Eliot Spitzer: forever known as the guy who gave into his carnal desires. It’s too bad because he was an early sounding board for many of the current financial problems that exist in the economy today.

He most notably pursued cases against companies involved in computer chip price fixing, investment bank stock price inflation, and the 2003 mutual fund scandal. He also sued Richard Grasso, the then-chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, who he claimed had violated his position after receiving upwards of $140 million as a deferred compensation pay package.

I don’t agree with all of his politics, but the guy was a bulldog when it came to fighting white collar crime, and Wall Street has got to be jumping for joy that he’s stepping down.

- In 2002 he won a case for stock price manipulation that resulted in nearly every large investment bank paying a total of $1.4 billion in fines. Ten firms paid fines to settle the case: Bear Stearns, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Salomon Smith Barney, UBS Warburg.

- 2003 – More than $1 billion in fines paid for late trading and marketing timing from mutual funds.

- 2004 – Spitzer uncovers more than $50 million in royalties owed to musicians

It seems pumping $200 million into banks isn’t the only reason the Dow had its best day in five years.