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Cuomo lashes out at Ernst & Young
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Reuters blog
Posted: December 28th, 2010
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/12/21/cuomo-lashe...
Excerpts from complaint by New York State Attorney General (and Governor-Elect) Andrew Cuomo: E&Y [Ernst and Young] substantially assisted Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., now bankrupt, to engage in a massive accounting fraud, involving the surreptitious removal of tens of billions of dollars of securities from Lehmans balance sheet in order to create a false impression of Lehmans liquidity, thereby defrauding the investing public. As the financial crisis deepened in 2007 and 2008 and Lehmans liquidity problems intensified, E&Y ... assisted Lehman in defrauding the public about the Companys deteriorating financial condition, particularly its leverage. As the public auditor for Lehman, E&Y had the absolute obligation to ensure that Lehmans financial statements ... did not mislead the public. Instead of fulfilling this obligation ... E&Y sat by silently while Lehman deceived the public by concealing [fraulent] transactions and misrepresenting the Companys leverage. By doing so, E&Y directly facilitated a major accounting fraud, and helped Lehman mislead the public as to its true financial condition. E&Y, which reaped over $150 million in fees from Lehman, must be held accountable for its role in this fraud.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources detailing the fraud that led to the financial crisis and bailout of Wall Street by taxpayers, click here.
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