Madoff Scandal: SEC Official Raised Concerns In 2004

washingtonpost.com:

An investigator at the Securities and Exchange Commission warned superiors as far back as 2004 about irregularities at Bernard L. Madoff's financial management firm, but she was told to focus on an unrelated matter, according to agency documents and sources familiar with the investigation.

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Read the whole story: washingtonpost.com

Comments

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

Let's see.... "Walker later married Madoff's niece"..... and he told this female attorney to "focus on other things"..... and he's not in jail right now because??

[brownstoness]

hat tip to: http://iamned.blogspot.com 4 the good articles

[MikeRdg]

They need to find out why they did not investigate. Were they told to stop one.

[Name Not In Use]

Prolly being told not to investigate why they did not investigate.

[hellboundtrain]

Where was the SEC while all of the frauds went down?

Willingly hidden deep in the perps back pocket. That is the position that they knowingly occupied.

Now why?

[mommyatty]

This American Life did a piece a few weeks ago on the sub-prime mess and how Moody's and the other ratings agencies failed to act. There was a woman who worked for a ratings agency who shared that she went to her superiors several times protesting the ratings system (or lack thereof) for the sub-prime mortgages-­morphed-in­to-whateve­r and was told to try to cultivate a social life outside of work. I find it interesting that this story also involved a woman. Hate to stereotype that this might have been Old Boy Network At Nonwork but I can remember grilling workers' compensation whores, sorry, I mean doctors, in depositions and having the opposing male attorney telephone my boss even before I got back to the office with one of those "what's her problem" conversations. I

[chayefsky]

Sometimes I wonder if gender may play a role in the willingness of certain employees to come forward and speak the truth.

[MikeRdg]

it may, in an article it said more women come forward, but there sure does seem to be many crooked women too,

[jhoughton1]

I can't wait to see how the Swanson connection works out -- that is, if someone pursues it. It smells bad enough, there's got to be something there.

[HekmabaJuzimax]

That's "DOES NOT YET KNOW OF" for all you fans of Mark Sanford

[HekmabaJuzimax]

I'll bet Bernie's trademark smirk reflects his knowledge of money the government does yet know about. The Feds should really watch Ruth and sons very closely for the next few months.

[Goliadkin]

More like "forever."

[fourbrrl]

EXACTLY right...the politicians would have to give up THEIR money they recieced from him...so NO MONEY WILL BW FOUND !!!

[MadCroation]

Another Bush cover up.

[puzzle49]

Will there be no end to all the screw ups incurred by the Bush administration?

[marley22]

From what Markopolos testified before Congress, there is a tremendous amount of ineptitude at the SEC and they're heavy on lawyers, but light on technically competent investigators (which this woman appears to be).

[TFlint]

This is not ineptitude. This was a cover-up. Send these guys to prison.

[marley22]

I agree. I hope something major comes out of this. On it's face it looks good, but are the foxes guarding the henhouse?

[chayefsky]

Is anyone surprised by this? I believe the Bush Administration worked hand-in-glove with the SEC and other regulatory agencies to weaken the oversight of all corporations at the expense of the American people.

[DASChicago]

Nope!... AND, you are Absolutely Right...Ha­nd-in-Glov­e !

[ppace60657]

Now, now. If we present these facts, that it all happened on Bush's watch, like 9/11, we'll be yelled at by Republicans for playing the "blame game." Has a president ever done so much damage to the country as Bush did? How could anyone ever vote for a Republican again?

[Oldbuck]

This is typical of the Bush Administration they were to busy trying to cover mistakes in the war to let little things like the biggest ponzi scheme in history going on under their noses. I agree it was not the free market that caused this but the crooks in it. The lack of regulation can be laid a the feet of all of our troubles.

[Forester]

What? Don't you trust in the invisible hand of Adam Smith? You must be a socialist or something!

[Forester]

"Walker-Lightfoot's supervisor on the case was Eric Swanson, an assistant director of the department. Swanson later married Madoff's niece."

Well, there's your problem right there.

[jtjsrch]

Mr & Mrs Swanson should also be indicted.

[sloreader]

The U.S. Attorney should be all over Madoff's family. I do not believe this is an isolated example.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

and yet look how long it has taken for this to come to the top. the corruption is everywhere.... and now they're just trying to cover their a$$ any way they could.

[zekleslikpaw]

Very good, so SEC is guilty which means you and me are going to repay those 65 billions. Somehow I have a feeling this was the whole purpose of this scandal.

[totaldisbelief]

yes they are guilty; and the impoverished investors should be able to sue the SEC for not doing their job (exercising their fiduciary responsibility)

[jtjsrch]

WRONG! I worked in the stock market in the 60s & 70s (In operations) and let me tell you NOBODY ever made 10-15% year after year after year! Simply not possible! TOTAL GREED by those investing......so I do NOT feel sorry for any individual who was "Taken to the cleaners" by this con. I do feel sorry for the recipients of the trusts and foundations, but then the "Trustees" of those institutions should be sued for completely ignoring their fiduciary responsibi­lity......­.REMEMBER THAT WORD? FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBI­LITY!!!!!!­! Totally lacking in the good 'ol USofA today!

[TFlint]

The SEC was doing its job. Protecting Madoff.