Just in case recent headlines didn’t offer a clue, a new study revealed what most people already think: Unethical behavior and illegal business practices seems to be part of a Wall Street job description.
A survey of senior executives at financial firms in the U.S. and the U.K., released Monday, found that nearly a quarter of respondents, or 24%, said they consider engaging in unethical or illegal conduct as a necessary ingredient for success in the financial world.
Another 26% said they had either seen or had direct knowledge of wrongdoing.
Worse, 16% of execs admitted they would willingly step over the legal line and commit insider trading — if they knew they could get away with it.
Results of the study, commissioned by law firm Labaton Sucharow, were compiled by anonymously interviewing 500 financial professionals online.
“It’s hard to understand how someone could have this sort of world view, but what’s clear is that it is widespread,” Jordan Thomas, chairman of the whistleblower representation practice at Labaton Sucharow, told the Daily News.
Jesse Litvak was ecstatic. It was March 31, 2010, and the mortgage bond trader at Jefferies...
