The 7-1 decision in favour of Wall Street firms, and denying the class-action suit by disgruntled investors, is not the vindication it appears of the stock-pumping of the last tech boom. "We must interpret the securities laws as implicitly precluding the application of the antitrust laws to the conduct alleged in this case," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in the majority ruling." Translation: the Securities and Exchange Commission has quite sufficient power to punish Wall Street, and unhappy investors can't appeal to other regulators, in this case the anti-trust authorities, to get the answer they want.</img>


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