Eliot Spitzer: Wallstreet Corruption In The US

658 Words3 Pages

Eliot Spitzer is the former New York State Attorney General, who fought against anything from Wallstreet corruption to President Bush’s policies regarding the environment (Masters, 2007, P. 3). According to Bio.com, Spitzer had a thriving career in Government until it was found that he had been frequently making use of high-class call girls, which when it came to light, caused such a scandal that he was forced to design from office (Biography, 2015). While Eliot Spitzer was known for coming down hard on public corruption and organized crime, he also proved that public corruption can be found everywhere, and with even the most unexpected people (Biography, 2015). Eliot Spitzer is the son of Jewish immigrants, and rose from a “Lower Eastside …show more content…

While holding his position as State Attorney General, he became known as the “Sheriff of Wallstreet,” because of his strict views on public corruption, as well as his stances on organized crime (Biography, 2015). He wanted to let people know that even those who are in high positions of power should be held accountable, even stating that “core ethical behavior is necessary…at some point you have to say, wait a minute…that’s it…it’s only when you hold the CEO accountable that you show people that something must change” (Masters, 2007, P.2). He also made it a point to state that people should be able to trust those in charge with their money, and should be able to trust that they won’t mishandle or steal it for their own purposes, and that when the public loses their trust in the market, they’ll take their money “elsewhere” (Masters, 2007, P.5). One specific incident involved his uncovering of scandalous emails that shed light on the fact that Merrill Lynch had some serious issues of “financial conflicts of interest that affected its advice to customers,” which led to an enormous lawsuit, with Mr. Lynch settling outside of court for over $100 million (Biography,