An official at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who is married to Bernard Madoff's niece blamed carelessness for the regulator's failure to stop the fraudster, according to a 457-report released late on Friday.
Eric Swanson, an SEC lawyer, was part of a team that found problems in Madoff's business in 2003-4. The investigation "was put on the back burner" even though the team had unanswered questions, according to the report, which examines 16 years of bungled inquiries into Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
In 2005 Swanson met the New York financier's niece, Shana Madoff, at a conference on securities law. He e-mailed a colleague to ask about the status of the inquiry. The reply was: "Deady [sic]. We never found any real problems."
Swanson told