In 2010, I ran a multi-family office, employed 11 people, published articles on finance and campaigned for shareholder rights. I am now barred from practicing my profession.
The Securities and Exchange Commission wants you to believe I gambled my career and reputation in a scheme designed to overcharge my clients by $2,269, about $70 per month—possibly the smallest case the SEC has ever undertaken.
There was no trial or hearing. I was never accused of any crime! I never pleaded guilty or admitted breaking any laws. But the SEC was judge, jury and executioner. I accepted the SEC’s offer of a one-year suspension and should have returned to work three years ago. Yet, somehow, the agency decided I’m permanently barred. How? I don’t know. Why? It won’t show me the documents.
My experience may sound improbable. Originally, financial regulation did not work this way. But after the 2008 crisis, the SEC came under pressure to win cases and levy fines. A well-meaning Congress gave the SEC enormous powers: the power to make its own rules, enforce those rules against individuals as well as firms, and require that in-house judges try cases. The SEC has poured hundreds of billions of dollars in fines into the U.S. Treasury, including the fines it uses to fund itself. Big firms pay big money to avoid prosecution. Small firms are simply destroyed.
The SEC should return to its mission, vigorously enforcing the dissemination and disclosure of financial information based on honest accounting and making sure the markets run efficiently and smoothly. The SEC should once again enforce laws created by legislators and try cases in front of unbiased judges, bound by the principles of due process and equal protection.
I want to get my reputation back and return openness and fairness to a system that was once the envy of the world. If this can happen to me, it can happen to you. If you don’t care about me or the SEC, remember that many of the same laws apply to the IRS, the EPA, the Department of Labor and even Immigration.
Write a letter to the editor. Contact elected officials. Forward this website’s link to friends. Or just hit the follow button.
Read my story. Hopefully, you’ll want to get involved too.
Eric D. Wanger, The $2,200 Man
Chicago, 2017
Eric, sane thing happenedto Me. I appealed CA SupremeCourt, bot only one Judge saw things my way. So I can’t work in my profession
In
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Eric, what has happened to you is awful. But please know that if you had gone to federal court you might have found you were even worse off. My case in the district court for the District of Columbia is nearly 30 years old (89-1854) which is presided over by Judge Royce Lamberth. He has about as much regard for the law and the truth as a common criminal. The SEC lawyers lie routinely, the Court of Appeals lie all the time, and they all disregard the law on a regular basis and torture almost anyone connected to someone who points out their dishonesty. I have never in my life met more dishonest, unscrupulous criminals as I have met in the federal judicial system. Government lawyers routinely suborn perjury and lie themselves; federal district judges routinely ignore the Constitution, case law, the Rules of Civil Procedure and Evidence and the truth is an unwelcome stranger in a federal courtroom. And as you go higher it gets worse. The judges on the court of appeals just flat out lie (they simply have no conscience) and rubber stamp whatever illegal action a district judge has taken. To me, they are the worst of the worst because their job is to ensure that the law is followed and they do exactly the opposite — they insure it is pissed on. And forget the Supreme Court — it is only there for the rare instance when the government loses at the court of appeal level. The higher you go in the system, the more dishonest the judges. In my case, I did nothing wrong — absolutely nothing. There were no victims and I received no benefit from the fabricated disclosure violations I was accused of. My case, like yours, is a disgrace to the good people of the United States but there are so many others like yours and mine. You should read License to Lie by Sidney Powell: https://www.amazon.com/Licensed-Lie-Exposing-Corruption-Department/dp/1612541496. Fighting the government is a fruitless endeavor; simply a waste of one’s life. My wife and I moved away from the United States six years ago and have been happy ever since. We help other people like yourself obtain citizenship in other countries so they can renounce their U.S. citizenship and rid themselves of the most evil, dishonest,murderous government on the planet. Good Luck. Paul A. Bilzerian
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