The Italian tax police was in the offices of ratings agency Fitch in Milan on Tuesday to carry out checks ordered by prosecutors investigating rival agencies Standard & Poor's and Moody's, a senior prosecutor told Reuters.
"Men from the financial police are at Fitch in Milan," said Carlo Maria Capristo, chief prosecutor in Trani.
The Trani prosecutors are investigating possible crimes of market manipulation and illicit use of privileged information when Standard & Poor's downgraded Italy earlier this month.
As part of the same probe, they are also investigating the impact reports by Standard & Poor's and Moody's on Italy and its banking system had on markets and whether any crimes were committed. - ReutersIt is apparent that the cause of leverage and the need for more of it have caused freedoms to be challenged. Freedom of option, no matter how late, accurate, right or wrong is no longer acceptable unless the desire for the credit addict is fixed. Ordinarily, an action like this would scare the pants off any self respecting business or citizen...it certainly would scare the markets. However, the markets are on a drug addicted hangover and are deleveraging so they are no longer effected by information such as this. It does not matter that this kind of conspiratorial effort to keep the truth suppressed by any means is coming to a place near you. Not only that, how can your business or work be safe when you can, at the whim of some bureaucrat, be a part of a trumped up prosecution and find your accounts seized, your business and/or home declared a crime scene and your employees, neighbors or vendors used under threat to provide evidence against you...
What's more the markets just don't care...
