While a government lawyer tasked with investigating financial crimes, Gary Aguirre learned a hard lesson: under Chairman Christopher Cox, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is only interested in regulating minor players. Aguirre: “In the investigation that I conducted, which is now the subject of a Senate report, there was suspicious trading activity involving a hedge fund involving an $18 million profit. They also detected a $150,000 profit by a low-level employee of General Electric (GE) and a Taiwanese kung fu instructor. SEC passed on the hedge fund case where the trading indicated millions in profit and SEC focused on the GE employee and the kung fu instructor. The SEC and the US attorney rigorously prosecuted the low-level GE employee, but both passed on any investigation of the major hedge fund.”

 

SEC Whistleblower Speaks on Madoff Fraud (by Matt Renner, Truthout)