SONY set to JUNK status

[joeorc]

S&P and Fitch accused of market manipulation in Italy
Italian prosecutors have filed charges against Deven Sharma, the former president of Standard & Poor’s, and six other credit rating officials for issuing downgrades that destablised the country and fuelled the debt crisis.

12 Nov 2012

 

 

If the Trani judge gives the go-ahead, it could be a test-case for dozens of other efforts to sue the credit rating agencies. Despite widespread criticism for failing to realise the debt they were rating as AAA was highly toxic, the agencies have so far managed to protect themselves from prosecution by claiming that their ratings are only opinions. In America, they have claimed protection under free speech rules.

More than 60 cases against the agencies are thought to have been filed around the world following the financial crisis but none with much success.

A breakthrough came three weeks ago when an Australian court ruled that S&P misled 12 councils in Australia by awarded a AAA rating to derivatives products created by ABN Amro which imploded less than two years after they were sold.

In July, McGraw-Hill, the American owners of S&P, admitted in a filing that US regulators, including the Securities & Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice, are investigating S&P’s ratings of structured products.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9672943/SandP-and-Fitch-accused-of-market-manipulation-in-Italy.html

 

"According to Adusbef and Federconsumatori, the three rating agencies, which are investor-driven companies, manipulate the financial markets to benefit their investors, and thus create a conflict of interest. 

“The world's biggest fund management companies are among the rating agencies' shareholders. Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, Fidelity, State Street, Blackrock and Morgan Stanley Investment are just a few of Moody's shareholders. Moody's is being used by its shareholders to influence the market so to increase their share value and profits,” Avallone added.

The Italian court of accounts has estimated that the three agencies caused damages of over 120 billion euros to Italy's economy from May to November 2011. "

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/26/252919/moodys-accused-of-giving-false-figures/