Are we really surprised?
Cox offered the beginnings of answers. He said the agency inappropriately discounted allegations, that staff did not relay concerns to the agency’s leadership and that examiners relied on documents volunteered by Madoff rather than seeking subpoenas to obtain critical information. And Cox said the agency’s inspector general would investigate whether personal relationships between Madoff’s family and SEC staff played a role in the failed oversight.
"Our initial findings have been deeply troubling," Cox said. "I am gravely concerned by the apparent failures over at least a decade to thoroughly investigate these allegations or at any point to seek formal authority to pursue them."
3 Comments
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About The Seminal
Advanced search
Thanks Ari. Cox has his shills out there saying it wasn’t his fault.
He was the chairman, he wants to cash his paychecks, but somehow this wasn’t his fault.
From the WSJ article I linked to in my diary, it looks to me as though Cox/Bush are trying to dump as much as they can on some niece of Madoff’s and and SEC employee she married named Swanson.
Looks pretty thin and they’re using the Bush FBI and Mike Nifong approach to prosecution, leak it to reporters and try him in the news.
I agree. Tue, the Madoff affair began as early as Bush I but Cox was so rabidly anti-regulatory that nothing was going to be done on his watch. It would be interesting to know when the majority of funds flowed into Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. If I had to guess, it coincided with the bubble markets of 2004-2006 and probably even later.
But, hey, they are going to investigate the barn now that all the animals, tractors, equipment and hay are gone.
You can almost imagine SEC officials checking with Madoff daily: is it all gone yet? Okay let us know when it is and we’ll start paying attention.
And the corruption just keeps on oozing out everywhere…