3 ms·

Are SEC the good guys? I can't keep up.

by verisimi 2y ago

bboygravity 2y ago
No, they're not. Should have been quite clear when Madoff ran a 20 billion USD ponzi for multiple decades and he got caught because his own sons turned him in at the FBI. The SEC was not involved in Madoff at all (other than to make it worse my "auditing" Madoff multiple times and publishing that "all is fine nothing to see here"). The SEC is a government marketing agency to keep up the veil of US markets being fair and functional.
- Hnrobert42 2y ago
  They can be incompetent without being bad. It is a mistake to assume nefarious intent.
  - WrongAssumption 2y ago
    You don’t have to be nefarious to be bad. Being incompetent definitely makes an federal agency with powers of enforcement bad.
  - tbrownaw 2y ago
    "Bad" can also apply to results or execution (performance, in/competence), not just intent.
trompetenaccoun 2y ago
Gensler met with FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and had a secret zoom call with him as the press later found out. FTX always advertised how they were "regulated". Yet despite not even having proper book-keeping¹, they were never investigated by the SEC, which has been focused on hassling legitimate businesses such as Coinbase - a public company with proper compliance and actual audits. ¹ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/11/new-ftx-chief-slams-complete-failure-of-corporate-controls-at-crypto-exchange https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/11/new-ftx-chief-sl...
- llamaimperative 2y ago
  FTX was receiving inquiries from SEC in early 2022, before its collapse: https://prospect.org/power/congressmembers-tried-to-stop-secs-inquiry-into-ftx/ https://prospect.org/power/congressmembers-tried-to-stop-sec... Also “doing audits” and “having compliance” and “being public” doesn’t insulate a company from scrutiny.
llamaimperative 2y ago
The real world is messier than Disney’s “good guys bad guys” dichotomy.

3 ms·

Are SEC the good guys? I can't keep up.

by verisimi 2y ago

Are SEC the good guys? I can't keep up.

bboygravity 2y ago
No, they're not. Should have been quite clear when Madoff ran a 20 billion USD ponzi for multiple decades and he got caught because his own sons turned him in at the FBI. The SEC was not involved in Madoff at all (other than to make it worse my "auditing" Madoff multiple times and publishing that "all is fine nothing to see here"). The SEC is a government marketing agency to keep up the veil of US markets being fair and functional.
- Hnrobert42 2y ago
  They can be incompetent without being bad. It is a mistake to assume nefarious intent.
  - WrongAssumption 2y ago
    You don’t have to be nefarious to be bad. Being incompetent definitely makes an federal agency with powers of enforcement bad.
  - tbrownaw 2y ago
    "Bad" can also apply to results or execution (performance, in/competence), not just intent.
trompetenaccoun 2y ago
Gensler met with FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and had a secret zoom call with him as the press later found out. FTX always advertised how they were "regulated". Yet despite not even having proper book-keeping¹, they were never investigated by the SEC, which has been focused on hassling legitimate businesses such as Coinbase - a public company with proper compliance and actual audits. ¹ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/11/new-ftx-chief-slams-complete-failure-of-corporate-controls-at-crypto-exchange https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/11/new-ftx-chief-sl...
- llamaimperative 2y ago
  FTX was receiving inquiries from SEC in early 2022, before its collapse: https://prospect.org/power/congressmembers-tried-to-stop-secs-inquiry-into-ftx/ https://prospect.org/power/congressmembers-tried-to-stop-sec... Also “doing audits” and “having compliance” and “being public” doesn’t insulate a company from scrutiny.
llamaimperative 2y ago
The real world is messier than Disney’s “good guys bad guys” dichotomy.