SEC Settles with Aguirre

WHISTLEBLOWING AIRLINE EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION

"Patriotism and Freedom of Speech in Action"

To All:


This is huge...see below! At least the SEC is acknowledging their mistakes. Gary Agguire was a federal employee who went the MSPB legal route and won. Bradley Birkenfeld wasn't so lucky as a civil employee. Harry Markopolous was, but it took him years to nail Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.

Please keep the legal/political heat on! It's the only way we can collectively nail these corporate white-collar criminals!

Besides the SEC/DOJ purported blind-eyes mentioned in the article below, our association wants to prove the lengths that airline manager's and government will go through in silencing airline pilots who attempt to speak out on safety issues during financially distressful times, but are slam-dunked by the system...their heads squashed like grapes...for speaking out. It is a very dangerous scenario for the unwary traveling public and must be stopped. We are certain that the Colgan Air 3407next-of-kin very much appreciate our efforts in this regard.

I wasn't a federal employee in 2003, but a federally-licensed and medically certificated pilot, so I couldn't go the MSPB legal route. My only recourse in 2003, 2006, and at present was in filing FAA Whistleblower Reports, but have been stonewalled repeatedly by all levels and branches of government, as has Continental whistleblower Newton Dickson and others.

As a life-long pilot, I strongly feel that if we can prove the apparent and alleged SEC/DOJ/DOT-FAA collusion, then we can drag these latter allegations regarding public air transportation safety and security into the public limelight in an effort to prevent another Colgan Air 3407 disaster wherein 50 good people unnecessarily lost their lives because much less experienced airline pilots were suppressed from speaking out on safety issues...at a low-cost air carrier...never mind the alleged pension theft of 150,000 employees and millions bilked from investors and vendors alike at United Airlines and elsewhere!

There are presently many other Sarbanes-Oxley/RICO witnesses coming forth with evidence to SEC Atlanta, but it remains to be seen as to whether or not our Department of Justice will partake in this investigation. To date, the DOJ IG has twice stated that they 'do not have jurisdiction in matters such as these'.


Please read these articles for amplification:


Update: SEC IG looks into United Airlines bankruptcy

UPDATE: FBI, DOJ refuse to investigate charges of judicial corruption

Whistleblowers punished for warning of aviation security lapses

Pilots: United Airlines bankruptcy never should have happened

Chicago judge to decide if his own accuser goes to jail

UPDATE: DOT IG urged to investigate one of FAA’s top docs

Porn-surfing SEC missed investigating United's bankruptcy

Message to federal employees: Keep your mouth shut

Thank you very much, Washington Examiner Reporter Barbara Hollingsworth! ABC Anna Schecter and CBS Pia Malbran...where are you? Whistleblower Protection Senators Leahy, Grassley, and McCaskill, we need your support and protection!

President Obama and Attorney General Holder please keep your 2008 campaign promises concerning enhanced protection for federal whistleblowers!

In the meantime, judicial whistleblower Michael Lynch...one of our key Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblowers, is scheduled to enter dangerous Cook County jail on July 26th for 13 days for attempting to expose judicial corruption, but none of the mainstream media outlets are reporting on this flagrant violation of witness protection afforded under SOX that was requested in consonance with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 1107 of this letter sent to then SEC Chairman Christopher Cox on October 18, 2007. Why not?

Please read on below the article published by the Government Accountability Project Office in Washington DC for additional information. Do you feel we need much stronger whistleblower protection legislation in place that includes jury trials for those willing to step forth with evidence/information? I do...so too does Michael Lynch, Newton Dickson, Gabe Bruno, Robert MacLean, Bogdan Dzakovic, and so many other honest citizen patriots in this country.

It is incumbent upon each of us to demand that congress immediately pass this much-needed legislation...or provide 'We the People' the reason(s) why they feel that this is not necessary.



Many Thanks!

Captain Dan Hanley
National Public Spokesperson
Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association

"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
~ Margaret Mead ~



SEC Settles with Aguirre


(Washington, D.C.) – In what may be the largest settlement of its kind, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to pay $755,000 to settle the wrongful termination claim of Gary J. Aguirre, the attorney who headed the SEC’s insider trading investigation of Pequot Capital Management until his firing in September 2005.

