Posted on 08/21/2011 6:39:26 AM PDT by Mikey_1962
A US senator said Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission may have destroyed thousands of documents related to probes into possible violations by major banks and hedge funds.
Senior Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said that "an agency whistle-blower" sent him a letter that described the SEC's allegedly unlawful destruction of records related to more than 9,000 informal investigations.
The documents included cases arising from the 2008-2009 financial crisis, including Goldman Sachs, AIG, and the Bernard Madoff pyramid fund, according to the whistle-blower, Grassley said.
The whistle-blower, 13-year SEC lawyer Darcy Flynn, said the destroyed records related to "matters under inquiry" or MUIs -- probes that precede the launch of formal investigations.
"From what I've seen, it looks as if the SEC might have sanctioned some level of case-related document destruction," Grassley said in a statement.
"It doesn't make sense that an agency responsible for investigations would want to get rid of potential evidence."
According to a letter from Grassley to SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro, Flynn said some of the destroyed documents related to Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers, and SAC Capital -- many of which played a major role in the 2008 crisis -- as well as Madoff, jailed for the biggest financial scam in US history.
The destruction of such documents "would appear to greatly handicap the SEC's ability to create patterns in complex cases and calls into question the SEC's ability to properly retain and catalog documents," Grassley said.
An article published online Wednesday by Rolling Stone magazine said Flynn had presented his evidence of document destruction dating as far back as 1993 to three congressional committees in recent months.
The magazine suggested that the document destruction helped cover up wrongdoing in the securities and banking industries.
surprise, surprise!
our congress is corrupt and the sec is corrupt.
SEC is a federal agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation’s stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States.
The fingers of corruption runs deep
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2766792/posts
THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS CORRUPT!
That’s great Mr. Grassley!
NOW WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE SOME ARREST SLIPS?
I’m really tiring of this senators tough talk and no action. He’s been asking tough questions of the BATFE about fast and furious and they now have stacks of evidence that federal laws were violated by the BATFE as well as obstruction of justice.
Arrest and prosecute these bastards or shut up and quit wasting our time and money.
Yes I know a senator can’t arrest and prosecute but he could make it happen if the intent of these investigations was to actually hold people accountable and not just put on a chest thumping show for the media.
Based on how the banks and rating agencies screwed up on mortgages, the SEC has the power to close the banks down on the grounds of being technically incompetent. During the Savings and Loans crisis of the 1980’s, the fed bank reg closed banks down first, then investigated the bank execs, staff and accountants for legal violations.
Unfortunately ever since the banking industry got many of the laws changed so many Savings and Loans prosecutions are not possible. That is what many state prosecutors discovered after the financial meltdown in 2008!!! However the SEC still has the power to close rating agencies such as Moody and many mortgage divisions in the major banks. They did not.
I said it then and I will say it now. These folks are going to get away with the biggest crime in history because our elected and appointed leaders are in on it.
Fact - Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick, and other elite leftists were hired to run Freddie and Fannie. Fact - They cooked the books in order to receive huge multi-million dollar bonuses. Fact - The statute of limitations will be up soon and they can never be charged. Fact - Freddie and Fannie make Enron look like chump change and instead of investors our children are responsible for the debts.
Why did’nt Acorn picket in front of Raines home to have the bonuses (over 100 million I believe) returned to the taxpayers? Rhetorical question of course...........
The whistle blower made a mistake by telling Congress.
SEC is the fox guarding the hen house.
Yep. When it's all over, heads need to be on pikes.
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