Gary J. Aguirre
Encyclopedia
Gary J. Aguirre is an American lawyer
, former investigator with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) and whistleblower
. After working in a law firm briefly, he became a public defender
, then worked as a trial lawyer in California. Having reached his professional and financial goals, he took an extended break in 1995. In 2000, he decided to go into public service and went back to law school, focusing on international and securities law. After earning his second law degree, he applied for a job with the SEC, where he became the lead investigator on an insider trading
case involving Pequot Capital Management
. Suspecting the leaked information came from John J. Mack
, a Wall Street
titan and major contributor to the 2004 campaign contribution of George W. Bush
, Aguirre wanted to subpoena
Mack, but supervisors told him Mack had too much "political clout" and would not be pursued. Aguirre complained to a superior about the preferential treatment being given Mack and was fired without warning. A Senate investigation later found his termination to have been an illegal reprisal. In May 2010, Pequot Capital settled its insider trading charges with the SEC for $28 million and a month later, the SEC settled the wrongful termination suit filed by Aguirre for $755,000. Aguirre returned to private practice in San Diego in 2008, specializing in securities law. He has emerged as a major critic of the SEC, calling it an agency that was set up to protect the public from Wall Street, but now protects Wall Street from the public. He represents Darcy Flynn, also an SEC whistleblower, who in summer 2011, was interviewed by staff from three congressional committees. He said that the SEC had destroyed thousands of records of preliminary investigations and that SEC investigators trying to pursue a case against Deutsche Bank
were thwarted by Richard H. Walker
, then SEC director of enforcement, who shortly thereafter, took a job at Deutsche Bank as general counsel.
on December 23, 1966. He became an associate
at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison
, then one of San Francisco's largest firms. In his spare time, worked on Robert F. Kennedy
's presidential campaign. On May 28, 1968, Kennedy sent him a letter that spoke of the special role lawyers played in bringing about orderly change to the nation. Just eight days after sending the letter, Kennedy was assassinated.
After a year, Aguirre left Brobeck to become a public defender in Fresno County, where he found both the trial experience and public service he was seeking. Later moving back to private practice in San Diego, he made a name for himself by proving that Pacific Southwest Airlines
(PSA) was liable
for a mid-air plane crash over San Diego in 1978
, then the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history. In the 1980s, Aguirre pioneered construction-defect litigation, a branch of class-action law previously considered by San Diego lawyers to be too difficult for plaintiff
s to win. In 1983, San Diego Magazine
called him "a legal fireball" for his case proving PSA's liability and for his case against the Manville
Corporation, which had national importance.
Arguing on behalf of homeowners in construction-defect cases, by 1994, Aguirre and his partner had won 94 consecutive cases, recovering over $200 million for the plaintiffs. Aguirre has received three "Outstanding Trial Lawyer" awards from the San Diego Trial Lawyers Association.
-like product for use on exterior walls. Within a short time, the product was found to be defective and deteriorate rapidly, causing significant damage to homes and buildings. Manville pulled the product off the market in 1974, just four years after it was introduced.
In the course of preparing his case, Aguirre began monitoring Manville in October 1981, when the company undertook a reorganization that moved 75% of its assets to four of five new companies it created. The board of directors and officers remained in the same positions, so nothing essential changed; except the assets were diverted. Aguirre became convinced Manville was trying to put its assets beyond the reach of unsecured creditor
s and when he went to trial, he accurately predicted the company would file between 45 and 60 days.
The three-month long trial concluded with Aguirre winning a $6 million award against Manville, at that time, the largest amount in San Diego Superior Court
history. The amount was later increased to $7.5 million when delay damages
were added. On July 2, 1982, the day after winning his lawsuit against Manville, Aguirre went back to court to ask that Manville be required to post a $9 million bond to guarantee his clients' judgment in case of a bankruptcy filing, arguing that Manville was on the verge of filing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.At the beginning of the trial in March, Aguirre predicted Manville would declare bankruptcy
in 45 to 60 days and asked the judge then to guarantee his clients' judgment. The request was denied because at the time, Manville seemed financially sound with $2.2 billion in assets; also, no Dow Jones company had ever declared bankruptcy. (See Raymond A. Joseph, "Rescon Walls Cause Trouble for Manville", The Wall Street Journal
, December 28, 1982; and Michael A. Hiltzik, "A Hunch Could Pay Off in Manville Case", Los Angeles Times
, December 15, 1982.) Agreeing with Aguirre’s argument, the judge ordered Manville to post a bond.
Eight weeks later, on August 26, 1982, Manville did file for Chapter 11 protection from multiple damage awards, shocking financial analyst
s. Unlike the more than 12,000 other plaintiffs, primarily asbestos
cases, Aguirre's clients' judgment was insured by a $9 million bond. All lawsuits against Manville were immediately stay
ed, but a federal bankruptcy judge
in New York separated Aguirre's case from the others, paving the way for Aguirre's clients to receive their payments. The thousands of other lawsuits remained frozen until May 1988.
as a senior counsel at the SEC Division of Enforcement in Washington, D.C. A routine check of Wall Street
trades flagged unusually heavy stock purchases by Pequot Capital Management
, a hedge fund
, in Heller Financial in July 2001, which was bought by GE Capital
shortly thereafter, earning Pequot $18 million inside of a month. Aguirre was made the lead investigator on the case.
Aguirre pushed to subpoena John Mack, a top Wall Street executive who was then under consideration by Morgan Stanley
to become its CEO and had been a major contributor to the 2004 presidential campaign of George W. Bush. Initially, Aguirre had the full support of other SEC staff and of his supervisors. This changed on June 23, 2005, when Aguirre received a phone call from Eric Dinallo, head of regulatory compliance
at Morgan Stanley, who wanted to know if the SEC was "going to proceed against Mack" because of concerns revolving around Morgan Stanley's decision to hire Mack as CEO. The same day, Aguirre's supervisor, Robert Hanson, told him it would be an uphill battle to pursue Mack because of Mack's "powerful political connections".
placed a call to Linda Chatman Thomsen
. Thomsen was then SEC Director of Enforcement and Aguirre's boss four levels above him. White is a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton
, the law firm hired by Morgan Stanley to vet
Mack and was in charge of the process She had previously been the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
which has jurisdiction over Wall Street. Though Thomsen told the Senate she told White she couldn't say anything about the Mack investigation, the Senate report said White's talking point
s indicated Thomsen had said there was "smoke" but "surely not fire".
Over the next two days, Aguirre sent his supervisors his analysis of the evidence against Pequot and proposed interviewing Mack. On June 28, he had a "heated discussion" with Mark Kreitman, one of his supervisors and his former professor at Georgetown, over the SEC's refusal to interview Mack. In the meantime, he was given his year-end performance evaluation, which noted his dedication. Hanson wrote, "[Aguirre] has consistently gone the extra mile, and then some," and a two-step salary increase was approved.
A month later, on July 27, 2005, Aguirre sent an e-mail to his supervisor Paul R. Berger, explaining the importance of the Mack subpoena and expressing concern that “treating Mack differently is [not] consistent with the Commission’s mission, which is "to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation
." In this e-mail, Aguirre also reported to Berger that Hanson had said Mack had "political connections".
Berger stopped the investigation of Mack and closed the case against Pequot without filing a single charge. A few months prior, on January 31, 2005, Berger had gotten an e-mail from Jan Lower, another attorney, describing in detail the $2 million potential earnings an SEC official could earn at Debevoise. On September 8, 2005, just days after Aguirre was fired, an SEC official at the same staff level as Berger wrote an e-mail to him titled "Debevoise", saying he had mentioned Berger's "interest" to White and within weeks, it was rumored that Berger would be leaving the SEC to join Debevoise & Plimpton as a partner. Berger submitted his resignation to the SEC on May 15, 2006 and on June 1, 2006 became a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, where he continues to work. White denies asking the SEC to close any investigation.
