The employees were disciplined for failing to “live up to” their responsibilities.  Ya think!?  According to the SEC, its mission “is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation,” while overseeing, among others, securities brokers/dealers and investment advisors.   The SEC is “concerned primarily with promoting the disclosure of important market-related information, maintaining fair dealing, and protecting against fraud.”  Madoff operated as a broker/dealer.

Considering that the SEC was provided a blueprint for Madoff’s scheme by Harry Markopolos as early as 2000 and received information about Madoff as early as 1992, the conclusion that the SEC employees dropped the ball is a bit of an understatement.  Markopolos provided a detailed analysis to the SEC on several occasions, yet the SEC never caught onto the fraud.

So what punishment did the SEC employees receive?  Relatively speaking, not much.  No one was fired, and the punishments ranged from pay reductions and suspensions to “counseling memos.”  This hardly seems appropriate when one considers the magnitude of the fraud and the fact that the SEC was repeatedly warned that Madoff was involved in a Ponzi scheme.  Query how those who lost millions of dollars feel about the “counseling memos” as a form of punishment.

In the end, those tasked with spotting and addressing fraud were asleep at the switch, while investors were victimized.  Not sure if the employees’ punishments fit the crime.

According to the lease terms, “for each football season, or part of football season, while this Agreement is suspended, the term of this Agreement … shall be extended by one football season.”  This clause, which was drafted nearly three decades ago, suddenly became relevant on December 12, 2010 when a massive snowstorm caused the roof of the Metrodome to rip and collapse.  This resulted in the Vikings moving two home games from the Metrodome, because their facility was unusable.  Since the Vikings could not play in the deflated Metrodome, the Agreement was apparently “suspended.”

Unfortunately for the Vikings, the owners of the Metrodome three decades ago knew how to draft a good lease for they had the foresight to expect the unexpected (and to contract for it) — even when the unexpected would occur decades later.  (Query, however, whether the owners ever contemplated that they had constructed such a shoddy dome that it would collapse in a snowstorm.  Rumor has it that it’s been known to snow in Minnesota in December.  Seems the ‘Domers knew how to contract, but not construct.)  Nevertheless, the owners of the Metrodome knew then what is still a good lesson today: Drafting contracts is tricky business.  It is imperative to account for circumstances and events that you may not know about for years to come.

Good contract drafting, which the Metrodome owner can proudly claim, can help reduce the risk of litigation years later.  Ambiguity and uncertainty in your business contracts hurt your company’s bottom line, particularly when they lead to lawsuits.  It is good business practice, therefore, to spend the time and money on the front end drafting clear and comprehensive contracts, rather than litigating years — or even decades later — about unanticipated circumstances.

When all is said and done, neither the Vikings nor the owners of the Metrodome likely anticipated that the dome would collapse in December 2010.  Nevertheless, the owners of the Metrodome contracted for the December 2010 collapse.  After all, it has been known to snow in Minnesota in December.

Worse still, this was the third time in eight years that FINRA (or its predecessor) has given SEC inspectors altered or misleading documents.  This also happened in 2004 and 2005.  Oy vey.  The full account is here.

Why should you care?  Because FINRA’s purpose is to protect investors.  FINRA was created by the securities industry to police investment firms and the people they employ – the investment brokers that you hire to invest your money.  FINRA creates and enforces rules that govern its members conduct.  FINRA is a self-regulating organization (i.e. it is a private organization and not a governmental agency) that polices its own members.  In fact, FINRA says its “mission is to protect America’s investors by making sure the securities industry operates fairly and honestly.”  If you invest in any securities (stocks, bonds, notes, etc), FINRA plays a significant, albeit largely unseen, role in your investment life.

As if learning that the people who are tasked with regulating the brokers who handle your investments haven’t always been on the up-and-up wasn’t bad enough, perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that the SEC – which is tasked with overseeing FINRA - has been on the receiving end of the mis-information.  One has to wonder why FINRA is providing the SEC with inaccurate information.  Perhaps FINRA, which is run by industry insiders, knows that the SEC is either ineffective or too busy watching porn to catch (or, better yet, prevent) these document-altering shenanigans.

In any event, the latest news coming from FINRA surely does not build (or help to restore) investor confidence in an industry beleaguered by the 2008 financial crash and the likes of the Madoffs of the world.

Talk about chutzpah, Libyan style!  While I am no international war crimes expert, it strikes me that NATO was legally justified to use military force to protect unarmed Libyan civilians from Kadafi, Gaddafi, Gadhafi, and/or Qaddafi.  This mission was United Nations-approved.  From news accounts, NATO did not capture or kill the dictator, and the airstrikes that may have led to his capture were not targeting the Libyan leader.  It appears that the family may be barking up the wrong legal tree.

In any event, perhaps the family has forgotten about all of the death and destruction that Uncle Moammar was responsible for over the last 40 years.  Funny how the family forgets the utter brutality their beloved Moammar unleashed on countless people and families.

I hope the Kadafi, Gaddafi, Gadhafi, and/or Qaddafi clan finds the justice they are seeking.  I know many people felt justice had been served once the Libyan rebels got ahold of the family’s beloved leader.

Putting aside the dysfunctional nature of Red Sox management and leaking blaming the team’s historic collapse on Terry Francona’s personal life and alleged addiction to pain meds, are there any valuable lessons to be learned from the team’s escapades?  You betcha.

For starters, as an employer, take the high road.  Attacking someone on the way out the door serves no purpose and may anger the remaining employees – not to mention the departing employee.  How much has the Red Sox organization gained by smearing Francona as he exited?  Nothing at all.  Any good will that remained at the end of their disastrous September faded with the Sox’s smear campaign of Tito.  Good will is a precious resource that ought to be treated and cultivated.

Another lesson, albeit less obvious, is to fully disclose to an employee all of the reasons why he (or she) is being terminated.  An employer may be inclined to offer only some of the reasons for the termination.  While it can be difficult to tell an employee that he is being fired, you may be doing your company a disservice by not telling him all of the reasons for his termination.   If the former employee later sues and the company includes additional reasons for termination during the lawsuit, these after-the-fact reasons may be perceived as revisionist history and lack credibility.   Although difficult, the better and (legally) safer approach is to inform the employee of all the reasons at the time of termination.

The final lesson from the Red Sox is that chicken, beer, and video games may make for happy employees, but it doesn’t necessarily make for successful major league pitchers.