Crony Capitalism: Did Warren Buffet Get a 'Heads Up' That Rating Agency Moody's Had Been Served by the SEC with a 'Cease-and-Desist' Warning?

Legacy media has been so busy labeling conservatives 'racists' because they oppose Grecian-formula governance that they've missed, oh, a few hundred really important stories this year. Like that which Tyler Durden just unearthed: Moody's Investors Service (MIS) received a 'Wells Notice' on March 18, 2010, which means the SEC is commencing 'cease-and-desist' proceedings against the rating agency.

Well at least it took Moody's under two months to report this massively material development, which while we are not positive on how to read the C&D action on the NRSRO registration, could mark the beginning of the end for the rating agency. If the firm is enjoined from providing additional rating research should the SEC action find fault and proceed with a lawsuit, it would mean game over for the business.

Durden goes on to speculate that he wouldn't be surprised to find out that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway -- a major investor in Moody's -- had begun cashing chips in ahead of the public finding out this disturbing news.

Well, in March, starting on the very date of the notification, it would appear that Berkshire and other insiders began selling.

After 3/18 and for the next two weeks, Berkshire dispensed with over $30 million in Moody's stock. Moody's CEO and Chairman Raymond W. McDaniel also sold off $2.9 million on March 18th.

In fact, since the summer of 2009, Berkshire has dispensed with around half a billion dollars worth of Moody's, whittling its total shares from 40 million to 30 million. So I've got a whole bunch o' questions:

• Did Buffett, a noted Obama supporter, get a nod from the SEC regarding what was going down?

• What motivated McDaniel to sell a good chunk of his shares the very day that the SEC served its intent to C&D?

• Why didn't Moody's disclose this quite material news from the get-go?

• And is anyone, anywhere, going to investigate this foul-smelling skulduggery?

Inquiring minds want to know. But, please, no one tell the legacy media. Democrat crony capitalists could be exposed to the daylight, and we know that our beloved "pro journalists" oppose that sort of thing. Because it's racist.