In one of her first actions as SEC chairman, Mary Schapiro announced today that she was getting rid of a policy that required SEC officials to get approval from the commissioners before negotiating corporate penalties. According to the Associated Press, “Schapiro said that practice ‘just sends the wrong message.’”

But Schapiro should perhaps focus a little less on message and a little more on an action’s consequences for investors the SEC is supposed to protect. Because unfortunately, this change will have…

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In the House Financial Services Committee hearing Monday on Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion alleged Ponzi scheme, some good points were raised by Congress members of both parties. One was particularly relevant:

Representative Stephen F. Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts, said short-sellers seemed to know about the Madoff fraud and the S.E.C. should have seen it coming. “The short-sellers knew it was coming and they invested in it — how did they know and the S.E.C didn’t,” Mr. Lynch asserted. “These short-sellers were able…

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When news broke of Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion worldwide Ponzi scheme, news accounts first protrayed him as a shadowy hedge fund manager outside the scope of regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. But as the sheer magnitude of the fraud became clearer, so did the picture of Madoff’s place in the Wall Street-Washington world.

Madoff’s businesses were actually subject to a variety of financial regulations, something Madoff would actually use as a selling point to investors. Last year in…

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Bernard Madoff defrauded investors out of an unprecedented $50 billion, in a massive Ponzi scheme that was perhaps the vilest swindle of the century.  But a judge has let him await trial in his cushy $7 million Park Avenue home, bought no doubt with the proceeds of fraud.  And that’s even though he failed to meet the conditions originally set for bail.  You can thank U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein for this outrage.

Here is a partial list of Madoff’s biggest victims, which included many charities for the needy. …

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