The move comes hours after the chief executive of Morgan Stanley, John Mack, spoke by telephone with SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein about the day's sell-off in Morgan and Goldman shares, which plunged 27% and 18%, respectively.
Senator Jon Kyl, the Senate's number two Republican and a senior member of that chamber's Finance Committee found the conclusions of the Yerushalmi memo to be sufficiently alarming that in August he sought official reactions to its findings from Bob Kimmitt's boss, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, SEC Chairman Chris Cox, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
Notably, last month, a senior and highly respected member of the Senate Finance Committee, Arizona Republican Jon Kyl, wrote SEC Chairman Chris Cox, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking them to respond to Mr. Yerushalmi's analysis of Shariah-Compliant Finance.