance officer, would be excluded from meetings with the SEC during an examination and was vocal in making this point.

¹Federal News Service

September 30, 2009 Wednesday

HEARING OF THE HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE;
SUBJECT: CREDIT RATING AGENCIES AND THE NEXT FINANCIAL CRISIS;
CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE EDOLPHUS TOWNS(D-NY);
WITNESSES: PANEL I ERIC KOLCHINSKY, FORMER MANAGING DIRECTOR, MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE; SCOTT MCCLESKEY, FORMER SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMPLIANCE, MOODY'S CORPORATION; RICHARD CANTOR, CHIEF RISK OFFICER, MOODY'S CORPORATION; CHIEF CREDIT OFFICER, MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE PANEL II FORMER SENATOR ALFONSE D'AMATO (R-NY); FLOYD ABRAMS, PARTNER, CAHILL GORDON & REINDEL, LLP; ERIC BAGGESEN, SENIOR INVESTMENT OFFICER, CALIFORNIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM;
LAWRENCE WHITE, LEONARD N. STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY;
LOCATION: 2154 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.

SECTION: PRESS CONFERENCE OR SPEECH

LENGTH: 34105 words