Ferdinand Pecora

Pecora Commission Issues Final Report on Wall Street Corruption

1934-06-16 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

The Senate Banking and Currency Committee issued its 400-page final report documenting the systematic corruption, fraud, and market manipulation that caused the 1929 Wall Street crash and subsequent Great Depression. The investigation, which began on March 4, 1932 with Senate Resolution 84 and …

Ferdinand Pecora U.S. Senate Committee on Banking and Currency Senator Duncan Fletcher financial-regulation corporate-accountability congressional-oversight institutional-integrity

Securities Exchange Act Creates SEC, Regulates Secondary Markets

1934-06-06 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 into law on June 6, 1934, establishing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and comprehensive federal regulation of secondary securities trading (stocks, bonds, and debentures). FDR’s compromise approach attempts …

Franklin D. Roosevelt Joseph P. Kennedy Ferdinand Pecora Richard Whitney New York Stock Exchange +3 more financial-regulation new-deal sec-creation securities-law regulatory-victory +1 more

J.P. Morgan Jr. Testifies, Preferred List and Tax Evasion Exposed

1933-05-24 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

J.P. Morgan Jr., head of the most powerful banking house in America, testified before the Pecora Commission in hearings that riveted the nation. The New York Times headline on May 24, 1933 blared: “Morgan Paid No Income Tax for 1931 or 1932.” Morgan admitted under oath that he and his …

J.P. Morgan Jr. J.P. Morgan and Company Ferdinand Pecora U.S. Senate Committee on Banking and Currency Calvin Coolidge +1 more financial-regulation insider-trading corporate-accountability tax-evasion political-corruption

Pecora Commission Exposes Albert Wiggin's Short Selling of Chase Bank Stock

1933-05-23 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

The Pecora Commission revealed that Albert Wiggin, chairman of Chase National Bank, had secretly profited from his bank’s collapse during the 1929 crash. Beginning in September 1929, even as Wiggin publicly committed Chase’s funds to investment pools intended to stabilize the falling …

Albert H. Wiggin Chase National Bank Ferdinand Pecora U.S. Senate Committee on Banking and Currency financial-regulation insider-trading corporate-accountability tax-evasion banking-fraud

Charles Mitchell Testifies Before Pecora Commission, Resigns in Disgrace

1933-02-21 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

Charles E. Mitchell, chairman of National City Bank (predecessor to Citigroup), began testimony before the Senate Banking Committee’s Pecora investigation after receiving a subpoena on January 24, 1933. Under Ferdinand Pecora’s meticulous questioning, Mitchell confessed that his 1929 …

Charles E. Mitchell National City Bank National City Company Ferdinand Pecora U.S. Senate Committee on Banking and Currency financial-regulation corporate-accountability tax-evasion banking-fraud congressional-oversight

Ferdinand Pecora Appointed Chief Counsel to Senate Banking Investigation

1933-01-15 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

Republican Senator Peter Norbeck appointed Ferdinand Pecora, a former New York deputy district attorney, as the fourth chief counsel to the Senate Banking and Currency Committee’s investigation into the Wall Street crash. Pecora, son of Italian immigrants who grew up in Hell’s Kitchen, …

Ferdinand Pecora Senator Peter Norbeck Senator Duncan Fletcher U.S. Senate Committee on Banking and Currency financial-regulation corporate-accountability congressional-oversight institutional-integrity