, asked SEC officials for a confidential briefing on the matter. Aguirre accused the SEC of failing to pursue Mack because of his political connections as a major fundraiser for George W. Bush
. By 2006, both the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee were investigating the matter, culminating in what Forbes
magazine called a "scathing" report. In testimony, Aguirre told the committee there needed to be better regulation of hedge funds to protect the public. He said, “There is growing evidence that today’s unregulated hedge funds have advanced and refined the practice of manipulating and cheating other market participants. The potential harm hedge funds can inflict on other market participants has no real limits." He warned that fixing the SEC so it would protect investors and capital market
s would not be easy because powerful Wall Street investment banks liked things things as they are He said the SEC and the Justice Department
had failed to adequately prosecute abuses by hedge funds. and he compared the situation to that which preceded the stock market crash of 1929.
In the Senate's oversight role, it conducted an extensive investigation of whether or not Mack received unlawful preferential treatment from the SEC and whether or not Aguirre was unlawfully fired as a result of objecting to this treatment. The Senate reviewed 10,000 pages of documents and held more than 30 witness interviews. Additionally, there were three hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee in June, September and December 2006. The joint report was officially released August 3, 2007. The Senate found Aguirre to have been well regarded until he questioned the SEC's misconduct toward Mack, that Mack was treated preferentially and that Aguirre was illegally fired in retaliation.
, citing the Senate report extensively, ruled in his favor, forcing the SEC to turn over documents to Aguirre. The Court wrote of "the importance of understanding the dispute between the parties, as well as plaintiff’s legal argument that the public interest in disclosure of the withheld records outweighs any privacy interest" under exemptions claimed by the SEC and relied heavily on the Senate report. It noted how the SEC resisted deposing Mack and didn't considering him a potential tipper
until after a front-page article in The New York Times revealed the derailed investigation and then did not depose him until the statute of limitations
for civil and criminal penalties had run out.The district court wrote, "The evidentiary standard is easily met in this case. The Senate Report uncovered several potential improprieties by SEC staff. First, the Committees determined that SEC officials were “overly deferential” to John Mack because of his prominence. (S. Rep. 37.) When the SEC accords special treatment to prominent figures, it “undermines public confidence [in] the integrity of its investigations and exacerbates the problems associated with ‘regulatory capture.’” (Id.)(internal citations omitted). Second, the Committee found credible evidence suggesting that the SEC retaliated against plaintiff for his efforts to examine John Mack. SEC management conducted a suspicious “re-evaluation” of plaintiff, even though his regular evaluation had just been completed a month earlier, and according to the Senate Report, the re-evaluation “appears both improper and retaliatory,” and the negative comments were “unsupported.” (Id. 74.) The Committees concluded that plaintiff’s firing was “intricately connected” to his efforts to examine John Mack. (S. Rep. 78.)" Gary Aguirre v. Securities and Exchange Commission, Civil Action No. 06-1260 (ESH) p.35
In 2007, Senators Chuck Grassley
and Arlen Specter
urged the SEC to reopen the case against Pequot, but it remained closed. Making extensive use of the documents released by the SEC to him, Aguirre uncovered incriminating evidence proving Pequot had engaged in insider trading of Microsoft
and he shared this evidence with the SEC in a 16-page letter to SEC chairman Christopher Cox, dated January 2, 2009. Within days, the SEC re-opened the investigation, but no charges were filed in the weeks or months following, though when it did finally file charges, they closely followed the evidence as stated in Aguirre's letter.
On April 1, 2009, Aguirre filed a second lawsuit against the SEC for unlawful disclosure of his records under the Privacy Act of 1974
, for violating the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment
and for injunctive relief under the Privacy Act and FOIA. On December 2, 2009, in an interim decision on Aguirre's FOIA case, the Court again ruled in his favor. On May 26, 2010, Aguirre filed papers in this case, seeking an order directing the SEC to release additional Pequot records to him on the grounds that under the FOIA, the SEC had to turn the records over to him because it had filed no case against Pequot or anyone else. Early the next morning, on May 27, 2010, the SEC filed charges against Pequot, Samberg and Zilkha and announced a settlement with Pequot.
A month later, the SEC agreed to pay Aguirre $755,000, an amount equal to four years and ten months of lost salary and attorney's fees.The SEC nearly settled with Aguirre in May 2009, but just as both sides appeared on the verge of agreeing to the details and amount of the settlement, in an e-mail dated two hours after a Forbes article was published which quoted Aguirre criticizing the SEC, the SEC's deputy general counsel, Mark Cahn, wrote, "After careful consideration, we cannot agree to your proposed terms." (See "Whistle-Blower Claims New Retaliation By SEC". Forbes magazine, June 2, 2009.) The amount appears to be the largest settlement ever disclosed by the Merit Systems Protection Board. On reaching the settlement with the SEC for his wrongful termination, Aguirre said, "It’s a shame the team I worked with at the SEC did not get to complete the Pequot investigation. The filing of the case in 2005 or 2006, before the financial crisis, would have been the right message at the right moment for Wall Street elite: the SEC goes after big fish too."
He continued to work on the Pequot insider trading investigation, collecting and piecing together evidence, gaining information through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. In April 2008, he obtained a court order forcing the SEC to give him key records of its then closed Pequot investigation and later that year, he uncovered the evidence necessary to prove an insider trading charge against Pequot, founder Arthur Samberg and his former employee, David Zilkha On January 2, 2009, Aguirre sent a 16-page letter with the evidence to Christopher Cox, then SEC chairman. In it, he argued that there was sufficient evidence to reopen the case and he recommended that the U.S. Department of Justice open an investigation of Pequot, Samberg and Zilkha for possible witness tampering
, bribery
, obstruction of justice
, and violation of RICO
. Because the SEC continued to stonewall, on May 26, 2010, Aguirre sought an order directing the SEC to release additional Pequot records to him. He argued that because the SEC had failed to file charges against Pequot or anyone else, under the FOIA, the SEC must turn over the records. The following morning, on May 27, 2010, using allegations that closely follow Aguirre's January letter, the SEC filed charges against Pequot, Samberg and Zilkha.
Aguirre is helping Senator Grassley's staff examine 21,000 Federal Reserve (the Fed) transactions involving taxpayer funds distributed to banks and other financial institutions. The Fed was forced to reveal the information by Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by Bloomberg News and Fox News
, as well as provisions contained in Wall Street reform
legislation. Despite pronouncements by the Fed about its transparency, the information released has been incomplete. The lack of details make it impossible to tell just how much profit the recipients of the funds are making and only the recipients' names and amount of funds are known. Aguirre says that between $3 and $4 trillion in cash transfers were made and another $9 to $11 trillion in commitments that taxpayer funds would cover the cost of failed investments. “It looks like they are borrowing the money from the Fed, say, at 70 cents on the dollar and selling it back to the Fed for 90 cents. We can’t tell for certain because the Fed won’t tell us. The Fed publishes information but not enough for you to figure out what the hell happened,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre represents Darcy Flynn, an SEC lawyer who also became a whistleblower after Robert Khuzami
asked his staff in an e-mail on May 18, 2011 to report any questionable behavior on the part of lawyers representing clients. Though Khuzami had meant lawyers outside the SEC, Flynn reported activity that had taken place within the SEC. Early in Flynn's 13-year career at the SEC, he worked on a case where investigators thought they had clear evidence of fraud against Deutsche Bank. In an interview with Der Spiegel
, CEO Rolf Breuer had denied the bank was involved in talks to acquire Bankers Trust
, causing Bankers Trust stock to drop, which could lower the cost of a merger. SEC investigators began looking into the matter, collecting sworn testimony and documents that proved Breuer had lied. Deutsche Bank hired former SEC enforcement director Gary Lynch
to persuade the SEC not to pursue the case, which had to be approved by superiors before proceeding. Approval to go forward with the case was approved by every level and lacked only the signature of Richard H. Walker
, then serving as SEC enforcement director. Rather than approve the case, on July 10, 2001 he recused himself. On July 23, 2001, a letter was sent to Deutsche Bank informing them, ""Inquiry in the above-captioned matter has been terminated." The SEC dropped the fraud investigation without the customary explanation of its decision to close the case. On October 1, 2001, Walker was hired as general counsel by Deutsche Bank. In 2004, he hired Khuzami to work at the bank and a few years later, recommended him to become SEC enforcement director. Flynn was interviewed by staff from three congressional committees in summer 2011 on the Deutsche Bank case and the destruction of files from thousands of preliminary investigation cases conducted by the SEC. Senator Grassley
has written a letter to the SEC about the document destruction and SEC inspector general H. David Koch is investigating.
