Luis A. Aguilar is a Commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This post is based on Commissioner Aguilar’s statement regarding the SEC’s final rule concerning broker-dealer custody practices; the full text, including footnotes, is available here. The views expressed in the post are those of Commissioner Aguilar and do not necessarily reflect those of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the other Commissioners, or the Staff.
The facts surrounding Bernie Madoff’s unprecedented fraud are well-known. Through a Ponzi scheme, he stole untold billions over decades. What is not as well-appreciated is that during the vast majority of this time, he operated solely as a registered broker-dealer. This led to the inevitable conclusion that the regulatory framework for broker-dealer custody required urgent strengthening.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission” or “SEC”) has finally adopted amendments to strengthen the framework governing broker-dealer custody practices to prevent another Madoff. The adoption of these amendments comes more than four and a half years after Madoff’s scheme came to light in December, 2008, and more than two years after they were proposed. As a Commissioner, I have often been asked about steps the Commission has taken to prevent another Madoff, and it has concerned me that these issues have not been addressed.
