First Midwest Bancorp Inc., which got $193 million in public money through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, has announced a stock offering to raise additional capital.   First Midwest said in a press release and a  Securities and Exchange Commission filing ... Read the full post ... Read more

The SEC’’s reputation, already hurt by its action or lack thereof during the credit crisis, took another blow when a federal judge rejected its $33 million settlement with Bank of America (NYSE:BAC). The SEC appeared to be prone to expending as little effort as possible by using negotiat ... Read more

Senator Charles Schumer believes that the SEC is underfunded. Statistics tend to support his case. The SEC’s staff of approximately 3,650 oversees 35,000 entities.  Securities trading volume has increased 261% between 2003 and 2008, but the SEC staff grew only 15% over that period of time. ... Read more

Bashing the SEC. Yesterday I was accused of being goofy (by some junior Morgan Stanley investment civil servant) and at the same time told I was the funniest person on the planet (by someone I need to get to know better ;) ). So let us get back to business. The testimony of Harry Markopolos before ... Read more