SEC IG Asking Justice Dept. to Review Agency’s Madoff Probe

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s top auditor plans to ask the Justice Department to review whether an SEC lawyer broke conflict-of-interest rules during the agency’s investigation of convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff.

According to Bloomberg, H. David Kotz, SEC inspector general, is completing a report on former counsel David Becker’s possible conflicts.

Kotz and investigators are looking into why Becker was allowed to work on SEC policies relating to Madoff’s fraud after inheriting profits from the Ponzi scheme, Bloomberg reports.

The SEC did not send Becker to testify on Capitol Hill after learning Becker’s mother held an account that Becker and his family liquidated before the Ponzi scheme was exposed.