Kentucky environmental attorney Sanders says former head of PBGC cops the 5th before Senate Committee on his ties to Wall Street brokerage houses.

On May 20, 2009, the former director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation under President George W. Bush took the Fifth Amendment when senators asked about allegations that he had inappropriate talks with Wall Street firms while running the operation, which insures the pensions of 44 million Americans.

The Fifth Amendment is a constitutional right not to incriminate yourself. It is a way to avoid admitting your criminal act. I don’t know, but it seems to me that this gentleman may have had his hand in the till or was otherwise acting in a self-serving manner during his tenure as chairman in a complex financial scheme that involved billions of dollars. If illegal conduct is proven in a court of law, it must be severely punished to protect the integrity of our financial system.

The former chairman, Charles E.F. Millard, denies that he had improper communications with the Wall Street firms that won multimillion-dollar contracts to advise the agency on a new strategy to invest its assets more heavily in stocks, real estate and private equity rather than more conservative fixed-income treasury securities.

In February 2008, during Millard's tenure, the board approved a new investment strategy that would invest the PBGC's assets more heavily in private equities and real estate. Millard remains convinced that more aggressive investments will help reduce the agency's deficit and perhaps prevent the need for a future taxpayer bailout. To help implement the new strategy, the agency solicited the services of investment firms on Wall Street.

Goldman Sachs, BlackRock and JPMorgan won awards to invest up to $2.5 billion of PBGC assets in real estate and private equity in return for fees that could exceed $100 million over 10 years. That means, Wall Street brokerage houses would be growing richer as this agency’s current debt of $33.5 Billion dives deeper in the red

It is long-past time to end the white collar corruption on Wall Street and bring common decency, honesty, truthfulness, and integrity back to America’s financial system.

What is wrong with America? Old fashion greed and the ridiculously high socio-economic status of the Wall Street elite are causing the many financial hardships and problems that the other folks in America are being forced to bear in this great country. No one is above the law.

We must punish white collar criminals, who stole or attempted to steal billions of dollars from Main Street via complex financial schemes during the Bush years. We must push for strong forfeiture statutes for financial crimes committed on Wall Street. Nothing can hurt a rich white man like losing his ill gotten gains.