The discovery that 33 SEC workers—including 17 senior officials—were found to be habitual porn surfers was first revealed by the agency’s inspector general almost two years ago. And yet it is now making headlines produced by the Associated Press and ABC News and many others, at a time when the SEC is drawing attention for going after Goldman Sachs in a major civil case, and Republicans are resisting the Democrats’ push for regulatory reform of the financial industry.

 

ProPublica writes that “Republican lawmakers have taken the porn issue as an opportunity to further criticize the regulator.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Is the SEC Porn Story a New Problem, or Political Ploy? (by Marian Wang, ProPublica)

SEC Staffers Watched Porn as Economy Crashed (by Daniel Wagner, Associated Press)

Semiannual Report to Congress (SEC Office of the Inspector General) (pages 53-54) (pdf)