But remember, self-regulation is the cure for all problems as the Republicans always like to tell us. If you figure out what the heck that means in a case like this, please let me know. Maybe Senator Grassley, who is now hot on the trail of failed regulation, can brief us on how his party has helped address problems such as this over the years.
The insider trading allegations, and more than 4,000 e-mail messages relating to them, were presented to Linda Thomsen, the former director of enforcement at the S.E.C. last April by Ted Parmigiani, a former analyst at Lehman who followed the semiconductor industry. According to Mr. Grassley’s letter, Mr. Parmigiani spoke with high-level enforcement officials several times both on the phone and in person. An in-person meeting on April 30, 2008, lasted for six hours, the letter said.
Mr. Parmigiani, who was dismissed by the firm in June 2005 for what it said were performance issues, declined to comment. John Nester, a spokesman for the S.E.C., said he would not discuss whether Ms. Schapiro had responded to Mr. Grassley’s letter or the allegations made by the former analyst. But he said in a statement: “We certainly share the senator’s interest in vigorous enforcement against illegal insider trading.”
Mr. Grassley noted in his letter that his staff had examined the materials given to S.E.C. enforcement lawyers by Mr. Parmigiani and that “there are many documents that raise suspicions of insider trading.” The e-mail messages and other documents appeared to provide “ample detail to assist in launching an investigation,” Mr. Grassley wrote.