and the Senate Judiciary Committee about Mack, Pequot Capital and the SEC lack of oversight, he warned that SEC enforcement was dangerously lax. He said that the SEC had recovered a mere $110,000 from hedge fund insider trading over one year when the Committee itself had found evidence that over a one-year period, more than 41% of all mergers and acquisitions of over a billion dollars involved insider trading. Aguirre warned that lack of effective oversight of rampant corruption was allowing Wall Street the same unregulated market abuse
and leveraging that caused the Wall Street crash of 1929
. In 2008, he delivered a similar message at the Sibos
conference in Vienna
. Just prior to the collapse of Bear Stearns
, he wrote a letter to the Senate Banking Committee that the nation's banks, and particularly Bear Stearns, were at risk because of subprime debt exposure and credit default swap
s. In September 2008, during the debate on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), Aguirre's projections on the costs of the taxpayer bailout were cited on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
On July 22, 2010, President Barack Obama
signed Wall Street reform legislation, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which included a provision to exempt the SEC from FOIA requests by the public. Aguirre used FOIA requests to obtain records relating to why his SEC superiors had stymied his Pequot investigation, charges which prompted two U.S. Senate committees to investigate. The documents, released against the wishes of the SEC, led to the discovery of evidence that resulted in a large settlement. Aguirre was the first to speak out about the exemptions and a letter by Congressman Darrell Issa
to Mary Schapiro
, chairman of the SEC relied heavily on his article, "The Dodd-Frank Act: A FOIA Exemption for SEC Misconduct?" from Wall Street Lawyer. Congressional testimony by the Project on Government Oversight
at a hearing on legislative proposals to address the problem referred to Aguirre's case as an example of the crucial need for public oversight of government agencies. Aguirre said the new bill would block public access to the SEC's records and hamper oversight. Other critics called the bill a "backroom deal" between the SEC and the U.S. Congress to cover up SEC failures.
The following week, first the Senate and then the House unanimously
passed bills to repeal
the exemptions. Obama signed the bill repealing the exemption on October 5, 2010.
Aguirre describes the SEC as an agency created to protect the public from Wall Street, but now protects Wall Street from the public, and calls it a revolving door
, where people move from SEC positions to highly lucrative positions on Wall Street and also in reverse. "All the agencies have to some extent or another a revolving door [where government employees move to the private sector and earn more money]. But at the SEC, what you rotate into is an enormous salary leap. SEC managers may make $200,000. That same person may make $2 million as a starting salary on the outside and can move up from there. Now, when he leaves, I'm not sure he's worth $2 million as a lawyer, but he takes his Rolodex
with him and that Rolodex is gold. The system maintains itself, because those that stay know their turn will come if they play the game. They see a director or associate director move onto a $2 million job with a Wall Street law firm. Then, the departed employee calls back to his former colleagues and says, 'you know I really don't think there is much of a case against so-and-so, I'd like for you to take a look at it.' And the case goes away; the system goes on in perpetuity." Two of Aguirre's supervisors left the SEC for lucrative positions at private law firms. Paul Berger works at Debevoise and Plimpton. After failing to investigate the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme
, Linda Chatman Thomsen
left her position as SEC Enforcement Director to become a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell
, where according to the Wall Street Journal, she would be part of its "white-collar defense group". Robert Khuzami
, who succeeded her, worked as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan's Southern District of New York, then went to Deutsche Bank
for several years before returning being named SEC Enforcement Director.Other former SEC Directors of Enforcement who moved to the private sector are Richard H. Walker
who went to Deutsche Bank
in 2001 and Gary Lynch
, who went to Davis Polk directly from the SEC in 1996. (See New York Times articles: "Deutsche Bank Hires Former S.E.C. Official" October 2, 2001 and Reed Abelson, "Gary Lynch, Defender of Companies, Has His Critics" September 3, 1996.) Lynch is now with Morgan Stanley, where he was hired by John Mack, who described him as "a lawyer with a businessperson's mentality." (See "Mack Hires Ex-Colleague as Morgan Stanley's Legal Officer" by Landon Thomas, Jr. in The New York Times, July 19, 2005.)
The SEC's handling of the investigation of Pequot's $18 million profit on Heller Financial, contrasts sharply with their aggressive pursuit of a low-level GE employee and a kung fu instructor who made a much smaller trade on Heller, earning a profit of just over $150,000.Pequot was forced to forfeit
its $18 million gain, pay $10 million in penalties and Samberg was barred from working as an investment advisor
. He did not face criminal charges and the statute of limitations
on the trade ran out in 2006. The former GE employee and kung fu instructor were tried in court and sentenced to prison, 15 months and 8 months respectively. They also had to return their $157,259 gain, which they had split between them. In addition, before he was fired by the SEC, Aguirre had been investigating more than a dozen instances of insider trading by Pequot. (See SEC Litigation Release No. 18086 at the SEC website, April 14, 2003.) According to Aguirre, decisions to pursue small cases and ignore the much larger ones involving the financial elite are less the exception, than the rule and explain why Bernie Madoff was ignored for so long.
degree from the University of California, Berkeley
in 1962, and a law degree from Boalt Hall in 1966, where he was the recipient of a Ford Foundation
grant.
During a trip to Russia in 1987, Aguirre met some filmmakers at the Moscow Film Festival and discovered an interest in film. Having reached his professional and financial goals, Aguirre left his law practice in 1995. He returned to college, earning a Master of Fine Arts
degree in film from UCLA
.
While living in Spain in 2000, he became transfixed by the Bush v. Gore
case and began thinking about the letter he had received from Robert F. Kennedy, which he had kept because it inspired him. Re-reading the letter, he was again inspired, reminded that lawyers can have a role beyond construction-defect cases.
At the age of 61, Aguirre went back to law school at Georgetown University Law Center
to study international
and securities law. Aguirre received a Master of Laws
degree with distinction (honors) in 2003 and in January 2004, his LL.M thesis won second place in the Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni Annual Securities Law Writing Competition and was published in the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law
. Four of his professors were on the SEC staff, including one, Mark Kreitman, who later became his supervisor at the SEC. Kreitman described Aguirre as "the best student he had ever had". After graduation, he wanted to enter public service and an advisor suggested he apply for a fraud investigator's job that had come available at the SEC.
; his younger brother, Michael
, was the San Diego city attorney
from 2004 to 2008.
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, former investigator with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is a federal agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States...
(SEC) and whistleblower
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
. After working in a law firm briefly, he became a public defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
, then worked as a trial lawyer in California. Having reached his professional and financial goals, he took an extended break in 1995. In 2000, he decided to go into public service and went back to law school, focusing on international and securities law. After earning his second law degree, he applied for a job with the SEC, where he became the lead investigator on an insider trading
Insider trading
Insider trading is the trading of a corporation's stock or other securities by individuals with potential access to non-public information about the company...
case involving Pequot Capital Management
Pequot Capital Management
Pequot Capital Management was a multi-billion dollar hedge fund sponsor founded in 1998 by Arthur J. Samberg that was forcibly terminated by order of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010. The firm's investment funds invested in a range of markets through a variety of strategies...
. Suspecting the leaked information came from John J. Mack
John J. Mack
John J. Mack is the current Chairman of the Board at Morgan Stanley, the New York-based investment bank and brokerage firm. Mack announced his retirement as Chief Executive Officer on September 10, 2009, which was effective January 1, 2010. Former Co-President James P...
