Kinda like suing a city, county or state because the police, sheriff or troopers did not protect you from a robber? If I lived in Detroit, who would I sue?
Not at all. SEC audits are brutal. I have worked in the industry for 36 years as an institutional equities trader. The SEC comes in unannounced an turns the office upside down.
The SEC has admitted they let the ball drop with Madoff. He has always been big in the industry. He had ties to the SEC ... they let him slide without going over his business with a fine toothed comb.
The never even checked out his auditors! It was a major SEC debacle.