Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Top SEC Lawyer Inherited Madoff "Profits"

NyPo reports:
The top lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission and his two brothers inherited more than $1.5 million in phony profits from their mother's investment in Bernard Madoff's epic Ponzi scheme, according to a startling suit filed by bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard.

David Becker -- who was named SEC general counsel and senior policy director less than two months after Madoff's arrest in December 2008 -- was served with legal papers demanding return of the dirty money earlier this month, court records show.

"The . . . investigation has revealed that $1,544,494 of this amount was fictitious profit from the Ponzi scheme," the Manhattan Bankruptcy Court filing says.

The Beckers' mother, Dorothy, died in June 2004.

Picard's papers say $2.04 million was withdrawn from the estate's account in February 2005, and another $1,648 was taken out three months later.

The three brothers were sued as both executors and individuals.

Reached at his Bethesda, Md., home last night, David Becker said, "There's no allegations of wrongdoing on anyone's part other than by Madoff."...

Asked if he had told his bosses at the SEC -- which has been harshly criticized for failing to uncover Madoff's $65 billion scam -- he replied, "I don't discuss internal conversations with the SEC."

Becker served as SEC general counsel from 2000 to 2002 before returning in February 2009, with Chairwoman Mary Schapiro then praising his "wisdom and careful judgment."

In announcing the end of Becker's "two-year commitment" earlier this month, Schapiro said his "wise counsel" had "served the agency and the American people brilliantly."

1 comment:

  1. The only thing bigger than the SEC's porn budget is their greed and unbridled stupidity.

    ReplyDelete