, a Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
titan and major contributor to the 2004 campaign contribution of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, Aguirre wanted to subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
Mack, but supervisors told him Mack had too much "political clout" and would not be pursued. Aguirre complained to a superior about the preferential treatment being given Mack and was fired without warning. A Senate investigation later found his termination to have been an illegal reprisal. In May 2010, Pequot Capital settled its insider trading charges with the SEC for $28 million and a month later, the SEC settled the wrongful termination suit filed by Aguirre for $755,000. Aguirre returned to private practice in San Diego in 2008, specializing in securities law. He has emerged as a major critic of the SEC, calling it an agency that was set up to protect the public from Wall Street, but now protects Wall Street from the public. He represents Darcy Flynn, also an SEC whistleblower, who in summer 2011, was interviewed by staff from three congressional committees. He said that the SEC had destroyed thousands of records of preliminary investigations and that SEC investigators trying to pursue a case against Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
were thwarted by Richard H. Walker
Richard H. Walker
Richard H. Walker is an American lawyer. He is general counsel of corporate and investment banking at Deutsche Bank and former director of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission , Division of Enforcement, where he worked for ten years...
, then SEC director of enforcement, who shortly thereafter, took a job at Deutsche Bank as general counsel.
Enters private practice
Aguirre is a lawyer in San Diego, California. He was admitted to the State Bar of CaliforniaState Bar of California
The State Bar of California is California's official bar association. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, and prescribing appropriate discipline...
on December 23, 1966. He became an associate
Associate attorney
An associate attorney is a lower-level employee of a traditional law firm who does not hold an ownership interest as a partner.-Attorneys:An associate may be a junior or senior associate, but normally does not yet hold an ownership interest in the firm even if they have been associated with the...
at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison
Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison
Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP was a large law firm based in San Francisco, California. In 2003, the firm was liquidated under Chapter 7 of the U.S...
, then one of San Francisco's largest firms. In his spare time, worked on Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
's presidential campaign. On May 28, 1968, Kennedy sent him a letter that spoke of the special role lawyers played in bringing about orderly change to the nation. Just eight days after sending the letter, Kennedy was assassinated.
After a year, Aguirre left Brobeck to become a public defender in Fresno County, where he found both the trial experience and public service he was seeking. Later moving back to private practice in San Diego, he made a name for himself by proving that Pacific Southwest Airlines
Pacific Southwest Airlines
Pacific Southwest Airlines was a United States airline headquartered in San Diego, California, that operated from 1949 to 1988. It was one of the first large discount airlines in the United States and is considered a precursor to Southwest Airlines...
(PSA) was liable
Legal liability
Legal liability is the legal bound obligation to pay debts.* In law a person is said to be legally liable when they are financially and legally responsible for something. Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law. See Strict liability. Under English law, with the passing of the Theft...
for a mid-air plane crash over San Diego in 1978
PSA Flight 182
Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182, registration N533PS, was a Boeing 727-214 commercial airliner that collided with a private Cessna 172 over San Diego, California on September 25, 1978. Pacific Southwest Airlines' first accident involving fatalities, the death toll of 144 makes it the...
, then the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history. In the 1980s, Aguirre pioneered construction-defect litigation, a branch of class-action law previously considered by San Diego lawyers to be too difficult for plaintiff
Plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
s to win. In 1983, San Diego Magazine
San Diego Magazine
San Diego Magazine is a monthly publication concerning life in the San Diego region. This is the city’s longest running lifestyle publication and has continued to prosper and evolve throughout its 60-year history...
called him "a legal fireball" for his case proving PSA's liability and for his case against the Manville
Johns-Manville
Johns Manville is an American corporation based in Denver, Colorado that manufactures insulation, roofing materials, and engineered products. The stock was included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from January 29, 1930 to August 27, 1982 when it was replaced by American Express. Berkshire...
Corporation, which had national importance.
Arguing on behalf of homeowners in construction-defect cases, by 1994, Aguirre and his partner had won 94 consecutive cases, recovering over $200 million for the plaintiffs. Aguirre has received three "Outstanding Trial Lawyer" awards from the San Diego Trial Lawyers Association.
Manville
In the early 1970s, Manville Corporation, a Dow Jones company sold a stuccoStucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
-like product for use on exterior walls. Within a short time, the product was found to be defective and deteriorate rapidly, causing significant damage to homes and buildings. Manville pulled the product off the market in 1974, just four years after it was introduced.
In the course of preparing his case, Aguirre began monitoring Manville in October 1981, when the company undertook a reorganization that moved 75% of its assets to four of five new companies it created. The board of directors and officers remained in the same positions, so nothing essential changed; except the assets were diverted. Aguirre became convinced Manville was trying to put its assets beyond the reach of unsecured creditor
Unsecured creditor
An unsecured creditor is a creditor other than a preferential creditor that does not have the benefit of any security interests in the assets of the debtor....
s and when he went to trial, he accurately predicted the company would file between 45 and 60 days.
The three-month long trial concluded with Aguirre winning a $6 million award against Manville, at that time, the largest amount in San Diego Superior Court
Superior court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...
history. The amount was later increased to $7.5 million when delay damages
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
were added. On July 2, 1982, the day after winning his lawsuit against Manville, Aguirre went back to court to ask that Manville be required to post a $9 million bond to guarantee his clients' judgment in case of a bankruptcy filing, arguing that Manville was on the verge of filing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.At the beginning of the trial in March, Aguirre predicted Manville would declare bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in 45 to 60 days and asked the judge then to guarantee his clients' judgment. The request was denied because at the time, Manville seemed financially sound with $2.2 billion in assets; also, no Dow Jones company had ever declared bankruptcy. (See Raymond A. Joseph, "Rescon Walls Cause Trouble for Manville", The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, December 28, 1982; and Michael A. Hiltzik, "A Hunch Could Pay Off in Manville Case", Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, December 15, 1982.) Agreeing with Aguirre’s argument, the judge ordered Manville to post a bond.
Eight weeks later, on August 26, 1982, Manville did file for Chapter 11 protection from multiple damage awards, shocking financial analyst
Financial analyst
A financial analyst, securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, or investment analyst is a person who performs financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core part of the job.-Job:...
s. Unlike the more than 12,000 other plaintiffs, primarily asbestos
Asbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
cases, Aguirre's clients' judgment was insured by a $9 million bond. All lawsuits against Manville were immediately stay
Stay of proceedings
A stay of proceedings is a ruling by the court in civil and criminal procedure, halting further legal process in a trial. The court can subsequently lift the stay and resume proceedings. However, a stay is sometimes used as a device to postpone proceedings indefinitely.-United Kingdom:In United...
ed, but a federal bankruptcy judge
United States bankruptcy court
United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. They function as units of the district courts and have subject-matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. The federal district courts have original and exclusive jurisdiction over all cases arising...
in New York separated Aguirre's case from the others, paving the way for Aguirre's clients to receive their payments. The thousands of other lawsuits remained frozen until May 1988.
SEC investigator, becomes whistleblower
In July 2004, Aguirre entered public serviceUnited States civil service
In the United States, the civil service was established in 1872. The Federal Civil Service is defined as "all appointive positions in the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of the Government of the United States, except positions in the uniformed services." . In the early 19th century,...
as a senior counsel at the SEC Division of Enforcement in Washington, D.C. A routine check of Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
trades flagged unusually heavy stock purchases by Pequot Capital Management
Pequot Capital Management
Pequot Capital Management was a multi-billion dollar hedge fund sponsor founded in 1998 by Arthur J. Samberg that was forcibly terminated by order of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010. The firm's investment funds invested in a range of markets through a variety of strategies...
, a hedge fund
Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
, in Heller Financial in July 2001, which was bought by GE Capital
GE Capital
GE Capital is the financial services unit of General Electric, one of five major units. Its various divisions include GE Capital Aviation Services, GE Capital Real Estate, GE Energy Financial Services and GE Money....
shortly thereafter, earning Pequot $18 million inside of a month. Aguirre was made the lead investigator on the case.
