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September 3, 2009

Report: Madoff Claimed to Be “On Short List” to Chair SEC
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The internal watchdog of the Securities and Exchange Commission has
issued a detailed look at how regulators repeatedly squandered
opportunities to uncover the massive $65 billion Ponzi scheme of the
jailed financier Bernie Madoff. On Wednesday, the SEC’s Inspector
General issued a report describing five separate investigations into
Madoff dating back to 1992. All of them went nowhere despite glaring
warning signs, including one instance where Madoff was caught making
false statements. Investigators chose to believe Madoff’s assurances
instead of following up. The report also reveals Madoff once claimed to
have even been in line to head the SEC. In 2005, Madoff boasted to
investigators he “was on the short list” to become the next SEC chair.
He also successfully predicted that the now disgraced former SEC chair
Christopher Cox would get the nod weeks before it was publicly
announced. Madoff pleaded guilty for the Ponzi scheme in March and began
serving a 150-year sentence in July.



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