some banks may be seeking waivers to a ban on overseeing mutual funds, one of the people said. They are also requesting waivers to ensure they do not lose their special status as ''well-known seasoned issuers,'' which allows them to fast-track securities offerings. For some of the banks, there is also a concern that they will lose their ''safe harbor'' status for making forward-looking statements in securities documents.

In turn, the S.E.C. asked the Justice Department to hold off on announcing the currency cases until the banks' requests had been reviewed, one of the people said. As of Wednesday, it seemed probable that a majority of the S.E.C.'s commissioners would approve most of the waivers, which can be granted for a cause like the public good. Still, the agency's two Democratic commissioners -- Kara M. Stein and Luis A. Aguilar, who have denounced the S.E.C.'s use of waivers -- might be more likely to balk

Holy shit are you kidding me? Wh...ho... wha.... I don't even have the words to express both disgust and outrage. Disgustipated? I don't even. So all the penalties that come as a bank committing a felony, you want a waiver from all those consequences? I mean shit, if I shot the banker CEO in the face, who do I petition for a waiver? I was totally acting in the 'public good'.

This shit, above all else, should prove without a shadow of a doubt, that our government and regulating agencies are not in it for the betterment of the people, but only for the betterment of themselves and corporate entities .

Fucking despicable. I want to upvote for visibility, but I want to downvote cause the whole thing is, from the ground up, patently absurd. They'll grant waivers because otherwise it:

might inflict disproportionate harm to shareholders, pension holders and employees who are not even alleged to be culpable or to have profited potentially from wrongdoing

FUCKING GOOD. You invested in a shitheel morally corrupt company. You deserve to fucking lose everything. Next time invest in a company that's actually trying to better the world rather than pilfer it. Oh, you worked for a morally corrupt company? Sorry, you worked for really shitty people who did shitty things who got caught and penalized for it. Sorry you got wrapped up in all of, but that's the consequence of when shitty people do shitty things- shitty things happen to very far-removed people. Maybe it will help people think harder about what company they choose to go to work for, rather than choosing to slave to the first opportunity that presents itself.

If we're supposed to treat corporations as people, as the US supreme Court seems to constantly do, than corporations need to be held accountable, and most importantly dismantled and dissolved (effectively a death-penalty) when they've committed crimes. It's that fucking simple. Pull their corporate charters, CEOS are blacklisted and put on a list just like convicted pedophiles. Fucking bullshit!

/rant

I cannot understand why there aren't vigilantes in America, taking shots at these people in their high rises. All these guns. All this discontent.

As a small business if I did the same shit, me and every other member of the board would be in fucking prison for 10+ years. Of course these banks have a different set of laws apply to them, and they just pay a small percentage of profit earned from their illegal activities and the board members who planned and signed off on it go home to their mansions and laugh about it while their servants give them foot-rubs and fresh mangoes flown in on their private jet.

Felony charges? No jail time. Anti-trust issues? No jail time. Manipulating currency? No jail time.