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Niagra Falls Politics:Dinallo: An Experienced Regulator For Attorney General
February 16, 2010
As an asst. District Attorney in Manhattan, Eric Dinallo unearthed the 85 year old Martin Act, which has formed the basis of government prosecutions of fraud and abuse on Wall Street ever since. As head of the Attorney General’s Investor Protection Bureau, he led the lanmdmark prosecutions of Merrill Lynch employees who were cynically marketing worthless stocks to their clients which they were privately labeling as “Pieces of Sh_t.”
Yet, when you ask this announced candidate for NYS Attorney General about the proudest moment of his career, he cites the time he was able to return over $2 million to 50 upstate dairy farmers who had been hoodwinked by Wall Street con men and never expected to see their money again.
“It was a great moment because I knew that this was a lot of money to those dairy farmers and I knew they were sure they’d never get it back,” he recalls. “It was one time when we were able to make the system work for average hard working New Yorkers. It should happen more often.”
In an attempt to make such moments happen a lot more often, former NYS Insurance Commissioner Erie Dinallo is running for the Democratic nomination for NYS Attorney General with the goal of giving the average guy or gal a seat at the table when financial justice is being dished out.
“While others will tell you what they will do as Attorney General, I can tell the citizens of New York what I’ve already done,” he declares. “I have the experience and the dedication to the public good to make the Office of Attorney General truly work in the best interests of all the citizens of New York, including Western New York.”
Born in New York City, Dinallo earned BA and MA degrees in public policy before attending law school at NYU. He began his career as the nemesis of Wall Street cheaters as an Asst. Manhattan DA under the legendary Robert Morganthau. It was there that he rescued hundreds of upstate dairy farmers from financial ruin while nailing marketers of what they called “POS” stocks at Merrill Lynch.
“When I interviewed for a job with then new Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office, I found out that they were looking for someone who had experience in securities fraud work, something the AG’s Office had not done much of up to that point,” he remembers. “I got the job and really was able to, for the first time, make that office a major player in the fight against misbehavior on Wall Street.”
These achievements, in turn, led to his appointment as Insurance Commissioner, a post in which he hellped resolve World Trade Center ligitation in a way that brought over $2 billion to economic development projects in the area while also becoming a leader in Workers Comp reform.
“As I’ve said, while others will tell you what they’d do as AG, I can tell you what I’ve done,” Erie Dinallo concludes. “There will be no learning curve needed for me if I’m elected Attorney General. I will hit the ground running and be an effective defender of the rights of New Yorkers from the very first day.”
