Word: sec
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...SEC internal-investigation report released on Wednesday points a clear finger of blame at the agency, stating that SEC investigators missed multiple opportunities to discover Bernard Madoff's criminal activities...
...while the report hammers the SEC for repeated instances of incompetence, it stops well short of declaring the SEC liable. "The OIG [Office of Inspector General] investigation did not find evidence that any SEC personnel who worked on an SEC examination or investigation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC had any financial or other inappropriate connection with Bernard Madoff or the Madoff family that influenced the conduct of their examination or investigatory work," the report notes. (See a Madoff family photo album...
...perhaps the biggest nod to SEC culpability, the OIG report says the SEC's futile investigations of Madoff were ultimately used by Madoff as a means of reassuring clients that his operations were clean, and these "had the effect of encouraging additional individuals and entities to invest with...
...SEC had even consulted third parties, such as the Depository Trust Company (DTC, a special-purpose bank used by securities firms), to verify trades, the scandal would have been uncovered. For example, a January 2005 statement for a Madoff feeder-fund account indicated it held $2.5 billion of S&P 100 equities on Jan. 31, 2005. However, DTC records show Madoff held less than $18 million worth of S&P 100 equities in his DTC account...
...When Madoff's Ponzi scheme finally collapsed in 2008, an SEC Enforcement attorney testified that it took only 'a few days' and 'a phone call to DTC' to confirm that Madoff had not placed any trades with his investors' funds," the report said...