Business & Finance: Retreat

In his chambers high in Manhattan's federal courthouse one morning last week, Judge Harold R. Medina paused for a minute before donning his robes and descending to a courtroom seven floors below. "Holy cats!" he said. "This is the damnedest case I've ever seen." The "damnedest case" is the Government's suit against 17 investment banking firms, charged with monopolizing the sale of $42.5 billion in security issues from 1935 to 1949 (TIME, Dec. n, 1950 et seq.).

Since the trial started under Judge Medina (and without a jury) 16 months ago, 1,200 exhibits...

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