Aguirre pushed to subpoena John Mack, a top Wall Street executive who was then under consideration by Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
to become its CEO and had been a major contributor to the 2004 presidential campaign of George W. Bush. Initially, Aguirre had the full support of other SEC staff and of his supervisors. This changed on June 23, 2005, when Aguirre received a phone call from Eric Dinallo, head of regulatory compliance
Regulatory compliance
In general, compliance means conforming to a rule, such as a specification, policy, standard or law. Regulatory compliance describes the goal that corporations or public agencies aspire to in their efforts to ensure that personnel are aware of and take steps to comply with relevant laws and...
at Morgan Stanley, who wanted to know if the SEC was "going to proceed against Mack" because of concerns revolving around Morgan Stanley's decision to hire Mack as CEO. The same day, Aguirre's supervisor, Robert Hanson, told him it would be an uphill battle to pursue Mack because of Mack's "powerful political connections".
Investigation derailed
Just three days after the call to Aguirre, Mary Jo WhiteMary Jo White
Mary Jo White was the first woman to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, serving from 1993 to 2002.White was born in Kansas City, Missouri and grew up in McLean, Virginia. She received her B.S...
placed a call to Linda Chatman Thomsen
Linda Chatman Thomsen
Linda Chatman Thomsen was the Director of the Division of Enforcement for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2005 until early 2009. Since arriving at the SEC in 1995, she has worked under four SEC Chairmen: Arthur Levitt, Harvey Pitt, William H. Donaldson, and Christopher Cox. ...
. Thomsen was then SEC Director of Enforcement and Aguirre's boss four levels above him. White is a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton
Debevoise & Plimpton
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a prominent international law firm based in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Eli Whitney Debevoise and William Stevenson, Debevoise has been a long established leader in corporate litigation and large financial transactions. In recent years, its practice has taken on an...
, the law firm hired by Morgan Stanley to vet
Vetting
Vetting is a process of examination and evaluation, generally referring to performing a background check on someone before offering him or her employment, conferring an award, etc...
Mack and was in charge of the process She had previously been the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight New York counties: New York , Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Preet Bharara, who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2009 is the U.S. Attorney for the...
which has jurisdiction over Wall Street. Though Thomsen told the Senate she told White she couldn't say anything about the Mack investigation, the Senate report said White's talking point
Talking point
A talking point in debate or discourse is a succinct statement designed to persuasively support one side taken on an issue. Such statements can either be free standing or created as retorts to the opposition's talking points and are frequently used in public relations, particularly in areas heavy...
s indicated Thomsen had said there was "smoke" but "surely not fire".
Over the next two days, Aguirre sent his supervisors his analysis of the evidence against Pequot and proposed interviewing Mack. On June 28, he had a "heated discussion" with Mark Kreitman, one of his supervisors and his former professor at Georgetown, over the SEC's refusal to interview Mack. In the meantime, he was given his year-end performance evaluation, which noted his dedication. Hanson wrote, "
A month later, on July 27, 2005, Aguirre sent an e-mail to his supervisor Paul R. Berger, explaining the importance of the Mack subpoena and expressing concern that “treating Mack differently is [not] consistent with the Commission’s mission, which is "to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation
Capital formation
Capital formation is a concept used in macroeconomics, national accounts and financial economics. Occasionally it is also used in corporate accounts. It can be defined in three ways:...
." In this e-mail, Aguirre also reported to Berger that Hanson had said Mack had "political connections".
Retaliation
Though given a pay raise and praised for his work on the Pequot case, after Aguirre raised concerns about the special treatment being given Mack, Berger told Hanson to do a "supplemental evaluation" of Aguirre and one other staff attorney "looking to raise trouble". The Senate report notes that such re-evaluations were not an authorized part of the SEC evaluation process, nor were SEC officials able to recall other instances where "supplemental evaluations" were drafted for other employees. Aguirre continued to have conversations with Hanson about Mack in the early days of August. Hanson continued to refer to Mack's political connections and on August 4, 2005 wrote, "Mack’s counsel will have ‘juice’ as I described last night—meaning that they may reach out to Paul and Linda (and possibly others)." Apparently setting a precedent, Aguirre's supervisors re-evaluated his job performance, reversing the positive appraisal given just one month prior. While on vacation, Aguirre was abruptly fired without warning on September 1, 2005. His termination was later found to have been unlawful by the subsequent Senate investigations and report.Berger stopped the investigation of Mack and closed the case against Pequot without filing a single charge. A few months prior, on January 31, 2005, Berger had gotten an e-mail from Jan Lower, another attorney, describing in detail the $2 million potential earnings an SEC official could earn at Debevoise. On September 8, 2005, just days after Aguirre was fired, an SEC official at the same staff level as Berger wrote an e-mail to him titled "Debevoise", saying he had mentioned Berger's "interest" to White and within weeks, it was rumored that Berger would be leaving the SEC to join Debevoise & Plimpton as a partner. Berger submitted his resignation to the SEC on May 15, 2006 and on June 1, 2006 became a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, where he continues to work. White denies asking the SEC to close any investigation.
Vindication by the Senate
Aguirre wrote an 18-page letter to members of the U.S. Senate who were chairmen of various related committees and subcommittees, detailing his allegations about Pequot. Senators Charles E. Grassley and Richard C. Shelby, both RepublicansRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, asked SEC officials for a confidential briefing on the matter. Aguirre accused the SEC of failing to pursue Mack because of his political connections as a major fundraiser for George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. By 2006, both the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee were investigating the matter, culminating in what Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine called a "scathing" report. In testimony, Aguirre told the committee there needed to be better regulation of hedge funds to protect the public. He said, “There is growing evidence that today’s unregulated hedge funds have advanced and refined the practice of manipulating and cheating other market participants. The potential harm hedge funds can inflict on other market participants has no real limits." He warned that fixing the SEC so it would protect investors and capital market
Capital market
A capital market is a market for securities , where business enterprises and governments can raise long-term funds. It is defined as a market in which money is provided for periods longer than a year, as the raising of short-term funds takes place on other markets...
s would not be easy because powerful Wall Street investment banks liked things things as they are He said the SEC and the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
had failed to adequately prosecute abuses by hedge funds. and he compared the situation to that which preceded the stock market crash of 1929.
In the Senate's oversight role, it conducted an extensive investigation of whether or not Mack received unlawful preferential treatment from the SEC and whether or not Aguirre was unlawfully fired as a result of objecting to this treatment. The Senate reviewed 10,000 pages of documents and held more than 30 witness interviews. Additionally, there were three hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee in June, September and December 2006. The joint report was officially released August 3, 2007. The Senate found Aguirre to have been well regarded until he questioned the SEC's misconduct toward Mack, that Mack was treated preferentially and that Aguirre was illegally fired in retaliation.
Court vindication and settlement
Aguirre then sued the SEC under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) seeking documents related to his employment and discharge, as well as the SEC's investigation of Pequot and Mack. The SEC, claiming several exemptions under the law released redacted versions of the documents, thereby withholding information. They also failed to produce Aguirre's original personnel file. Aguirre alleged in his suit that the SEC had failed to conduct an adequate search for documents and he challenged the SEC's failure to produce his original personnel file, which contained records missing from the version given him. On April 28, 2008, the United States District Court for the District of ColumbiaUnited States District Court for the District of Columbia
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia is a federal district court. Appeals from the District are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a...
