SEC Upsets Some as It Tries to Sharpen Teeth

SEC Upsets Some as It Tries to Sharpen Teeth - 7/15/2009

Home

Index of Filings

News and Press Releases

Filings

Decisions

Settlements

Litigation Activity Indices

Top Ten List

Annual/Quarterly Updates

Clearinghouse Research

Articles & Papers

Search

Related Sites

About Us

Local Rules

Sponsors

Register

_______________
Copyright © 2001
Stanford Law School

2009 News and Press Releases

SEARCH

News	News 2009
HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

HEADLINE NEWS:

SEC Upsets Some as It Tries to Sharpen Teeth, Several Moves Draw In-House Criticism
Zachary A. Goldfarb

Washington Post . July 15, 2009
_________________________________________________________________________

EXCERPT: The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun moving far faster to stop financial scams and open investigations into potential wrongdoing than in the past, according to agency data, adopting an aggressive posture after it was sharply criticized about its oversight of Wall Street and failure to uncover Bernard Madoff's massive fraud. Since Mary Schapiro became chairman in January, for instance, the SEC has launched nearly as many formal investigations as it did in any of the past five years. At the same time, Schapiro and her enforcement director, Robert Khuzami, have undertaken a series of personnel changes that employees say are causing turmoil within the enforcement division and posing a distraction from its work investigating financial crime. Khuzami has two meetings scheduled today with employees to discuss these moves. The enforcement division -- the largest at the SEC -- is at center stage as the agency prepares to gain new responsibilities under the Obama administration's proposed reworking of financial regulations. In testimony before Congress yesterday, Schapiro said the agency was keenly aware of its obligations. "There is an invigorating sense of urgency among the staff of the agency to demonstrate that we are up to the job," she said. "Khuzami is reducing bureaucracy by streamlining management within the enforcement division, putting many more talented investigators directly to work on cases." Schapiro and Khuzami have pushed investigators to close old cases and focus more on those arising out of the financial crisis. Since January, the SEC has filed several notable cases. It sued former executives of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial for allegedly failing to disclose the risks of its business practices to investors, and the agency has sued Reserve Management for allegedly deceiving investors in the money market fund company.

Back to News page | Back to Archived News 2009 page | Back to Top

