General Electric and the Muni-Bond Scandal

Who would of think the "green" energy company that gives us the wonderful news channel known as MSNBC wold have been linked the muni-bond scandal? A scandal defined by corruption, bribes, and economic devastation, I tell you what is the world coming to. The companies involved were a unit of GE and a FSA subsidiary of Belgian bank Dexia SA and have been accused of rigging municipal deals:

From Bloomberg News:

Trinity Funding Co., owned by General Electric Capital Corp., and Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd. were two of four unidentified companies in the Oct. 29 indictment of CDR Financial Products Inc., its founder, David Rubin, and two executives, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to do so publicly. Trinity and FSA weren't charged.

Two of the unidentified companies paid CDR to win agreements from local governments that hired Rubin's adviser firm from 2002 to 2004, disguising kickbacks by paying his company to broker swaps with two unnamed financial institutions, according to the indictment............

The Securities and Exchange Commission, which also is conducting an investigation into bid-rigging of municipal investment contracts, has notified at least seven firms, including GE Capital and FSA, that they face civil lawsuits in a parallel investigation.GE and FSA have disclosed receiving so-called Wells notices from the SEC, giving them an opportunity to say why regulators shouldn't bring a civil action. GE said in a filing last year that the investigation related to bidding by former employees and that the firm disagreed with the SEC's recommendation to file suit.

(Basically UBS AG and Bank of America Corp. have also been contacted about the issue. In a nutshell CDR is being accused of many of the allegations that have followed it around the county From the, my words)

The government's charges against CDR center on its involvement with two unidentified firms. One, called Provider B, is a group of financial-services companies that is part of a corporation with headquarters in Connecticut, according to the federal indictment. The state is home to General Electric Co. The second, Provider A, is a "group of financial-services companies located -- or controlled by those -- in Manhattan," the indictment said.

Tip of the iceberg.