Courtesy of Pam Martens
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Former SEC Chair Jay Clayton
Donald Trump was inaugurated as President on January 20, 2017. But 16 days before Trump even took office, he sent the message to Wall Street that “I’ve got your back.” On January 4, 2017, Trump nominated Jay Clayton to Chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, ostensibly the top watchdog on Wall Street.
But Clayton’s resume ensured that he would be doing a lot more recusing than watchdogging. Clayton, a law partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, had represented 8 of the 10 largest Wall Street banks in the three years prior to his nomination.
Clayton did not disappoint. He looked the other way as the Wall Street banks traded their own bank’s stock in their own Dark Pools. He wore blinders as the Wall Street banks flagrantly violated the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation’s Volcker Rule. He took no action to stop Wall Street from running its own private justice system (mandatory arbitration) that effectively locks the nation’s courthouse doors to Wall Street employees and customers. On May 5, 2020 Clayton’s SEC approved the application for some of the worst actors on Wall Street (such as Citadel, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and others) to run their own stock exchange called “Members Exchange” or MEMX. We could go on and on but you get the picture.
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