, citing the Senate report extensively, ruled in his favor, forcing the SEC to turn over documents to Aguirre. The Court wrote of "the importance of understanding the dispute between the parties, as well as plaintiff’s legal argument that the public interest in disclosure of the withheld records outweighs any privacy interest" under exemptions claimed by the SEC and relied heavily on the Senate report. It noted how the SEC resisted deposing Mack and didn't considering him a potential tipper
Insider trading
Insider trading is the trading of a corporation's stock or other securities by individuals with potential access to non-public information about the company...
until after a front-page article in The New York Times revealed the derailed investigation and then did not depose him until the statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
for civil and criminal penalties had run out.The district court wrote, "The evidentiary standard is easily met in this case. The Senate Report uncovered several potential improprieties by SEC staff. First, the Committees determined that SEC officials were “overly deferential” to John Mack because of his prominence. (S. Rep. 37.) When the SEC accords special treatment to prominent figures, it “undermines public confidence [in] the integrity of its investigations and exacerbates the problems associated with ‘regulatory capture.’” (Id.)(internal citations omitted). Second, the Committee found credible evidence suggesting that the SEC retaliated against plaintiff for his efforts to examine John Mack. SEC management conducted a suspicious “re-evaluation” of plaintiff, even though his regular evaluation had just been completed a month earlier, and according to the Senate Report, the re-evaluation “appears both improper and retaliatory,” and the negative comments were “unsupported.” (Id. 74.) The Committees concluded that plaintiff’s firing was “intricately connected” to his efforts to examine John Mack. (S. Rep. 78.)" Gary Aguirre v. Securities and Exchange Commission, Civil Action No. 06-1260 (ESH) p.35
In 2007, Senators Chuck Grassley
Chuck Grassley
Charles Ernest "Chuck" Grassley is the senior United States Senator from Iowa . A member of Republican Party, he previously served in the served in the United States House of Representatives and the Iowa state legislature...
and Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...
urged the SEC to reopen the case against Pequot, but it remained closed. Making extensive use of the documents released by the SEC to him, Aguirre uncovered incriminating evidence proving Pequot had engaged in insider trading of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
and he shared this evidence with the SEC in a 16-page letter to SEC chairman Christopher Cox, dated January 2, 2009. Within days, the SEC re-opened the investigation, but no charges were filed in the weeks or months following, though when it did finally file charges, they closely followed the evidence as stated in Aguirre's letter.
On April 1, 2009, Aguirre filed a second lawsuit against the SEC for unlawful disclosure of his records under the Privacy Act of 1974
Privacy Act of 1974
The Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, Public Law No. 93-579, establishes a Code of Fair Information Practice that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agencies...
, for violating the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
and for injunctive relief under the Privacy Act and FOIA. On December 2, 2009, in an interim decision on Aguirre's FOIA case, the Court again ruled in his favor. On May 26, 2010, Aguirre filed papers in this case, seeking an order directing the SEC to release additional Pequot records to him on the grounds that under the FOIA, the SEC had to turn the records over to him because it had filed no case against Pequot or anyone else. Early the next morning, on May 27, 2010, the SEC filed charges against Pequot, Samberg and Zilkha and announced a settlement with Pequot.
A month later, the SEC agreed to pay Aguirre $755,000, an amount equal to four years and ten months of lost salary and attorney's fees.The SEC nearly settled with Aguirre in May 2009, but just as both sides appeared on the verge of agreeing to the details and amount of the settlement, in an e-mail dated two hours after a Forbes article was published which quoted Aguirre criticizing the SEC, the SEC's deputy general counsel, Mark Cahn, wrote, "After careful consideration, we cannot agree to your proposed terms." (See "Whistle-Blower Claims New Retaliation By SEC". Forbes magazine, June 2, 2009.) The amount appears to be the largest settlement ever disclosed by the Merit Systems Protection Board. On reaching the settlement with the SEC for his wrongful termination, Aguirre said, "It’s a shame the team I worked with at the SEC did not get to complete the Pequot investigation. The filing of the case in 2005 or 2006, before the financial crisis, would have been the right message at the right moment for Wall Street elite: the SEC goes after big fish too."
Return to private practice
Aguirre now specializes in securities law, defending those victimized by investor fraud and those wishing to come forward to expose abuses. In 2008, he returned to San Diego with a reputation for winning cases.He continued to work on the Pequot insider trading investigation, collecting and piecing together evidence, gaining information through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. In April 2008, he obtained a court order forcing the SEC to give him key records of its then closed Pequot investigation and later that year, he uncovered the evidence necessary to prove an insider trading charge against Pequot, founder Arthur Samberg and his former employee, David Zilkha On January 2, 2009, Aguirre sent a 16-page letter with the evidence to Christopher Cox, then SEC chairman. In it, he argued that there was sufficient evidence to reopen the case and he recommended that the U.S. Department of Justice open an investigation of Pequot, Samberg and Zilkha for possible witness tampering
Witness tampering
Witness tampering is harming or otherwise threatening a witness, hoping to influence his or her testimony.-Witness tampering in the USA:In the United States, the crime of witness tampering in federal cases is defined by statute at , "Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant"...
, bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
, obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice
The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...
, and violation of RICO
RICO
-Music:*Rico , a 2000 album by Matt Bianco*"Rico" , a 1998 song the Matthew Good Band from the album Underdogs*Rico International, a manufacturer of reeds, mouthpieces, and woodwind accessories...
. Because the SEC continued to stonewall, on May 26, 2010, Aguirre sought an order directing the SEC to release additional Pequot records to him. He argued that because the SEC had failed to file charges against Pequot or anyone else, under the FOIA, the SEC must turn over the records. The following morning, on May 27, 2010, using allegations that closely follow Aguirre's January letter, the SEC filed charges against Pequot, Samberg and Zilkha.
Aguirre is helping Senator Grassley's staff examine 21,000 Federal Reserve (the Fed) transactions involving taxpayer funds distributed to banks and other financial institutions. The Fed was forced to reveal the information by Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by Bloomberg News and Fox News
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
, as well as provisions contained in Wall Street reform
Wall Street reform
Wall Street Reform or Financial Reform was signed by President of the United States Barack Obama on July 22, 2010. Since the economic crisis of 2007-09 , there was an ongoing debate taking place regarding the insufficient oversight and regulation of the US financial system, non-regulated...
legislation. Despite pronouncements by the Fed about its transparency, the information released has been incomplete. The lack of details make it impossible to tell just how much profit the recipients of the funds are making and only the recipients' names and amount of funds are known. Aguirre says that between $3 and $4 trillion in cash transfers were made and another $9 to $11 trillion in commitments that taxpayer funds would cover the cost of failed investments. “It looks like they are borrowing the money from the Fed, say, at 70 cents on the dollar and selling it back to the Fed for 90 cents. We can’t tell for certain because the Fed won’t tell us. The Fed publishes information but not enough for you to figure out what the hell happened,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre represents Darcy Flynn, an SEC lawyer who also became a whistleblower after Robert Khuzami
Robert Khuzami
Robert S. Khuzami is currently the director of the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is a former United States federal prosecutor and general counsel of Deutsche Bank AG....
asked his staff in an e-mail on May 18, 2011 to report any questionable behavior on the part of lawyers representing clients. Though Khuzami had meant lawyers outside the SEC, Flynn reported activity that had taken place within the SEC. Early in Flynn's 13-year career at the SEC, he worked on a case where investigators thought they had clear evidence of fraud against Deutsche Bank. In an interview with Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
, CEO Rolf Breuer had denied the bank was involved in talks to acquire Bankers Trust
Bankers Trust
Bankers Trust was an historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1998.-History:A consortium of banks created Bankers Trust to perform trust company services for their clients....
, causing Bankers Trust stock to drop, which could lower the cost of a merger. SEC investigators began looking into the matter, collecting sworn testimony and documents that proved Breuer had lied. Deutsche Bank hired former SEC enforcement director Gary Lynch
Gary Lynch
Gary G. Lynch is an American attorney and the former chief legal officer for the New York investment bank Morgan Stanley. He was formerly Vice Chairman of the Firm, resident in its London Office....
to persuade the SEC not to pursue the case, which had to be approved by superiors before proceeding. Approval to go forward with the case was approved by every level and lacked only the signature of Richard H. Walker
Richard H. Walker
Richard H. Walker is an American lawyer. He is general counsel of corporate and investment banking at Deutsche Bank and former director of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission , Division of Enforcement, where he worked for ten years...
