SEC Hit With Data Destruction Complaint 148
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."
Anyone surprised? (Score:3, Interesting)
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!
Those greedy Madoff investors will probably sue (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Mary Schapiro and Madoff (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:Justice (Score:2, Interesting)
Sorry, but violence is pretty much the only way to effect change. History has shown this over and over.
If a group of corrupt, evil people are running things, how else do you propose to get rid of them? They're not going to go on their own.
Just look at all the revolutions in the Arab world recently. Were they peaceful? No, not really, especially the one in Libya. Some of them got lucky, like in Egypt where the violence was minimal (though present) and the leaders stepped down before long, but others have been very violent because the leaders refuse to go. When that happens, what non-violent recourse do you suggest? Try to convince these sociopaths that they should do the "right thing"? Ask them nicely?
The reckless youths in the UK weren't conducting a revolution, they were just a bunch of criminals looting stores. Revolutionaries target the government and attempt to overthrow it or destabilize it somehow. Running around and setting historic businesses on fire doesn't do that.