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Digital News Report – In the aftermath of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi Scheme, the Security and Exchange Commission is expanding their tools and giving their investigators more power to root-out fraud.
The SEC announced today that they will encourage “greater cooperation from individuals and companies in the agency’s investigations and enforcement actions.”
Their enforcement staff will use “cooperation agreements” to give them “early assistance in identifying the scope, participants, victims and ill-gotten gains associated with fraudulent schemes.”
They will also use “deferred prosecution agreements” and “non-prosecution agreements” to get information concerning possible crimes. These are voluntary alternative to adjudication in which a prosecutor agrees to grant amnesty in exchange for the defendant agreeing to fulfill certain requirements.
Robert Khuzami, chief enforcement officer for the SEC, said: “There is no substitute for the insiders’ view into fraud and misconduct that only cooperating witnesses can provide.”
By: Tina Brown
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