Al Capone was a bad boy. How bad? He cheated on his income taxes.
He went to prison in 1931 for that. Not for the people he gunned down, nor for any of the other gross illegalities the guy committed as a notorious Chicago mobster. Tax evasion landed Capone in the slammer.
Now comes Steven Cohen. He’s not known to have killed anyone and is not a mobster. (Capone didn’t think he was one either — he called himself a “businessman.”)
Yet Cohen, a multibillionaire Wall Street hedge-fund huckster, shares with Capone the unpleasant experience of being pursued by the authorities — and possibly getting nailed on the Wall Street equivalent of tax evasion.
Cohen’s hedge fund, SAC Capital, was caught pocketing a gazillion or so in profits through the criminal enterprise of insider trading. But Steve was able to dodge those criminal charges in the usual Wall Street way: by buying off the government. SAC paid the Securities and Exchange Commission about $600 million to make the problem go away, without having to admit guilt or be bothered by a trial. Neat.
Yeah, a $600 million fine would be a death sentence for you and me, but it’s barely a hiccup for Cohen & Company — his outfit typically pulls in about a billion dollars a year just in “management” fees, not counting profits on investments. So Steve skated. Or so he thought. Now, his firm is fighting another criminal case.
And it turns out that Mary Jo White, the new chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is no pushover for hotshot finaglers. Suddenly, Cohen finds himself facing a civil charge: “failure to supervise” his hedge-fund traders. That might seem minor, but like Capone’s tax evasion, it could be very major, for the SEC’s punishment can include being barred from conducting Wall Street business.
See, when regulators have the will, there really are ways to go after Wall Street lawlessness.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $115,000 in one-time donations and to add 1365 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy