Citigroup Finds Obeying the Law Is Too Hard: Jonathan Weil (Or: SEC Finds Enforcing The Law Is "Too Hard")

... the agency accused Citigroup of acting only negligently, though the facts in the SEC's complaint suggested deliberate misconduct. The SEC named just one individual as a defendant, a low-level banker who clearly didn't act alone. Plus, the SEC's case covered only one CDO, even though Citigroup sold many others like it.

Here's what makes the SEC's conduct doubly outrageous: The commission already had two cease-and-desist orders in place against the same Citigroup unit, barring future violations of the same section of the securities laws that the company now stands accused of breaking again. One of those orders came in a 2005 settlement, the other in a 2006 case. The SEC's complaint last month didn't mention either order, as if the entire agency suffered from amnesia.