William Michael Cunningham files Amicus Brief in US vs. S&P (US District Court, Central District CA)

WASHINGTON - Dec. 16, 2013 - PRLog -- On December 9, 2013, William Michael Cunningham filed, and the Court accepted, a "Friend of the Court" brief in the United States District Court, Central District of California. The Court recognized Mr. Cunningham as an interested party in a case concerning an action that the U.S. Department of Justice, acting on behalf of the United States of America (Plaintiff), brought against McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., and Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC, et. al., (Defendants) under 12 U.S.C. § 1833a; 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343 & 1344.

As a friend of the Court, Mr. Cunningham provides independent, objective and unbiased views in support of broad public interests. His education and experience have uniquely positioned him to provide objective, independent opinions concerning the issues central to the case.

Mr. Cunningham's "Friend of the Court" brief references recent statements by Pope Francis. It notes that "ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation..reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules." (Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. 24 November 2013. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.html)

Mr. Cunningham calculates the total negative impact of the fraud at $16 billion dollars, computed using his Fully Adjusted Return® Methodology. This reflects the loss of invested funds and the monetary value of societal impacts.

The Brief calls for the creation of a special Financial Institution Court of Law. This Court would be responsible for both financial institution and financial institution regulator oversight. The Court would provide flexible oversight that ramps up when needed, becoming active when the number of cases against Wall Street firms exceeds some predetermined number, or when damage due to financial market fraud exceeds some dollar amount.

The Brief concludes by noting that "the Plaintiff's incompetence and the Defendant's greed helped cost the nation $19.2 trillion,[1] increased the speed with which China will overtake the U.S. in GDP terms,[2] and set the stage for the eventual replacement of the US dollar as global reserve currency.[3]"

[1] Financial Crisis Response in Charts. US Dept. of Treasury. April 13 2012. Online at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NGkgOZygnpQ19QLxYyj05LXg...

[2] Cunningham, William M. "The New Center of Power: China Overtakes the U.S. as the Globe's Biggest Energy Consumer." (2010). Creative Investment Research, Inc., 1 Aug. 2010.

[3] Cunningham, William M. US Economic and Market Forecast: 2014 to 2020. Fully Adjusted Return® Analysis. Washington, DC: Creative Investment Research, 2013. Print.