COMPANIES Just as the Securities and Exchange Commission was putting its failure to detect the Bernard Madoff fraud behind it, a federal judge has quashed a proposed settlement between the commission and Bank of America, humiliating the SEC yet again.
In a stunning rebuke on Monday, US district judge Jed Rakoff described last month’s proposed settlement between the SEC and BofA over allegations that the bank made misleading statements to shareholders as a “contrivance designed to provide the SEC with the facade of enforcement and the management of the bank with a quick resolution of an embarrassing inquiry – all at the expense of the sole alleged victims, the shareholders”.
