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Why the SEC Didn't Catch Madoff

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:30 pm
by wserra
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... n-at-work/

As a friend of mine put it, the reporter who wrote this piece obviously never heard of the SEC's secret porn-investigation division, SECSEE.

Re: Why the SEC Didn't Catch Madoff

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:05 pm
by Judge Roy Bean
CaptainKickback wrote:So if a company of ~3,000 can have its IT people do this, why can't the SEC or the federal government? Is it that they are lazy? Stupid? Both?
You might have overlooked the government contracting and procurement processes. :oops:

Re: Why the SEC Didn't Catch Madoff

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 12:30 am
by Brandybuck
Commenting on your title, the answer is simple. Perfect crime prevention does not exist. The assumption that the SEC can prevent all possible financial crime is wrong. It's like assuming the police can stop all murders. We don't have enough cops to police everyone's behavior 24 hours a day (and even if we could we would NOT want to). Ditto for the SEC. It simply does not have the manpower to pour over every financial document produced. Increasing its power every time a financial crime occurs is like giving the police more armaments every time a murder occurs: that eventually results in a police state.

The best defense remains an assumption of innocence and harsh punishment for those found guilty.

Re: Why the SEC Didn't Catch Madoff

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 12:43 am
by Demosthenes
It simply does not have the manpower to pour over every financial document produced.
vs.
The work computer of one regional supervisor for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed more than 1,800 attempts to look up pornography in a 17-day span: "It was kind of distraction per se," he later told investigators.

Re: Why the SEC Didn't Catch Madoff

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 3:33 am
by Brandybuck
The number of financial documents produced per microsecond dwarfs that 1800.

p.s. Of course, I am of the opinion that surfing the intertoobs for pr0n is a better use of my tax dollars than are the usual SEC functions.