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View Full Version : While economy crumbled, top financial watchdogs at SEC surfed for porn on Internet




Bruno
04-23-2010, 07:55 AM
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/04/23/2010-04-23_porn_among_daily_duties_of_top_sec_honchos_sez_ report.html

At the SEC, all they thought about was SEX.

The country's top financial watchdogs turned out to be horndogs who spent hours gawking at porn Web sites as the economy teetered on the brink, according to a memo released Thursday night.

The shocking findings include Securities and Exchange Commission senior staffers using government computers to browse for booty and an accountant who tried to access the raunchy sites 16,000 times in one month.

Their titillating pastime was discovered during 33 probes of employees looking at explicit images in the past five years, said the memo obtained by The Associated Press.

It says 31 of those probes occurred in the 2-1/2 years since the country's financial system nearly crashed.

The report was written by SEC Inspector General David Kotz in response to a request from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).

Among the startling findings:

- A senior attorney at the SEC's Washington headquarters spent up to eight hours a day looking at and downloading pornography. When his government computer ran out of hard drive space, he burned the files to CDs or DVDs. He later agreed to resign.

- An accountant was blocked more than 16,000 times in a single month from visiting "sex" or "pornography" sites, but still managed to amass a collection of "very graphic" material by using Google to bypass the SEC's internal filter. He wound up with a 2-week suspension.

- Seventeen of the randy employees were "at a senior level" earning salaries of up to $222,418.

- The number of cases jumped from two in 2007 to 16 in 2008. The cracks in the financial system emerged in mid-2007 and spread into full-blown panic by the fall of 2008.

California Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said it was "disturbing that high-ranking officials within the SEC were spending more time looking at porn than taking action to help stave off the events that put our nation's economy on the brink of collapse." An SEC spokesman declined to comment last night.

Light
04-23-2010, 07:59 AM
As Aristotle once said:
"Tolerance and apathy are last remaining virtues of a dying society."

amy31416
04-23-2010, 08:21 AM
The shocking findings include Securities and Exchange Commission senior staffers using government computers to browse for booty and an accountant who tried to access the raunchy sites 16,000 times in one month.



16,000?? So, a typical 4-week month with 40hr work weeks means that this accountant tried to get onto porn sites 100x in an average hour?

Damn. Nice work if you can get it, I suppose.

MelissaWV
04-23-2010, 08:26 AM
16,000?? So, a typical 4-week month with 40hr work weeks means that this accountant tried to get onto porn sites 100x in an average hour?

Damn. Nice work if you can get it, I suppose.

He probably got one of those popuphell style sites that "accessed" several dozen sites at once :p

Stary Hickory
04-23-2010, 08:28 AM
Government workers. They are not accountable to anyone

angelatc
04-23-2010, 08:50 AM
All that numbers stuff is B O R I N G!

emazur
04-23-2010, 02:08 PM
Yeah, people always seem to think the regulators will save us. Here's another one:
"Government Regulators Aided IndyMac Cover-Up, Maybe Others"
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Economy/story?id=6658365&page=1

TheBlackPeterSchiff
04-23-2010, 02:52 PM
earning salaries of up to $222,418.

Jeez why are we paying people like this with our money??!?!!?!?!

RM918
04-23-2010, 03:12 PM
A senior attorney at the SEC's Washington headquarters spent up to eight hours a day looking at and downloading pornography. When his government computer ran out of hard drive space, he burned the files to CDs or DVDs. He later agreed to resign.

This man is my hero.

Brian4Liberty
04-23-2010, 03:44 PM
Jeez why are we paying people like this with our money??!?!!?!?!

The real kicker here is the abuse and misuse of power. So they tracked these people misusing their internet connections for 5 years, but this only leaks out (and is used) for political reasons? Like J. Edgar Hoover keeping blackmail files on politicians.

In private industry, wouldn't it be something more like "Hey, the IT department reports that some employees are misusing their internet access, be sure to review our company guidelines on internet use at this company." Next step: "Hey Sally, we found out that you are misusing the internet. Review company guidelines, you have been personally warned." And finally: "Hey Sally, pack up your stuff, time for you to find a new job."