Fifty money managers ranging from Warren Buffett to Carl Icahn have used exemptions from the SEC to avoid disclosing large investments in companies this year, affecting 154 quarterly filings, the WSJ reports. While the SEC usually requires that managers owning more than $100m disclose acquired stakes in quarterly filings, this can be waived if the disclosure would cause “substantial harm” to their competitiveness. Other investors argue that the SEC is not doing enough to explain why it gives the exemptions. Warren Buffett’s recent disclosure of a $10.7bn stake in IBM has reignited debate over the practice. Read more

The SEC’s internal watchdog has opened an inquiry into whether the agency knew about the destruction of documents related to probes of financial firms, despite telling the government otherwise, reports the WSJ. The agency’s Inspector General has already been looking at the disposal of so-called “matters under inquiry” documents, which were part of preliminary investigations into securities law violations which never became full cases. The move follows a whistle-blower’s claims in a Rolling Stone story that thousands of documents were improperly destroyed. Senator Chuck Grassley asked the SEC to explain its record-keeping policies earlier this month. Read more