HUffPO-

U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff doesn’t need an admission of guilt in order to approve a controversial Citigroup settlement with government regulators — just evidence to determine whether the closed-door deal is fair.

That’s the response Rakoff’s lawyer made in a filing with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday in a case likely to determine how much oversight a judge really has over settlements struck between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Wall Street banks.

Rakoff, a New York federal judge, has emerged as the SEC’s chief antagonist in an ongoing dispute over whether the agency too easily allows defendants to “neither admit nor deny” guilt as a condition of a financial settlement in a civil case. He also said the agency inconsistently applies its own charging standards and fails to present for public review the evidence gathered in its investigations.

[HUFFINGTONPOST]

Comments

comments