|
|
Welcome to my new blog
Brenda Grantland 12-25-2010
(c) 2011, Brenda Grantland, Esq.
Copyright notice: This article may be linked to,
emailed, printed, and disseminated to others so long as it is done free
of
charge, without changes to the text, and with this copyright
notice included. However, this article may not be
republished for sale, either by itself or as part of a compilation of
other material, without written permission from the author.
The opinions stated in this blog are the opinions of the author, and do
not necessarily reflect the views of any other associate of, or
client represented by, the Law Office of Brenda Grantland.
If you would like to comment on or ask questions about any of the following blogs, send your polite, intelligent email to us at discussion@brendagrantland.com.
If you feel the need to flame, defame, or quote Bible verses attacking
the authors or persons mentioned in the blog, write ignoRANTS@brendagrantland.com.
It might sound a little presumptuous calling my new blog "Truth &
Justice" - but that's what I'm calling it. You see, I'm a
frustrated optimist. After all of the human misery and corruption
I've encountered in my 25+ year career as a lawyer, I have come to the
conclusion that the American justice system is broken. But not
hopelessly broken. I still believe the system could work (not
perfectly, but passably well) if more people cared enough (or dared
enough) to speak out.
What broke the system, I believe, was not a decline in moral values of
the American people as a whole, but the ruthless and bold corruption of
a few, and the ignorance, gullibility and apathy of the rest. The
corrupt are always among us. Those whose driving passion is to better
their positions of power, wealth, or fame at the expense of others, by
hook or by crook, without concern for the damage they inflict on the
public or its institutions - naturally will worm their way into
positions of power. We elect them, promote them to positions of
authority within corporations, etc. because they use their charm and
zeal to convince us that they have the gumption and ideas to be
leaders, and the charisma and acting skills to make us want to trust
them when they tell us the things we want to hear.
When the inner heart of a person is corrupt, no matter how savvy his
acting skills and charm, as he moves up the ladder of fortune and
power, his unethical nature will become known to the people who work
closely around him. No corrupt politician or Ponzi scheme artist could
ever make it into the position of power and stay there long enough to
amass great wealth or a political empire without leaving telltale signs
visible to those who worked with him along the way. When the
people around him who discover his corrupt nature do
nothing to expose his misdeeds, they aid and abet the corrupt-hearted
man in
achieving more wealth and power, at each point increasing the amount of
damage he can wreak on the public. Often, on the way up, other
corrupt-hearted men will join together into networks, political
parties, and criminal conspiracies, and make mutual pacts to assist
each other in moving up by concealing the mutual frauds.
So, what got me thinking about Truth and Justice is that both seem to
be sorely lacking these days. Or maybe that's just what I'm
seeing in my law practice. Since the spring of 2009 I've been
working on a big case in Minnesota. My client, Ritchie Capital
Management and several investment funds Ritchie manages, lost a
collective $165 million (not counting interest) in the Thomas Petters
Ponzi scheme case. For over a year and a half I have been trying
to apply the law in a system that is essentially broken. The courts are
not following the law. The Crime Victims' Rights Act and the
Mandatory Victim Restitution Act contain explicit provisions designed
to protect crime victims from the very thing that happened in the
courts of Minnesota. Despite the mandatory requirements of these
statutes, the courts just simply refused to follow them. You'll
hear more about that in later blogs.
Bernard Madoff and Thomas Petters would never have succeeded in
building Ponzi schemes of such magnitude without the tolerance and
cooperation of numerous silent co-conspirators who learned of the
corrupt hearts of the two men in the deeds they did over the years, and
who saw the corrupt scheme being built - but said nothing, did nothing,
or, worse, who joined in and formed corrupt allegiances for their
mutual benefit and for protection against the consequences of their
corruption.
The court system that defies statutes designed to protect crime
victims, that appoints Receivers and Trustees with blatant conflicts
and allows them to drain away assets that essentially belong to the
victims -- are not so very different from the Ponzi schemers. To the
extent they built a system that does not strictly follow the law, they
were aided and abetted by numerous others who worked in the system or
along-side the system (i.e. the local press), and who saw the
unlawfulness first hand, yet said nothing.
I'm not saying this problem is limited to Minnesota. Similar fiefdoms
of unfairness and injustice can be found all over the country.
But just because others are doing it doesn't make it right - or more
tolerable.
The system won't get more fair or just until people dare to tell the
truth about such things. I'm going to try to expose the
corrupt-hearted things when I see them, in the hope that others will
speak up sooner, before the potential damage grows to such
proportions.
I'll tell you what I believe to be the truth, and what evidence I rely
on to support my belief. You don't have to believe me - you can
investigate for yourself. That's why I chose poison oak as the
background for my blog's logo. If I were to tell you that the
beautiful red-leaved plant you're standing next to is poison oak, you
could ignore my warnings and touch it any way. I just thought I
should warn you.
Brenda
|
|
|
|
|