A judge with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the federal agency with jurisdiction over Aguirre’s termination claim, issued an order today finalizing the settlement. The settlement sum equals Aguirre’s pay for four years and ten months (the elapsed period since his September 2005 discharge), plus his attorneys’ fees. Aguirre agreed to dismiss two related cases against the SEC.

Government Accountability Project Legal Director Tom Devine stated “Unfortunately, this large settlement is the exception that proves the rule. Until Congress provides real protections for financial regulatory employees such as Aguirre, existing law will remain the best excuse for government regulators to turn a blind eye.”


The SEC’s settlement with Aguirre comes one month after the SEC filed insider trading charges against Pequot, its founder, Arthur Samberg, and David Zilkha, a former Pequot employee, based on facts uncovered by Aguirre. Pequot and Samberg paid the SEC $28 million to settle the charges against them. The case against Zilkha continues.

In August 2007, two Senate committees published a scathing 108-page report criticizing the SEC’s decision to fire Aguirre and close the Pequot investigation, which included Pequot’s suspected insider trading in securities of 20 publics companies.

The Senate report chronicles Aguirre’s promising career at the SEC, including management’s decision to give him a two-step pay raise at the end of his first year for “consistently [going] the extra mile, and then some.”

But the praise vanished when Aguirre tried to subpoena an elite Wall Street banker, John Mack. His supervisors blocked the subpoena, telling Aguirre that Mack had “juice” and “political clout.”

Aguirre’s July 27, 2005, email to his supervisors explained why the Mack subpoena was essential and expressed concern that “treating Mack differently is [not] consistent with the Commission’s mission.” The Senate Report tells what happened next: “Just days after Aguirre sent an e-mail to Associate Director Paul Berger detailing his allegations, his supervisors prepared a negative re-evaluation outside the SEC’s ordinary performance appraisal process.”

One month later, the SEC fired him without warning. The Senate report concluded that Aguirre’s “termination appears to be merely the culmination of the process of reprisal that began with the August 1 re-evaluation.”

Approximately one year after the Senate report, SEC Inspector General H. David Kotz delivered his own report on Aguirre’s firing to then-SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. Kotz recommended that Aguirre’s supervisors be disciplined. To date, neither the current SEC Chairman, Mary Schapiro, nor Cox, has done so.

The Pequot investigation appeared to have run its course when the SEC released its “Case Closing Report” in December 2006, explaining its decision to close the entire investigation, including Pequot’s trading in Microsoft options, without filing charges.

But Aguirre did not stop his Pequot investigation. He continued to collect and piece together the evidence that Samberg had used illegal tips to trade options on Microsoft stock. In April 2008, Aguirre obtained a court order forcing the SEC, over its objection, to turn over to him key records of its Pequot investigation.

In late 2008, Aguirre uncovered the last pieces of evidence necessary to prove an insider trading charge against Pequot, Samberg, and Zilkha. On January 2, 2009, Aguirre sent a letter to SEC Chairman Cox enclosing the new evidence.

Aguirre’s 16-page letter explained how this new evidence, when combined with the evidence uncovered by him in 2005, proved that Samberg had used illegal tips in directing trades in Microsoft options, generating $14.2 million in profits to Pequot hedge funds under his management. But still the SEC would not file a case.

On May 26, 2010, Aguirre filed papers in his FOIA case seeking an order directing the SEC to release additional Pequot records to him. He argued the SEC had to turn over the records under FOIA, because it had filed no case against Pequot or anyone else. Early the next morning, the SEC filed charges against Pequot, Samberg, and Zilkha. The allegations closely track the facts stated in Aguirre’s January 2, 2009 letter.

Asked how he feels about the settlement, Aguirre replied, “I think it’s fair to the public that the SEC pays for my work over the past four years and ten months, since it generated $28 million to the U.S. Treasury. But it’s a shame the team I worked with at the SEC did not get to complete the Pequot investigation. The filing of the case in 2005 or 2006, before the financial crisis, would have been exactly what Wall Street elite needed to hear at the perfect moment: the SEC goes after big fish too.”


