Ex-governor, two other Hollinger audit panel members may face suit

The Chicago Tribune has a frontpage story on the SEC breaking new ground:

The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering suing former Illinois Gov. James Thompson and two other directors of Hollinger International Inc. for failing to notice that Chief Executive Conrad Black and other officials were looting the Chicago-based newspaper company.

Last month the SEC mailed notices to Thompson; former U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Burt; and Marie-Josee Kravis, the wife of New York financier Henry Kravis, a source with knowledge of the notification told the Tribune Wednesday.

All three were members of the company's audit committee, headed by Thompson, which was charged with overseeing Hollinger's financial activities.

Separately, the U.S. Attorney's Office plans to expand its criminal case against Black, perhaps as soon as Thursday, accusing him of racketeering, according to a source with direct knowledge of the case.

The SEC action against Thompson and the other board members involved delivering to them Wells notices that advise potential defendants that the SEC is considering filing a civil suit. They are offered a chance to respond and explain before the regulatory agency formally acts.

If the SEC does sue the Hollinger directors, the move may hold ramifications for corporate boards nationwide. That's because, while it's routine for stockholders to take a company's board to court for failing to rein in management's misdeeds, the SEC has normally not done so.

With Northern Illinois being such a corrupt part of the United States you've got to wonder what kind of U.S. Attorney Jim Thompson really was? How many states can claim that 2 former Governors and the current Governor are being investigated by a U.S.Attorney? That's Patrick Fitzgerald's day job.