The US Securities and Exchange Commission has been roundly and rightly criticised for its failure to investigate Bernard Madoff’s fund-turned-Ponzi; a story in the Washington Times on Tuesday suggested the regulator’s staff may have spent more time keeping an eye on other, erm, assets.
From the Washington Times:
The work computer of one regional supervisor for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed more than 1,800 attempts to look up pornography in a 17-day span: “It was kind of distraction per se,” he later told investigators.
But he wasn’t alone. More than two dozen SEC employees and contractors over roughly the past two years have faced internal investigations after they were caught viewing pornography on their government computers, according to records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and other public documents.
The activities of porn-surfing SEC workers, a small fraction of the overall work force, have been serious enough to warrant a mention in each of the past four semiannual reports sent to Congress by the SEC’s office of inspector general.
Take that, Macquarie traders…
Related links:
Big Brother is [Not] Watching You – Cassandra Does Tokyo
SEC loses complaint against broker linked to Madoff – FT
Another blow for the SEC – FT Alphaville