Courtesy of Pam Martens.
John W. White
At 10 a.m. tomorrow, Mary Jo White, President Obama’s nominee for Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will take her seat in the Dirksen Senate Office Building while the Senate Banking Committee goes through the motions of weighing her worthiness to serve. If confirmed, this will mark White’s fourth spin over 36 years through the revolving door at her corporate law firm, Debevoise and Plimpton.
White’s husband, John W. White, has had only one-spin through the revolving door – but it tells us a great deal about why Wall Street remains unrepentant and continues to pillage and plunder.
On March 5, 2005, John W. White, partner at the international law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, which represents Wall Street firms and large corporations around the world, was not at all happy with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. That’s the part of the financial reform legislation that requires the auditor of publicly traded companies to attest to management’s assessment of its internal controls for financial reporting to the public.
White penned a 5-page, single-spaced letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, outlining his objections. He wanted the rules to be watered down. Less than a year later, White was in a position to personally get the job done. After 30 years as a corporate attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, representing the interests of financial firms, White was magically transported to a top slot at the SEC. On February 8, 2006, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox named White the Director of the Division of Corporation Finance.
Why does a lavishly paid partner of a corporate law firm take a lowly paid public servant’s salary? You be the judge. It’s relevant to note that John White returned to his partner status at Cravath less than three years later and remains there today.
…
