The report by the SEC’s inspector general says SEC examiners concluded four times between 1997 and 2004 that Mr. Stanford’s businesses were fraudulent, but each time decided not to go further. It singles out the former head of the SEC’s enforcement office in Fort Worth, Texas, accusing him of repeatedly quashing Stanford probes and then trying to represent Mr. Stanford as a lawyer in private practice.
The SEC was asleep about Madoff too. But saying that may be too charitable. Twice is not coincidence. It’s deliberate, seems to me.
If this happened in another country, we’d just assume the regulatory agency was a joke and corrupt, right?