The email below was transmitted with the identical hyper-linked pages as above. We are hopeful of a government response with enhanced legal and physical protection for federal whistleblowers and key witnesses in this case from OUR government.

from Dan Hanley

to SEC ATL ATTY Debbie Hampton ,
Washington Examiner Reporter Barbara Hollingsworth ,
Louis Markopolous ,
Federal Judicial Whistleblower Michael Lynch ,
TSA Whistleblower Bogdan Dzakovic ,
Hollywood Fleur De Lis Studios Film Producer/Director BJ Davis ,
Hollywood Fleur De Lis Studios Screenplay WriterJulia Davis ,
David Gibbons ,
Radio Host David Gibbons and Producer Jeff Spinard ,
"White Collar Corruption Executive Director Dr. Jan Schwartz, PhD" ,
POPULAR Attorney Zena Crenshaw ,
Government Accountability Project Legal Director AttorneyTom Devine ,
Government Accountability Project Shanna Devine ,
National Whistleblower Center Senior Counsel Dave Colapinto ,
National Whistleblower Center Jane Turner ,
Medical Whistleblower Executive Director Janet Parker ,
Project on Government Oversight Keith Rutter ,
"Judicial Whistleblower Dr.Sheila Mannix, PhD" ,
Buffalo News DC Bureau Chief Jerry Zremski ,
Rodney Stich ,
RodneyStichWhistleblower ,
FAA Whistleblowers Alliance Executive Director Gabe Bruno ,
ABC National Reporter Anna Schecter ,
CBS National News Producer Pia Malbran ,
FAA Whistleblower Rich Wyeroski ,
FAA Air Traffic Controller Whistleblower Anne Whiteman ,
Fired Federal Air Marshal Whistleblower Robert Maclean ,
Retaliated Federal Air Marshal Whistleblower Craig Sawyer ,
CBS National News Tyler Jahn ,
Bloomberg News Holly Rosenkrantz ,
"\"Plane Business\" Editor Holly Hegeman" ,
Continental Airlines Pilot Whistleblower Newton Dickson ,
Delta Airlines Whistleblower Captain Wayne Witter ,
"SafeSkies.ca Canadian Kirsten Stevens" ,
Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform Executive Director David Hutton ,
"Aerotoxic.org Executive Director Captain John Hoyte" ,
New York Times Aviation Reporter Matthew Wald ,
Investigative Journalist/Pulitzer Prize Winner David Cay Johnston ,
Huffington Post Dan Froomkin ,
New York Times DOJ Reporter Eric Lichtblau ,
Mary Williams-Walsh ,
"U.S. Deputy Marshal Whistleblower Matthew Fogg" ,
Captain Dan Hanley - National Public Spokesperson - Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association

cc Securities and Exchange Commission Inspector General David Kotz ,
Securities and Exchange Commissioner Mary Shapiro ,
Department of Transportation Inspector General Calvin Scovel III ,
FAA Adminstrator Randy Babbitt ,
Colgan Air 3407 Next-of-Kin Congressional Hearing Spokesperson Scott Maurer ,
"Ms. Heather Albert - Director of FAA Complaint Analysis - Department of Transportation Inspector General" ,
Attorney General of the United States Eric Holder ,
FBI Director Robert Mueller ,
Chicago FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Robert Grant ,
US District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald ,
Senator Leahy Staffer Lydia Griggsby ,
Senator Byron Dorgan ,
Senator Dorgan Staffer Rich Swayze ,
Congressman Jerry Costello ,
ALPA National President Captain John Prater ,
Former Department of Transportation Inspector General Attorney Mary Schiavo ,
Former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta ,
Senator Claire McCaskill ,
Senator Levin Subcommittee on Investigations ,
Senator Charles Grassley ,
Senator Daniel Akaka ,
Senator Johnny Isakson ,
Senator Saxby Chambliss ,
Congressman Lynn Westmoreland ,
Congressman Lynn Westmoreland ,
Senator Charles Grassley ,
CBS 60 Minutes <60m@cbsnews.com>,
CBS Chicago News Michelle Youngerman ,
NBC National News Producer Anita McQuillan ,
Chicago Tribune Reporter John Kass ,
Chicago Tribune Columnist Clarence Page ,
Chicago Sun-Times David Roeder ,
Newsweek Howard Fineman ,
Newsweek Richard Wollfe ,
Salon Media Group Glen Greenwald ,
Salon Media Group Joan Walsh ,
"GritTV.org Laura Flanders" ,
Media Matters David Brock ,
Washington Post Caroline Little ,
Washington Post Ed O'Keefe ,
BizBash CEO David Adler ,
OpEd News Editor Rob Kall ,
Tom Dispatch Editor Tom Engelhart ,
Author/Journalist Andy Worthington ,
New York Times Editor Ron Lieber ,
Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner ,
Patrick O'Carroll ,
"Department of Labor Inspector General Gordon S. Heddell" ,
Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation Director Vincent Snowbarger ,
Department of Treasury Inspector General Eric Thorson ,
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

date Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 1:31 PM

subject SEC Settles with SEC Whistleblower Gary Aguirre!

