September 17,2007

Sen. Grassley reacts to GAO report on the SEC enforcement division

Senator Chuck Grassley said today that a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reinforces the need for recommendations he made to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August 2007, following an extensive investigation of the allegations of a fired SEC Enforcement Division attorney.

Senator Grassley requested the review by the independent GAO in September 2006, due to the vital roles played by the SEC’s Enforcement Division and Office of Compliance, Inspection and Examination in bringing civil enforcement actions and administrative proceedings against individuals and companies who violate securities laws and regulations.

In a report to be released today, the GAO report (posted with this statement in the Grassley press releases at http://finance.senate.gov) found that two-thirds of the SEC’s cases had been open for more than two years, one-third had been open for more than five years, and 13 percent had been open for more than 10 years. Many of these cases “had not resulted in an enforcement action and were no longer being actively pursued,” according to the GAO. The GAO also found that the SEC’s system for tracking cases was “severely limited and virtually unusable.”

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