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SEC Hit With Data Destruction Complaint
DMandPenfold writes "The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US financial regulator, has been accused of destroying thousands of data files on high profile inquiries including an early-stage investigation into convicted Ponzi scheme fraudster Bernard Madoff. The allegations, raised by former SEC employee Darcy Flynn, have prompted the US Senate Judiciary Committee to write to SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro to demand an immediate explanation. The SEC exists to set a tough example on corporate governance, and it fines banks heavily for both lax practice and deliberate malpractice. Questions over any involvement it may have in sensitive document destruction are not likely to sit comfortably with some in the industry. The SEC insists it has kept records in accordance with the law on its computer system."
The agency that is supposed to keep the banks from committing the kinds of fraud they have been blatantly committing in the last 10 years or so has been wiping data. Ooops!
... That is what has happened to every other whistle blower under this administration. And the worse the corruption exposed, the worse the sentence. If the SEC is guilty of total fraud sheltering billions of dollars in Wall Street theft, then expect the DOJ to go for the death sentence for Darcy Flynn.
All those greedy bastards who invested with Madoff and were pissed that all they would get back was their *actual* investment have been whining for months about not getting their fictional 10%-a-year interest back too. Now they'll probably use stuff like this to sue the SEC and recoup their fictional gains out of all of *our* pockets. Just great.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I'm confident that an SEC investigation of this issue will set the record straight.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Those interested in the particulars might also want to check out a recent Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi. Basically, the SEC feels that until an actual case is opened, it is not required to store files for "matters under investigation". Definitely worth a read.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/is-the-sec-covering-up-wall-street-crimes-20110817
The SEC doesn't enforce anything at the big banks, because those companies are where ex-SEC lawyers go if they want a big paycheck later. You don't prosecute your future employer. They only go after little fish just so they can appear as if they are doing their job. Small hedge fund who did something wrong? Expect the SEC to kick your ass if you cross them. Firm like Goldman? The SEC management will stop any attempt to investigate them, because the top people have their eye on retiring from there to a cushy Goldman job.
There's a good chat with Matt Taibii, author of the fun Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?, discussing how SEC Document Shredding Covers Up Wall Street Crimes. This has been going on for a long time now, and the shredding is central to why the Bernie Madoff scheme wasn't caught earlier too.
S&P called it because a political party in the US was prepaired to default on our debt.
If violating our Constitution had not been presented as a "valid" option by the Tea Party, the S&P rating never would have changed.
As soon as the Tea Party forced the issue and started pissing on the very document they claim to love and defend, the only way to prevent the down grade was to create a meaningful adjustment of spending and revenue. And again, thanks to the Tea Party, the outcome of that came up short.
And it isn't a "Risky investment". It's AA rated. It puts us on par with utility companies and other extremely stable business sectors. The point of AAA ratings is that they are for entities that are legally require to pay out on debts. The US is still constitutionally required to pay out on debts, so by the standard we should still be AAA. But far right ideologs like Bachman and Perry keep spewing crap that makes the world think that we could actually default dispite our constitution.
Some of the blaim is Obama's with out a doubt, he's been playing the gentle leader roll ever since the GOP coined the "Ramming it down our throats" talking point in the year long insurance reform debate.
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
One of the questions raised when Obama appointed Mary Schapiro to run the SEC was the fact that she was the party responsible for minimizing oversight, actively ignoring whistleblowers, in the Madoff case. While the media was disinterested in her appointment to head the SEC it raised some eyebrows in the financial community given that she was largely responsible for the non-investigation of Madoff in her previous roles.
It is not unreasonable to suggest that the current SEC has significant self-interest in destroying the paper trail in the Madoff case. From outward appearances it reflects gross incompetence on the current head of the SEC in the best case and many would raise the specter of malfeasance.
Wrong. The lions share of our debt comes from the deficit caused by the Bush tax cuts and the unbudgeted spending for the Iraq war. I saw a chart from a couple months ago that attributed about 10% of our $14 trillion debt to Obama.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Obama [... has] run up more debt in less than 3 years that GW Bush did in his whole 8 years...
There's no need for lies here. We've incurred $2.4 trillion in debt under Obama and a staggering $6.1 trillion under GW.
Don't believe me? You can check for yourself, but I don't take you to be a facts-based kinda guy.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..