Top Doc: Rakoff versus the SEC and BofA

Federal judge Jed Rakoff's 12-page order filed last Monday formally rejecting the SEC's lame-ass settlement with Bank of America over the Merrill Lynch conniving is an instant classic. You heard about it; now read it.

Rolfe Winkler dished out an excellent report last month from inside Rakoff's courtroom as the judge hammered at both sides. Well worth checking out.

Here's just a taste of Rakoff's order itself:

"The proposed Consent Judgment in this case suggests a rather cynical relationship between the parties: the S.E.C. gets to claim that it is exposing wrongdoing on the part of the Bank of America in a high-profile merger; the Bank's management gets to claim that they have been coerced into an onerous settlement by overzealous regulators. And all this is done at the expense, not only of the shareholders, but also of the truth."