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Criminal Investigation Targets SEC Attorneys for Insider Trading

Isn't it great, how our SEC is such an ardent watchdog of Wall Street's wrongdoing?

CBS News has learned that two attorneys at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are under "active" criminal investigation by the FBI for trading stocks based on inside information.

Accusations against the two lawyers - a man and a woman whose names have not been released - are detailed in a report by the SEC inspector general obtained exclusively by CBS News.

The report, based on a review and analysis of "more than two years of e-mail and brokerage records," puts increased pressure on a commission that has come under fire lately for failing to detect the $60 billion Bernard L. Madoff Ponzi scheme, and turning a blind eye to the Wall Street financial crisis.

"We ought to be outraged if there is one insider trading information that’s leading to personal profit," Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, told CBS News.

In response to the IG report, Grassley sent a letter to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro expressing that outrage and requesting detailed information about the stock holdings and trading practices of all SEC employees.

"It’s hard to imagine a more serious violation of the public trust than for the agency responsible for protecting investors to allow its employees to profit from non-public information about its enforcement activities," Grassley said in his letter to Schapiro.

According to the report, the male attorney under investigation by the FBI works in the Office of the SEC's Chief Counsel and "has access to a tremendous amount of nonpublic information."

The report alleges both the male attorney and female attorney - who works in the enforcement division - "traded in the stock of a large financial services company" despite being told by another SEC employee of ongoing "investigations of that company." The report calls this is a direct violation of SEC rules.



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22 comments

Aren't we? Where've you been?

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I still want to know who was inside trading just before 9/11.

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Shouldn't it be a simple matter of checking NYSE transaction records for 9/10?

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I wonder if these two are Bush appointees or if they're career SEC wonks? A genuine (although most probably rhetorical) question.

Oh, you're not the only one Embittered Angr..., the 9/11 short sales of airline stocks has always been a question I've been keen on having the answer to. Not holding my breath on ever finding out though.

n/t

i wonder if grassley's letter would have been as harshly worded were christopher cox still head of the sec -- and under whose 'leadership' the sec so profoundly failed.

Yup

Cynic that I am, my first thought on reading this story was that a Republican senator wanted to make a big noise to get out in front of the scandal and look good for the base.

of public trust?

Are you freakin kiddin me?

Although this is exactly what you would expect from self absorbant scum that oversee the crooks, I can imagine a whole lot more serious violations of public trust.

Just to mention;
a wrecked constitution
an illegal immoral war
war crimes
crimes against humanity
incompetence
war profiteering

feel free to add to a never ending list.

Thanks. you read my mind. And we don't have to imagine those serious violations of public trust...they've already happened!!! For all to see, if they choose.

The Securities Industry has REGULATIONS?!?!?!

Who'd a thunk it!!!

"We ought to be outraged if there is one insider trading information that’s leading to personal profit," Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, told CBS News.

in the past election cycle grassley:
--Voted NO on requiring negotiated Rx prices for Medicare part D. (Apr 2007)
--Voted YES on limiting medical liability lawsuits to $250,000. (May 2006)
--Voted NO on negotiating bulk purchases for Medicare prescription drug. (Mar 2005)

meanwhile the "Health Professionals" gifted him a mere $543,027 for the election cycle.

so, yeah, fuck, i am outrage at insider trading. both in the public and the private sphere. and i am tired of assholes, like you, profiting personally.

as far as these sec fucks go: lock 'em up

Grassley also voted yes on Gramm-Bliley-Leach which lets the dogs out on Wall Street. Thanks Chuck!

excellent point dosido!

The report, based on a review and analysis of "more than two years of e-mail and brokerage records," puts increased pressure on a commission that has come under fire lately for failing to detect the $60 billion Bernard L. Madoff Ponzi scheme for failing to bring charges against Madoff, and turning a blind eye to the Wall Street financial crisis.

The really egregious thing is that the Madoff affair WAS detected but no one did anything about it.

should be a mere taste, a sliver of what these folks, if found guilty, deserve.

turn a blind eye? really. now all they have to do now is be pedophiles and they could go to work for the Pope. i trust the Pope, but not his staff.

Big surprise that Bush's buddies on wall street broke the law. I'm Shocked!!

We aren't ever going to find that out...doncha know that's just a 'conspiracy theory'.

The millions (have read where it was about $5M) were never paid to anyone......

So you won't look over here at Geitner Paulson and Summers handing out bags of money again and again with Obama's blessing until....

The inflationary tidal wave hits.

hopeless.

This is the one that should stumble across the Madoff Insiders. The ones that kept their mouths and eyes shut.

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22 comments

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