Former SEC Chief Finds Consulting Firm Through Revolving Door →
Mary Schapiro, the former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is joining Promontory Financial Group LLC, a major private consulting firm stocked with former regulators, but she thinks she isn’t part of the revolving door.
Prospective SEC Chairman Dismisses Revolving Door Concerns →
Mary Jo White—President Obama’s nominee to serve as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—said at her confirmation hearing today that the investing public need not worry about her history of defending companies from the government.
But her explanation was less than reassuring. If potential conflicts of interest don’t disqualify this former corporate lawyer from doing the job of SEC chairman, her testimony showed, that’s largely because federal ethics rules are so permissive.
Why Congress Should Be Wary of Mary Jo White →
POGO’s financial investigator Michael Smallberg wants you to know a couple facts about Mary Jo White before her confirmation hearing tomorrow for head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The nomination may give the appearance that the president is hiring a tough cop to police Wall Street. But White doesn’t have an especially remarkable record of prosecuting Wall Street, and she has almost no record as a regulator, making it hard to predict what kind of rules she would craft for corporations in general or the financial industry in particular.
Moreover, she has spent the past decade as an attorney at the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, where she defended clients before the government in white-collar cases.
“At the firm, he represented the likes of Kenneth D. Lewis, former chief executive of Bank of America who faced regulatory investigations over the bank’s hasty takeover of Merrill Lynchduring the depths of the financial crisis.
Mr. Ceresney, who defended JPMorgan from federal inquiries into wrongful foreclosure practices, also worked side by side with clients under scrutiny for selling troubled mortgage securities at the height of the housing boom.
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From a New York Times article about the resume of the leading candidate to be the chief of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ceresney will be in charge of prosecuting banks and executives that he may have previously defended.
(Source: The New York Times)
“Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the SEC in 1934 and, to the surprise of many, appointed Joseph Kennedy—a reputed bootlegger and stock speculator—to be its first chairman. On that day, the revolving door began to spin. Asked why he would appoint someone many considered to be a crook to head the SEC as its first chairman, FDR is said to have replied: ‘It takes one to catch one.’ So began the debate about the revolving door.”
How Former Government Regulators Keep Banks Too Big To Fail
If you aren’t ready to dive into the 59 pages and 274 footnotes of our recent report on the revolving door at the Securities and Exchange Commission, you can watch the 2 minute version below from The Huffington Post.
Great cartoon from Matt Wuerker at POLITICO about POGO’s recent report on the revolving door at the SEC.
A study of thousands of government records shows a pervasive culture at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the government’s top financial regulatory agency, of former SEC employees leaving the agency to go work at major banks. Former SEC employees have helped major firms secure exceptions from federal law, fight allegations of wrongdoing, and soften the blow of enforcement actions.
“The revolving door between the SEC and the firms it oversees is so pervasive that it threatens the integrity of our regulatory system,” said Michael Smallberg, the author of POGO’s new report.
Check out the full report to see just how bad it has gotten.
