Here is the weekly summary for Securities Docket’s Web Watch (”This Week’s Best Blog Posts and Columns”):
- THE RACE TO THE BOTTOM (Dec. 24, 2008): Madoff and Stoneridge
A potential roadblock in the search for deep pocket defendants in the Madoff case will be Stoneridge. - SEC ACTIONS (Dec. 24, 2008): The Commission Gives Definition To Cooperation
In a departure from its typically cryptic description of “cooperation,” the SEC outlined actions taken by UnitedHealth Group which it considered to be “extraordinary.” - THECORPORATECOUNSEL.NET (Dec. 23, 2008): Chris Cox: An Unusual “Admission”
In seeming to throw the Staff under the bus – on his way out of the agency’s doors no less – Chairman Cox violates the “tone at the top” mantra as well as the one of “accountability.” - DEALBOOK (Dec. 22, 2008): Another View: Can the SEC Find Its Mojo?
The more difficult issue for Mary Schapiro is whether she can change the culture at the SEC that has made it almost afraid of its shadow. - Re: BALANCE (Dec. 21, 2008): Sheep on the Prowl — Madoff’s Victims Go After the Auditors
There’s an ominous if predictable new chapter this week in the saga of Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion escapade: the inclusion of the auditors as recovery targets. - TPMMuckraker (Dec. 19, 2008): Cox “Worked to Dismantle The SEC,” Says Commission Vet
In recent years, particularly under Cox, the SEC has pursued a policy of de-emphasizing enforcement, part of the broader anti-regulatory philosophy of the Bush years — helping to make Madoff, and perhaps others like him, possible.
