Are SEC Settlements Toothless?

Gary Weiss — author of the forthcoming book “Wall Street Versus America: The Rampant Greed and Dishonesty That Imperil Your Investments” — penned an op-ed piece in Saturday’s New York Times dissecting Bear Stearns’s recent settlement with the SEC for its involvement in the mutual-fund trading scandal. He views the case as a prime example of what he sees as the SEC’s toothless settlements it strikes with alleged wrongdoers.