SEC Sued For Failing To Release Corporate Documents

[banana republican]

WASHINGTON -- When it comes to full disclosure, the Securities and Exchange Commission talks a good game but doesn't deliver, a corporate research firm charged in a lawsuit this week.

"It is unfortunate that in this post-Enron era, as the government demands record levels of disclosure from public companies, the SEC itself has become disclosure-challenged," SEC Insight Inc. President John Gavin said in an e-mail to customers Thursday announcing the lawsuit.

The suit, filed Monday in federal court in Minneapolis, claims the SEC is inappropriately withholding documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.


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Under the so-called "Glomar exemption," federal agencies need not confirm whether records exist, precluding them from being released under a FOIA request.

Gavin claims the SEC is using this exemption in a manner that is inconsistent with the FOIA. He said the SEC will hide behind the Glomar exemption even after a company publicly reports it is undergoing an SEC investigation, as he said it did in 2003 regarding an ongoing probe of Irish pharmaceutical company Elan Corp. (ELN).

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20041022_008159,00.html?mod=law

[Erika]

1. GWB

For Big Business Of Big Business, and By Big Business. Corporate fascism.

[laheina]

2. It's just another symptom

of the bushie crony capitalism at work.

[jody]

3. What the U.S. has become