[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Investigators probing how Treasury regulators allowed a bank to falsify financial records hiding its ill health have found at least three other instances of similar apparent fraud, sources tell ABC News.

In at least one instance, investigators say, banking regulators actually approached the bank with the suggestion of falsifying deposit dates to satisfy banking rules -- even if it disguised the bank's health to the public.

[bratticus]

Others like what? Madoff?
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Government Regulators Aided IndyMac Cover-Up, Maybe Others

... "This is criminal with the small 'c'," said Black. "No one within the regulatory ranks may go to jail, but they have done the worst possible disservice to the taxpayers of America." ...

[bratticus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Madoff ties were never pursued


Alex Berenson, New York
January 19, 2009

US INVESTIGATORS questioned whether Bernard Madoff was connected to a Ponzi scheme 17 years ago, but did not pursue the fund manager, who has since been arrested for an alleged $US50 billion ($A74.3 billion) fraud.

A 1997 inquiry centred on Frank Avellino, an accountant who had been funnelling investors to Madoff since the 1960s.

The investigators did not get far. Within days, Mr Avellino agreed to return to investors the money he and his partner had raised and to pay a small fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The inquiry petered out, and Mr Avellino — represented in the case by Ira Lee Sorkin, the same lawyer who represents Madoff — kept sending money to Madoff.

News of the old investigation comes amid claims that Madoff did not even buy or sell one share as part of his fraud.

... snip ...