WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2009
(AP) A Goldman Sachs executive has been named the first chief operating officer of the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division.
Goldman Exec Named COO of SEC Enforcement
29-Year-Old Adam Storch is First to Take Position, Created in Wake of Madoff Ponzi Scheme
The market watchdog agency said Friday that Adam Storch, a 29-year-old vice president in Goldman Sachs' Business Intelligence Group, according to Bloomberg.com, is assuming the new position of managing executive of the SEC division.
The move came as the SEC has been revamping its enforcement efforts following the agency's failure to uncover Bernard Madoff's massive fraud scheme for nearly two decades despite numerous red flags.
Storch, who will be responsible for project management and operations, will report to SEC Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami.
Along with the enforcement division's deputy director, Storch also will supervise the SEC's Office of Market Intelligence, with an eye to improving the monitoring, collection and analysis of the hundreds of thousands of tips and complaints the agency receives annually.
Before joining Goldman Sachs, Storch was a senior consultant at accounting firm Deloitte & Touche. He is a certified public accountant and certified fraud examiner, and has an MBA from New York University and bachelors of science in business administration from the State University of New York in Buffalo.
Storch has a strong background in technology systems and project management, Khuzami said in a statement. "He will help to make us more efficient and nimble, and permit us to put more of our investigators on the front lines to detect and stop fraud," Khuzami said.
Khuzami, a former federal prosecutor who came to the SEC in March from Wall Street investment firm Deutsche Bank, says he has undertaken the most extensive restructuring of the enforcement division in at least 30 years.
In addition, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro ended a policy requiring agency enforcement attorneys to get approval from the SEC commissioners before negotiating fines and penalties with companies accused of violations.
The SEC inspector general recently recommended a new system for handling tips and complaints to prevent another breakdown like the one that allowed Madoff's Ponzi scheme to flourish for 16 years.
The proposals from SEC Inspector General David Kotz for the enforcement and inspections operations also include making it easier for junior-level enforcement attorneys to bring their concerns to top managers.
In a report issued in August, Kotz detailed how the SEC bungled five investigations of Madoff's business between June 1992 and last December, when the financier confessed the scheme to his sons. He found that enforcement staff lacked adequate guidance on how to properly analyze complaints, and therefore failed to thoroughly review a complaint on Madoff brought to them in 2001 by private fraud investigator Harry Markopolos.
Madoff, who pleaded guilty in March, is serving a 150-year sentence in federal prison in North Carolina for what could be the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. It destroyed thousands of people's life savings, wrecked charities and gave the financial system another big jolt.
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- Wow! And our illustrious, democrat led congress/white house still have not bothered to eliminate side betting (speculation). In 1907 the stock market crashed due to side betting and it was outlawed. A Lame duck Clinton quietly signed the bill allowing it again. I guess the Dems will be buying another general election with all those huge campaign donations from the billionaire bankers again here soon. I wonder when the average citizen will wakeup and understand the banks, with Goldman Sachs in the lead, are making about $1 for ever gallon of gas that they buy.
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- The proverbial fox guarding the hen house.
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- Why do the government and Wall Street execs still believe that we trust them? I guess it is because we, the people, simply lie down and take it.
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- On the other hand, would you feel better if someone from an assembly line were put in charge?
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- "Goldman Exec Named COO of SEC Enforcement"
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This stuff will continue until there are nothing but dead chickens remaining. - Reply to this comment
- Like putting the rat in charge of the cheese.
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- oh my! what a surprise! lobbying in washington d.c. should be outlawed and a federal offense- they are keeping our lawmwkers from doing what the PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES elected them to do---and,strangely enough, am i the only person who read on the bbc news page last week: HSBC bank official said that they and all banks around the world should apologize to the world for causing the problem we are all mired in?????
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- As usual, our elected officials do not watch out for the little people, and most people will sit here like sheep and grab their ankles.
Hope you enjoy. - Reply to this comment
- This is like putting John Wayne Gacey in charge of transplant organs.
This is like putting Michael Vick in charge of animal treatment.
This is like putting THE WOLF in charge of the hen-house.
But then it's not really Obama's fault as the shadow government, the only real true mafia, called the Federal Reserve owned by the Rockerfellers and Rothchilds, now own or control almost everything connected with our money system and have bought or threatened all of our leaders into cooperation.
These folks bankrupted the U.S. economic system purposely to rob folks of their pensions and their homes, and then turn around and buy the defaulted properties for pennies on the dollar, raping us for bailouts along the way.
Because the Federal Reserve, (the Rockerfellers and Rothchilds) own JP Morgan, Chase, Goldman Sachs etc.
The heirachy of our real government is now:
The Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve Chairman.
The Secretary of Treasury.
The President.
The guy we voted for is not in charge. - Reply to this comment
- Goldman sachs and morgan stanley. The companies that hired those most desired former enron employees. The same speculators that drove gas to 4 dollars a gallon. I would think that hand cuffs would be more appropriate.
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- A 29 year old kid? The article fails to reveal that this kid is still playing with his Legos and dinosaurs. What is wrong with the government? Isn't the idiot Timothy "still wet behinds the ears and britches" Geithner proof that along with the "great minds" of Obama-land that kids can't be entrusted with anything in the major league. This is a joke. How much did this kid rake in while at Goldman? Probably millions for playing grown-up.
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- If Goldman had appointed someone older, he might have displayed some independence from Goldman as he neared retirement.
Since Storch can have a wealthy future with Goldman, depending on when and how he looks the other way while at the SEC, Goldman is assured of a docile 'enforcement' division.
And, if not, they can always refer obliquely to his wonderful family, and what a shame it would be if anything happened to them...
- If Goldman had appointed someone older, he might have displayed some independence from Goldman as he neared retirement.
- LOL!! Oh that is rich. Talk about the fox watching the hen house. Because it's not like GS has it's greedy fat fingers in as many pies as possible. Oh, yes I am sure he will do a bang up job. For his buddies the self proclaimed masters of the universe. What a ridiculous choice. Though about as surprising as the sun rising.
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