, then serving as SEC enforcement director. Rather than approve the case, on July 10, 2001 he recused himself. On July 23, 2001, a letter was sent to Deutsche Bank informing them, ""Inquiry in the above-captioned matter has been terminated." The SEC dropped the fraud investigation without the customary explanation of its decision to close the case. On October 1, 2001, Walker was hired as general counsel by Deutsche Bank. In 2004, he hired Khuzami to work at the bank and a few years later, recommended him to become SEC enforcement director. Flynn was interviewed by staff from three congressional committees in summer 2011 on the Deutsche Bank case and the destruction of files from thousands of preliminary investigation cases conducted by the SEC. Senator Grassley
Chuck Grassley
Charles Ernest "Chuck" Grassley is the senior United States Senator from Iowa . A member of Republican Party, he previously served in the served in the United States House of Representatives and the Iowa state legislature...
has written a letter to the SEC about the document destruction and SEC inspector general H. David Koch is investigating.
Predicted the 2008 financial collapse
In 2006, while testifying before Senator Arlen SpecterArlen Specter
Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...
and the Senate Judiciary Committee about Mack, Pequot Capital and the SEC lack of oversight, he warned that SEC enforcement was dangerously lax. He said that the SEC had recovered a mere $110,000 from hedge fund insider trading over one year when the Committee itself had found evidence that over a one-year period, more than 41% of all mergers and acquisitions of over a billion dollars involved insider trading. Aguirre warned that lack of effective oversight of rampant corruption was allowing Wall Street the same unregulated market abuse
Market abuse
Market abuse may arise in circumstances where financial investors have been unreasonably disadvantaged, directly or indirectly, by others who:* have used information which is not publicly available...
and leveraging that caused the Wall Street crash of 1929
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
. In 2008, he delivered a similar message at the Sibos
Sibos (conference)
Sibos, the SWIFT International Banking Operations Seminar is an annual banking and financial conference held by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication in various cities around the world. It has been held in Amsterdam, Sydney, Copenhagen, Boston, Berlin, Helsinki and other...
conference in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Just prior to the collapse of Bear Stearns
Bear Stearns
The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. based in New York City, was a global investment bank and securities trading and brokerage, until its sale to JPMorgan Chase in 2008 during the global financial crisis and recession...
, he wrote a letter to the Senate Banking Committee that the nation's banks, and particularly Bear Stearns, were at risk because of subprime debt exposure and credit default swap
Credit default swap
A credit default swap is similar to a traditional insurance policy, in as much as it obliges the seller of the CDS to compensate the buyer in the event of loan default...
s. In September 2008, during the debate on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), Aguirre's projections on the costs of the taxpayer bailout were cited on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Continuing critic
Aguirre is frequently quoted and interviewed in the media regarding issues related to financial and securities law and whistleblowers. Aguirre says the SEC has completely lost sight of its mission and that the mentality and culture won't change until the agency is no longer "run by attorneys who are on sabbatical" from Wall Street.On July 22, 2010, President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
signed Wall Street reform legislation, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which included a provision to exempt the SEC from FOIA requests by the public. Aguirre used FOIA requests to obtain records relating to why his SEC superiors had stymied his Pequot investigation, charges which prompted two U.S. Senate committees to investigate. The documents, released against the wishes of the SEC, led to the discovery of evidence that resulted in a large settlement. Aguirre was the first to speak out about the exemptions and a letter by Congressman Darrell Issa
Darrell Issa
Darrell Edward Issa is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 48th, serving since 2001. He is a member of the Republican Party. He was formerly a CEO of Directed Electronics, the Vista, California-based manufacturer of automobile security and convenience products...
to Mary Schapiro
Mary Schapiro
Mary L. Schapiro is the 29th chairperson of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission .She is the immediate past chairperson and CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority , the securities industry self-regulatory organization for broker-dealers and exchanges in the United States, and...
, chairman of the SEC relied heavily on his article, "The Dodd-Frank Act: A FOIA Exemption for SEC Misconduct?" from Wall Street Lawyer. Congressional testimony by the Project on Government Oversight
Project on Government Oversight
The Project On Government Oversight , founded in 1981, is an independent non-profit organization in the United States which investigates and seeks to expose corruption and other misconduct. POGO assists whistleblowers and investigates federal agencies, Congress, and government contractors...
at a hearing on legislative proposals to address the problem referred to Aguirre's case as an example of the crucial need for public oversight of government agencies. Aguirre said the new bill would block public access to the SEC's records and hamper oversight. Other critics called the bill a "backroom deal" between the SEC and the U.S. Congress to cover up SEC failures.
The following week, first the Senate and then the House unanimously
Unanimity
Unanimity is agreement by all people in a given situation. When unanimous, everybody is of the same mind and acting together as one. Though unlike uniformity, it does not constitute absolute agreement. Many groups consider unanimous decisions a sign of agreement, solidarity, and unity...
passed bills to repeal
Repeal
A repeal is the amendment, removal or reversal of a law. This is generally done when a law is no longer effective, or it is shown that a law is having far more negative consequences than were originally envisioned....
the exemptions. Obama signed the bill repealing the exemption on October 5, 2010.
Aguirre describes the SEC as an agency created to protect the public from Wall Street, but now protects Wall Street from the public, and calls it a revolving door
Revolving door (politics)
The revolving door is the movement of personnel between roles as legislators and regulators and the industries affected by the legislation and regulation and on within lobbying companies. In some cases the roles are performed in sequence but in certain circumstances may be performed at the same time...
, where people move from SEC positions to highly lucrative positions on Wall Street and also in reverse. "All the agencies have to some extent or another a revolving door [where government employees move to the private sector and earn more money]. But at the SEC, what you rotate into is an enormous salary leap. SEC managers may make $200,000. That same person may make $2 million as a starting salary on the outside and can move up from there. Now, when he leaves, I'm not sure he's worth $2 million as a lawyer, but he takes his Rolodex
Rolodex
A Rolodex is a rotating file device used to store business contact information currently manufactured by Newell Rubbermaid. The Rolodex holds specially shaped index cards; the user writes the contact information for one person or company on each card...
with him and that Rolodex is gold. The system maintains itself, because those that stay know their turn will come if they play the game. They see a director or associate director move onto a $2 million job with a Wall Street law firm. Then, the departed employee calls back to his former colleagues and says, 'you know I really don't think there is much of a case against so-and-so, I'd like for you to take a look at it.' And the case goes away; the system goes on in perpetuity." Two of Aguirre's supervisors left the SEC for lucrative positions at private law firms. Paul Berger works at Debevoise and Plimpton. After failing to investigate the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation...
, Linda Chatman Thomsen
Linda Chatman Thomsen
Linda Chatman Thomsen was the Director of the Division of Enforcement for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2005 until early 2009. Since arriving at the SEC in 1995, she has worked under four SEC Chairmen: Arthur Levitt, Harvey Pitt, William H. Donaldson, and Christopher Cox. ...
left her position as SEC Enforcement Director to become a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is an international law firm. The firm employs more than 800 attorneys worldwide and is headquartered in New York City. The firm represents many of the world's largest companies and leading financial institutions, and is best known for its corporate and litigation...
, where according to the Wall Street Journal, she would be part of its "white-collar defense group". Robert Khuzami
Robert Khuzami
Robert S. Khuzami is currently the director of the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is a former United States federal prosecutor and general counsel of Deutsche Bank AG....
, who succeeded her, worked as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan's Southern District of New York, then went to Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
for several years before returning being named SEC Enforcement Director.Other former SEC Directors of Enforcement who moved to the private sector are Richard H. Walker
Richard H. Walker
Richard H. Walker is an American lawyer. He is general counsel of corporate and investment banking at Deutsche Bank and former director of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission , Division of Enforcement, where he worked for ten years...
who went to Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
in 2001 and Gary Lynch
Gary Lynch
Gary G. Lynch is an American attorney and the former chief legal officer for the New York investment bank Morgan Stanley. He was formerly Vice Chairman of the Firm, resident in its London Office....
