ABSTRACT
Eliot Spitzer became a national figure as a result of his prosecutions of Wall Street figures that paved his way to the New York governorship. Of course, Spitzer is not the only New York prosecutor that sought headlines from high-profile investigations for political gain. Numerous other state officials have tried to copy Spitzer’s publicity campaigns through enforcement actions, California, Utah, Massachusetts, and Connecticut being the worst. Spitzer’s loose cannon attack on American International Group led to a 94 percent drop in earnings at the firm, after it gave up charging fees that were one of its core revenue sources to please Spitzer. Federal prosecutors have long used high-profile prosecutions to gain headlines for political advancement. The Enron Task Force was forced to criminalize ordinary business conduct in order to prove that the Bush administration was tough on corporations that fail and cause job losses or merely experience a drop in stock price.
