Free Republic

The Reaganites who came to Washington in 1981 used to say that "personnel is policy." Flash forward to 2009 at the Securities and Exchange Commission, where Chairman Mary Schapiro handed senior roles to former union pension fund officials and last week rewarded such funds with more influence over corporate America. With another of her patented 3-2 party-line votes, Ms. Schapiro has given the big pension funds a power they have never had—the ability to force their preferred candidates for board directors on the proxy ballots that public companies must send to shareholders. Shareholders who have owned 3% of a company...

Congressman Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, is initiating an investigation into the timing of the Security and Exchange Commission's fraud suit against Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs. "The events of the past five days have fueled legitimate suspicion on the part of the American people that the Commission has attempted to assist the White House, the Democratic Party, and Congressional Democrats by timing this suit to coincide with the Senate's consideration of financial regulatory legislation," Issa says. Issa's staff tells CBS News that they currently have no hard evidence that the SEC violated federal law...

Is the author of this complaint any relation to Madoff. They appear to have the same last name.

Bernie Madoff's investment fund may never have executed a single trade, industry officials say, suggesting detailed statements mailed to investors each month may have been an elaborate mirage in a $50 billion fraud. An industry-run regulator for brokerage firms said on Thursday there was no record of Madoff's investment fund placing trades through his brokerage operation. That means Madoff either placed trades through other brokerage firms, a move industry officials consider unlikely, or he was not executing trades at all. "Our exams showed no evidence of trading on behalf of the investment advisor, no evidence of any customer statements being...

Everyone caught up in the scandal of accused Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff wants to know where the money is. Madoff, who authorities say confessed to losing $50 billion in "a giant Ponzi scheme," has given a list of his assets, liabilities and property to U.S. regulators. But the thousands duped, from the beach cities of Florida to yacht clubs of the Mediterranean to Hollywood and Manhattan, may never see it. And judging by the scandals involving Bayou Group hedge fund, WorldCom and Adelphia Communications, any money they may see down the road will likely be a fraction of what...