, who went to Davis Polk directly from the SEC in 1996. (See New York Times articles: "Deutsche Bank Hires Former S.E.C. Official" October 2, 2001 and Reed Abelson, "Gary Lynch, Defender of Companies, Has His Critics" September 3, 1996.) Lynch is now with Morgan Stanley, where he was hired by John Mack, who described him as "a lawyer with a businessperson's mentality." (See "Mack Hires Ex-Colleague as Morgan Stanley's Legal Officer" by Landon Thomas, Jr. in The New York Times, July 19, 2005.)
The SEC's handling of the investigation of Pequot's $18 million profit on Heller Financial, contrasts sharply with their aggressive pursuit of a low-level GE employee and a kung fu instructor who made a much smaller trade on Heller, earning a profit of just over $150,000.Pequot was forced to forfeit
Asset forfeiture
Asset forfeiture is confiscation, by the State, of assets which are either the alleged proceeds of crime or the alleged instrumentalities of crime, and more recently, alleged terrorism. Instrumentalities of crime are property that was allegedly used to facilitate crime, for example cars...
its $18 million gain, pay $10 million in penalties and Samberg was barred from working as an investment advisor
Investment Advisor
The term Investment Advisor is an individual or firm who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications or writings, as to the value of securities or as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling securities...
. He did not face criminal charges and the statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
on the trade ran out in 2006. The former GE employee and kung fu instructor were tried in court and sentenced to prison, 15 months and 8 months respectively. They also had to return their $157,259 gain, which they had split between them. In addition, before he was fired by the SEC, Aguirre had been investigating more than a dozen instances of insider trading by Pequot. (See SEC Litigation Release No. 18086 at the SEC website, April 14, 2003.) According to Aguirre, decisions to pursue small cases and ignore the much larger ones involving the financial elite are less the exception, than the rule and explain why Bernie Madoff was ignored for so long.
Education
Aguirre received a Bachelor of ScienceBachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 1962, and a law degree from Boalt Hall in 1966, where he was the recipient of a Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
grant.
During a trip to Russia in 1987, Aguirre met some filmmakers at the Moscow Film Festival and discovered an interest in film. Having reached his professional and financial goals, Aguirre left his law practice in 1995. He returned to college, earning a Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
degree in film from UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
.
While living in Spain in 2000, he became transfixed by the Bush v. Gore
Bush v. Gore
Bush v. Gore, , is the landmark United States Supreme Court decision on December 12, 2000, that effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush. Only eight days earlier, the United States Supreme Court had unanimously decided the closely related case of Bush v...
case and began thinking about the letter he had received from Robert F. Kennedy, which he had kept because it inspired him. Re-reading the letter, he was again inspired, reminded that lawyers can have a role beyond construction-defect cases.
At the age of 61, Aguirre went back to law school at Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
to study international
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
and securities law. Aguirre received a Master of Laws
Master of Laws
The Master of Laws is an advanced academic degree, pursued by those holding a professional law degree, and is commonly abbreviated LL.M. from its Latin name, Legum Magister. The University of Oxford names its taught masters of laws B.C.L...
degree with distinction (honors) in 2003 and in January 2004, his LL.M thesis won second place in the Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni Annual Securities Law Writing Competition and was published in the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law
Delaware Journal of Corporate Law
The Delaware Journal of Corporate Law is Widener University School of Law's original law review. The journal was established in 1976 and publishes three issues per annual volume. In addition to scholarly articles, the journal publishes opinions from the Delaware Court of Chancery that are not...
. Four of his professors were on the SEC staff, including one, Mark Kreitman, who later became his supervisor at the SEC. Kreitman described Aguirre as "the best student he had ever had". After graduation, he wanted to enter public service and an advisor suggested he apply for a fraud investigator's job that had come available at the SEC.
Personal
Aguirre's son is the musician, Gary JulesGary Jules
Gary Jules is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his cover of Tears for Fears' third single "Mad World", which he recorded together with friend Michael Andrews for the film Donnie Darko. It became the UK Christmas Number One single of 2003...
; his younger brother, Michael
Mike Aguirre
Michael Jules Aguirre was the City Attorney for the City of San Diego, California from 2004 to 2008. As city attorney, Aguirre issued 35 investigative reports detailing waste, fraud, and abuse in San Diego City government, particularly in the San Diego City Pension.- Biography :Aguirre was born...
, was the San Diego city attorney
City attorney
A city attorney can be an elected or appointed position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the city or municipality....
from 2004 to 2008.
Selected publications
- "The Enron Decision: Closing the Fraud-Free Zone on Errant Gatekeepers?" (PDF) Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, Vol. 28, No. 2 (2003)
- "Section 10(b) Has Hatched a New Theory of Securities Fraud, But Will It Fly?" (PDF) Consumer Attorneys of CaliforniaConsumer Attorneys of CaliforniaConsumer Attorneys of California is an organization with more than 3,000 lawyers that represents plaintiffs in tort actions. It charges plaintiffs only if they win their cases, meaning they use a contingency-based fee system. According to Consumer Attorneys of California, those it sues generally...
Forum (January/February 2004) - "The Dodd-Frank Act: A FOIA Exemption for SEC Misconduct?" (PDF) Wall Street Lawyer, Vol. 14, Issue 9 (September 2010)
- "SEC’s Madoff Miss Fits Pattern Set With Pequot" Bloomberg News (February 4, 2009). Retrieved February 18, 2011
See also
- List of whistleblowers
- Regulatory captureRegulatory captureIn economics, regulatory capture occurs when a state regulatory agency created to act in the public interest instead advances the commercial or special interests that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating. Regulatory capture is a form of government failure, as it can act as...
- Mark PittmanMark PittmanJames Mark Pittman was a financial journalist covering corporate finance and derivative markets. He was awarded several prestigious journalism awards, the Gerald Loeb Award, the George Polk Award, a New York Press Club award, the Hillman Prize and several New York Associated Press awards.-...
– predicted the 2008 collapse of the banking system and filed an FOIA lawsuit against the Federal Reserve - Inside JobInside Job (film)Inside Job is a 2010 documentary film about the late-2000s financial crisis directed by Charles H. Ferguson. The film is described by Ferguson as being about "the systemic corruption of the United States by the financial services industry and the consequences of that systemic corruption." In five...
– Academy Award-winning documentary about "the systemic corruptionSystemic corruptionSystemic corruption is corruption which is primarily due to a weaknesses of an organisation or process.It can be contrasted with individual officials or agents who act corruptly within the system....
of the United States by the financial services industry... and the consequences of that systemic corruption" - Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan FacilityTerm Asset-Backed Securities Loan FacilityThe Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility is a program created by the U.S. Federal Reserve to spur consumer credit lending. The program was announced on November 25, 2008 and was to support the issuance of asset-backed securities collateralized by student loans, auto loans, credit card...
– Federal Reserve program
External links
- The Aguirre Law Firm Official website. Retrieved February 21, 2011
- Aguirre's 16-page "smoking gun" letter to SEC chairman Cox, January 2, 2009 (PDF) Government Accountability Project. Retrieved February 21, 2011
- Aguirre on what constitutes insider trading Bloomberg Television News segment (December 16, 2010). Retrieved February 26, 2011
- Reporter Matt Taibbi talking about Gary Aguirre Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
Video and transcript. (February 22, 2011). Discussion about Aguirre and John Mack begins about 4:58. Retrieved March 4, 2011 - "Wall Street Impunity", interview with Gary Aguirre Radio Netherlands Worldwide. The State We're InThe State We're In (radio)The State We're In is a Dutch-American radio program, produced by Radio Netherlands in conjunction with WAMU-FM in Washington, DC. Hosted by Jonathan Groubert, the program airs documentary features and reports on "human rights, human wrongs and how we treat each other".The program also airs on CBC...
(March 12, 2011). Retrieved March 16, 2011