Watchdog Digs Into Conduct At SEC.

A Securities and Exchange Commission official attempted "to intimidate and influence" a family member's broker on multiple occasions by invoking her position, potentially violating agency rules, according to the agency's inspector general.

The allegation, detailed in a report reviewed by The Washington Post, is one of several that have raised questions about the internal conduct of some SEC employees at a time when the regulator is trying to counter accusations that it failed to effectively police Wall Street.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/16/AR2009051602359.html?hpid=topnews

Isn't that supposed to be the SEC's function? Who will watch the watchers?

'an independent agency of the United States government which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets. The SEC was created by section 4 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (now codified as 15 U.S.C. § 78d and commonly referred to as the 1934 Act). In addition to the 1934 Act that created it, the SEC enforces the Securities Act of 1933, the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and other statutes. . .

The SEC was established by the United States Congress in 1934 as an independent, non-partisan, quasi-judicial regulatory agency during the Great Depression that followed the Crash of 1929. The main reason for the creation of the SEC was to regulate the stock market and prevent corporate abuses relating to the offering and sale of securities and corporate reporting. The SEC was given the power to license and regulate stock exchanges, the companies whose securities traded on them, and the brokers and dealers who conducted the trading.

Currently, the SEC is responsible for administering seven major laws that govern the securities industry.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Securities_and_Exchange_Commission

her mother's broker and informs the broker's superior of her ire in an attempt to get the broker fired - is a violation of the rules at the SEC.

But who let things get to be this way? There is no point in having fake "watchdogs", unless you want to cheat.

but am surprised to hear about these recent dumb things. If I were speaking to my husband, I might be able to learn something.