Whistleblowers: SEC Ignored Us

Agency routinely grants waivers for harshest punishments

(NEWSER) - Financial giants accused of swindling investors have been successfully dodging the SEC's harshest penalties by arguing that the law shouldn't apply to them. Firms including Citigroup, Bank of America, and AIG have recently sought and received waivers from regulations requiring lawbreakers to close their mutual fund businesses. Waivers have been granted to repeat regulation offenders and even firms that lied on their waiver application forms, a McClatchy investigation finds. More»

(NEWSER) - The SEC's inspector general says the agency had plenty of chances to take down Bernie Madoff and whiffed on every one, Bloomberg reports. In a report released today, H. David Kotz writes that the SEC received "detailed and substantive complaints over the years to warrant a thorough and comprehensive examination” of Madoff. And yet it never performed a "competent investigation or examination." More»

Embarrassed committee gets aggressive with enforcement

(NEWSER) - Haunted by the failure to catch Bernie Madoff, the Securities and Exchange Commission is dramatically stepping up its investigation workload, reports the LA Times. Since February, the SEC has frozen the assets of 27 fraud suspects, compared to seven in the same period last year. “The clear message from the commission is we should be acting quickly where investor funds may be at risk from an ongoing fraud,” says the LA office head. More»

'New York Times' analysis finds 350 instances of banks getting free passes

(NEWSER) - The Securities and Exchange Commission has repeatedly allowed Wall Street's biggest banks to avoid penalties specifically intended to punish and deter fraud, a New York Times analysis of SEC records reveals. Over the past decade, the SEC has on almost 350 occasions granted waivers exempting big financial companies from sanctions, allowing banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to continue to enjoy advantages, like protection from shareholder lawsuits, that are supposed to be reserved for the most dependable companies. More»

Eight employees got disciplined, however

(NEWSER) - SEC staffers managed to miss Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme for more than a decade despite numerous warnings, but that is apparently not a fireable offense. The agency disciplined eight employees involved in the case, with the most severe punishment being a 30-day suspension coupled with a demotion, reports the Washington Post . The others got a range of lesser penalties, including pay cuts and, in one case, only a "counseling memo." More»