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HomeSEC IG Report: George Demos Pimped Peter Sivere
Posted by Larry Doyle on January 28, 2010 9:02 AM |
Who is George Demos? A former enforcement lawyer in the New York office of the SEC, currently running for Congress from Long Island.
Who is Peter Sivere? A former compliance employee at JP Morgan.
Sivere crossed paths with Demos in 2004 while providing information related to an investigation of questionable mutual fund trading activity. In the midst of Sivere’s engagement with the SEC, his confidence was violated. I highlighted this reality the other day in writing, “The SEC Pimped Peter Sivere.”
Who at the SEC blew Sivere’s cover? Today we learn it was George Demos.
Kudos to the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) for investigating this case and kudos to Politics Daily for highlighting it today in writing, Long Island Congressional Candidate Cited for Giving up J.P. Morgan Whistleblower:
George Demos is a Republican Congressional candidate from Eastern Long Island whose Web site bears the slogan “Fighting for Freedom,” and touts his service as an enforcement lawyer in the New York office of the Securities and Exchange Commission. A bio says that he “handled some of the SEC’s most significant investigations,” including that of Ponzi scheme artist Bernard Madoff, and “worked tirelessly on the cases that never made the headlines.”
But one case that never made headlines was his own: Demos’ campaign Web site and public statements omit any reference to a report last March of the SEC’s Inspector General (IG), which found he had improperly disclosed protected, nonpublic information about a whistleblower to the counsel for that whistleblower’s employer, a major Wall Street bank, JPMorgan Chase. The IG’s charges of misconduct grew out of an SEC probe that began in 2003 of JPMorgan and other big financial institutions suspected of illegal market practices.
Demos has denied he did anything improper, and his campaign declined to comment on the matter. But documents obtained by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) — a non-partisan non-profit based in Washington — confirm that Demos was the staff attorney who was cited in the IG report for violating SEC rules. The IG referred the case to the agency’s management for possible disciplinary action, but the SEC took no action. Soon after that, Demos quietly resigned from his job and launched his bid for a seat in the House of Representatives.
I am not writing about this case because I have any sort of axe with George Demos. If he proves himself to be the best candidate for the Congressional seat and wins the election, I hope he serves our country well. That said, voters should be aware of everything in a candidate’s professional background. The fact that Demos is promoting his involvement in the massive SEC failure of the Madoff scam is reason all by itself to doubt his intellect. (Thank you hongloan)
Nor am I writing this piece in defense of Peter Sivere. Even though our tenure at JP Morgan overlapped, I didn’t know him nor do I have any sort of personal or professional relationship with him.
I am writing to shed further light on what I deem to be the incestuous nature of the Wall Street-Washington relationship.
To whom did Demos report at the SEC? Was that individual held accountable for a failure to supervise? America deserves to know.
When financial regulatory improprieties at both the SEC and FINRA are neither exposed nor properly adjudicated, a culture of negligence and incompetence develops . . . and perpetuates. Ample evidence is readily apparent that this culture is deeply ingrained within these organizations. While SEC Chair Mary Schapiro would maintain that she and her new team at the SEC are addressing this culture, I believe strongly Schapiro is the wrong person for the job because she is a product of that culture herself.
As for George Demos, he made his bed and now he needs to sleep in it. I would recommend he lift the covers and show America what transpired – not only in this case, but within the SEC as a whole.
Now that would be a real public service.
LD
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I can’t believe this kid has the audacity to brag about his experience (or shall we say lack of) with the Madoff’s investigation. What an idiot. Wasn’t that the case that exposed the incompetence of the SEC, esp in the NY region? Why on earth would he brag about his ability to lose $65BB?
Hongloan,
You know what, you are right and I am far too deferential.
As I reread that I am dumbfounded as to just how stupid he would be to highlight the fact that he worked on the Madoff investigation.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Thanks.
That’s your typical SEC enforcement attorney for you – incompetent and ethically challenged.
Seriously, who is giving this guy advice. He thinks it is a plus to point out that he worked on the Madoff case while at the SEC. When was his name ever referenced as doing good work on the Madoff case. Well, now that he has opened that can of worms he should highlight what he did, what he learned, and everything else.
Ultimately I think he would be well suited to sit near Patrick Kennedy in Congress. What do you think their combined IQ might be?
The Madoff scandal is what got George’s bosses all fired from the SEC. Why anyone from the SEC would want to take credit for that bumbling investigation is beyond me.
I get where you’re coming from. Crazy. And yes you too kind.
It is a federal offense.
Agree with some of your comments but Demos should not be thrown under the bus for his actions with Madoff. The SEC has been disfunctional for decades. He was assigned to the Madoff case to find out what others had already reported – it was a huge scam. You make it sound like he has been on the Madoff case for years and was too naive to question what he was doing. Get your facts straight.
How did the SEC handle its Madoff investigation? It was a total disaster. Anybody within that organization that wants to draw attention to work on what was ultimately the single largest disaster in financial history and look for praise in the process is subject to being called out.
I stand by my statement.
[...] “The fact that Demos is promoting his involvement in the massive SEC failure of the Madoff scam is… To clarify, Demos’ website does not claim he participated in any SEC investigation of disgraced financier Bernie Madoff, but only that he “served on the 2009 prosecution team . . . .” Too little. Too late. Maybe Mr. Demos was distracted by another “significant investigation” he was involved with at the SEC: questioning one of Howard Stern’s cronies based on allegations of insider trading in Sirius stock. Maybe Demos felt that Chaunce Hayden (Howard Stern’s crony) was in the same category of “bad” as Bernie Madoff, because as he says, he only focuses on “the people who are actually committing the frauds . . . the real bad fraudsters.” [...]
[...] two other candidates in the race for NY-1 are Chirstopher Cox and George [...]
[...] Republicans vying to carry their party’s banner in the race for First Congressional District include Randy Altschuler, Chris Cox and George Demos. [...]
Time for Mr. Demos to go look for a real line of work and not pimp people out….
Altschuler Will Face Bishop in November
[...] to the counsel for that whistleblower’s employer, a major Wall Street bank, JPMorgan Chase. Source article Peter Sivere was fired and his life and career were ruined by the revelation, according to blogger, [...]