mailed-bygmail.com


To All:

This is huge...see below! At least the SEC is acknowledging their mistakes. Gary Agguire was a federal employee who went the MSPB legal route and won. Bradley Birkenfeld wasn't so lucky as a civil employee. Harry Markopolous was, but it took him years to nail Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.

Please keep the legal/political heat on! It's the only way we can collectively nail these corporate white-collar criminals!

Besides the SEC/DOJ purported blind-eyes mentioned in the article below, our association wants to prove the lengths that airline manager's and government will go through in silencing airline pilots who attempt to speak out on safety issues during financially distressful times, but are slam-dunked by the system...their heads squashed like grapes...for speaking out. It is a very dangerous scenario for the unwary traveling public and must be stopped. We are certain that the Colgan Air 3407next-of-kin very much appreciate our efforts in this regard.

I wasn't a federal employee in 2003, but a federally-licensed and medically certificated pilot, so I couldn't go the MSPB legal route. My only recourse in 2003, 2006, and at present was in filing FAA Whistleblower Reports, but have been stonewalled repeatedly by all levels and branches of government, as has Continental whistleblower Newton Dickson and others.

As a life-long pilot, I strongly feel that if we can prove the apparent and alleged SEC/DOJ/DOT-FAA collusion, then we can drag these latter allegations regarding public air transportation safety and security into the public limelight in an effort to prevent another Colgan Air 3407 disaster wherein 50 good people unnecessarily lost their lives because much less experienced airline pilots were suppressed from speaking out on safety issues...at a low-cost air carrier...never mind the alleged pension theft of 150,000 employees and millions bilked from investors and vendors alike at United Airlines and elsewhere!

There are presently many other Sarbanes-Oxley/RICO witnesses coming forth with evidence to SEC Atlanta, but it remains to be seen as to whether or not our Department of Justice will partake in this investigation. To date, the DOJ IG has twice stated that they 'do not have jurisdiction in matters such as these'.
Please read these articles for amplification:

Update: SEC IG looks into United Airlines bankruptcy

UPDATE: FBI, DOJ refuse to investigate charges of judicial corruption

Whistleblowers punished for warning of aviation security lapses

Pilots: United Airlines bankruptcy never should have happened

Chicago judge to decide if his own accuser goes to jail

UPDATE: DOT IG urged to investigate one of FAA’s top docs

Porn-surfing SEC missed investigating United's bankruptcy

Message to federal employees: Keep your mouth shut

Thank you very much, Washington Examiner Reporter Barbara Hollingsworth! ABC Anna Schecter and CBS Pia Malbran...where are you? Whistleblower Protection Senators Leahy, Grassley, and McCaskill, we need your support and protection!

President Obama and Attorney General Holder please keep your 2008 campaign promises concerning enhanced protection for federal whistleblowers!

In the meantime, judicial whistleblower Michael Lynch...one of our key Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblowers, is scheduled to enter dangerous Cook County jail on July 26th for 13 days for attempting to expose judicial corruption, but none of the mainstream media outlets are reporting on this flagrant violation of witness protection afforded under SOX that was requested in consonance with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 1107 of this letter sent to then SEC Chairman Christopher Cox on October 18, 2007. Why not?

Please read on below the article published by the Government Accountability Project Office in Washington DC for additional information. Do you feel we need much stronger whistleblower protection legislation in place that includes jury trials for those willing to step forth with evidence/information? I do...so too does Michael Lynch, Newton Dickson, Gabe Bruno, Robert MacLean, Bogdan Dzakovic, and so many other honest citizen patriots in this country.

It is incumbent upon each of us to demand that congress immediately pass this much-needed legislation...or provide 'We the People' the reason(s) why they feel that this is not necessary.


Many Thanks!




