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Monday, April 19, 2010

SEC - Another Total Failure

Remember Allen Stanford, or as he was known in Antigua, Sir Allen Stanford, accused Ponzi schemer currently in Federal custody awaiting trial? Turns out the SEC looked into his affairs on 4 separate occasions and did nothing despite finding his activity "suspicious". They took no action despite the fact that the amount in question grew from a few hundred million to a few billion.

It's a similar story to Madoff although in that case the SEC never even bothered to investigate.

During the Bush years the SEC sat back and did as little as possible, allowing the 'free market' to run its course. That worked well.

In the Stanford affair the SEC held back because it didn't want to bother with what appeared to be too complex for their tiny little minds.

At the center of the story is Spencer Barasch, the chief of enforcement at the SEC's Fort Worth office, who declined to pursue Stanford multiple times, only to later jump ship to become a partner at a big private law firm where he proceeded to represent none other than 'Sir' Allen Stanford.

He should be in the dock nest to Sir Allen, dressed in a stylish orange jumpsuit.

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