Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today made the following comment on the report from the Securities and Exchange Commission inspector general on the agency's former general counsel's actions in the Bernard Madoff fraud case. Grassley, a long-time watchdog of making sure the agency does its job, earlier this year urged the agency to account for its actions in this matter.
"First, the SEC missed the Madoff scam. Then, the SEC was tone-deaf to Madoff victims. It let a top SEC employee who profited from a Madoff account craft the commission's position on how to treat Madoff victims. It's hard to see how the agency could have let such a major conflict of interest slide. The SEC needs to reform its ethics polices top to bottom. The consequences of a haphazard approach are clear. Public confidence in the agency's ability to do its job of protecting investors is undermined by slipshod work. The SEC needs to make sure nothing like this happens again."