SEC Settles with Aguirre


(Washington, D.C.) – In what may be the largest settlement of its kind, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to pay $755,000 to settle the wrongful termination claim of Gary J. Aguirre, the attorney who headed the SEC’s insider trading investigation of Pequot Capital Management until his firing in September 2005.

A judge with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the federal agency with jurisdiction over Aguirre’s termination claim, issued an order today finalizing the settlement. The settlement sum equals Aguirre’s pay for four years and ten months (the elapsed period since his September 2005 discharge), plus his attorneys’ fees. Aguirre agreed to dismiss two related cases against the SEC.

Government Accountability Project Legal Director Tom Devine stated “Unfortunately, this large settlement is the exception that proves the rule. Until Congress provides real protections for financial regulatory employees such as Aguirre, existing law will remain the best excuse for government regulators to turn a blind eye.”
The SEC’s settlement with Aguirre comes one month after the SEC filed insider trading charges against Pequot, its founder, Arthur Samberg, and David Zilkha, a former Pequot employee, based on facts uncovered by Aguirre. Pequot and Samberg paid the SEC $28 million to settle the charges against them. The case against Zilkha continues.

In August 2007, two Senate committees published a scathing 108-page report criticizing the SEC’s decision to fire Aguirre and close the Pequot investigation, which included Pequot’s suspected insider trading in securities of 20 publics companies.

The Senate report chronicles Aguirre’s promising career at the SEC, including management’s decision to give him a two-step pay raise at the end of his first year for “consistently [going] the extra mile, and then some.”

But the praise vanished when Aguirre tried to subpoena an elite Wall Street banker, John Mack. His supervisors blocked the subpoena, telling Aguirre that Mack had “juice” and “political clout.”

Aguirre’s July 27, 2005, email to his supervisors explained why the Mack subpoena was essential and expressed concern that “treating Mack differently is [not] consistent with the Commission’s mission.” The Senate Report tells what happened next: “Just days after Aguirre sent an e-mail to Associate Director Paul Berger detailing his allegations, his supervisors prepared a negative re-evaluation outside the SEC’s ordinary performance appraisal process.”

One month later, the SEC fired him without warning. The Senate report concluded that Aguirre’s “termination appears to be merely the culmination of the process of reprisal that began with the August 1 re-evaluation.”

Approximately one year after the Senate report, SEC Inspector General H. David Kotz delivered his own report on Aguirre’s firing to then-SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. Kotz recommended that Aguirre’s supervisors be disciplined. To date, neither the current SEC Chairman, Mary Schapiro, nor Cox, has done so.

The Pequot investigation appeared to have run its course when the SEC released its “Case Closing Report” in December 2006, explaining its decision to close the entire investigation, including Pequot’s trading in Microsoft options, without filing charges.

But Aguirre did not stop his Pequot investigation. He continued to collect and piece together the evidence that Samberg had used illegal tips to trade options on Microsoft stock. In April 2008, Aguirre obtained a court order forcing the SEC, over its objection, to turn over to him key records of its Pequot investigation.

In late 2008, Aguirre uncovered the last pieces of evidence necessary to prove an insider trading charge against Pequot, Samberg, and Zilkha. On January 2, 2009, Aguirre sent a letter to SEC Chairman Cox enclosing the new evidence.

Aguirre’s 16-page letter explained how this new evidence, when combined with the evidence uncovered by him in 2005, proved that Samberg had used illegal tips in directing trades in Microsoft options, generating $14.2 million in profits to Pequot hedge funds under his management. But still the SEC would not file a case.

On May 26, 2010, Aguirre filed papers in his FOIA case seeking an order directing the SEC to release additional Pequot records to him. He argued the SEC had to turn over the records under FOIA, because it had filed no case against Pequot or anyone else. Early the next morning, the SEC filed charges against Pequot, Samberg, and Zilkha. The allegations closely track the facts stated in Aguirre’s January 2, 2009 letter.

Asked how he feels about the settlement, Aguirre replied, “I think it’s fair to the public that the SEC pays for my work over the past four years and ten months, since it generated $28 million to the U.S. Treasury. But it’s a shame the team I worked with at the SEC did not get to complete the Pequot investigation. The filing of the case in 2005 or 2006, before the financial crisis, would have been exactly what Wall Street elite needed to hear at the perfect moment: the SEC goes after big fish too.”


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Captain Dan Hanley
National Public Spokesperson
Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association


"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

~ Margaret Mead ~