A Corrupt Bargain?

A curious story out of one of the corners of the federal regulatory infrastructure. A retiring administrative judge at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission dropped a bombshell on his way out the door recently: He alleged that his fellow judge struck a deal two decades ago never to rule in favor of investors and for 20 years has kept his promise. And at least through December 2000, investors in front of him had in fact always lost. But the retiring judge making the claim has some credibility problems of his own, so it’s hard to make sense of exactly what has been going on. But a fascinating story worth following.