On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported on an SEC Inspector General report that states that ex-Venable partner, Mark Braswell, steered SEC enforcement away from investigating Allied Capital for overvaluing its holdings. AmLaw Daily reports that Braswell was at the time the SEC enforcement official overseeing the Allied case.
The IG wrote that Braswell instead focused on an investigation of David Einhorn and his fund, Greenlight Capital. Einhorn angered Allied in 2002, when he publicly stated he would take a short position in the company, according to AmLaw Daily.
Braswell left the SEC in 2004 to work as a partner at Venable. He became a lobbyist for Allied shortly thereafter, and reportedly had a female associate pose as Einhorn’s wife on the phone to obtain certain phone records. Venable and Einhorn claimed that Braswell did this in order to show that Einhorn was conspiring against Allied, according to AmLaw Daily. Braswell left Venable in 2005, and moved to Thelen.
The SEC began investigating Allied again in 2006 and reached a settlement agreement.
