Courtesy of Pam Martens
Jay Clayton, Chairman of the SEC
Is the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, a watchdog or a lapdog? If you judge him by his actions since taking office on May 4, 2017, it looks like the latter. That was easily predictable given that Clayton had represented 8 of the 10 largest Wall Street banks in the three years prior to taking his seat as Chair of the SEC.
Clayton is also the man who is now attempting to elevate his role to that of the top criminal prosecutor in Wall Street’s home turf of Manhattan, by knocking Geoffrey Berman out of the job. That office is the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York where there are pending investigations related to both Donald Trump as well as Clayton’s former clients, the big banks on Wall Street.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Chair of House Financial Services Committee
One person in Congress who has Clayton in her ongoing radar is Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the Chair of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. Waters has sent at least four warning letters to Clayton this year, effectively telling him to knock off his sneaky maneuvers that benefit Wall Street while failing the American people.
The most recent letter came last Friday when Waters warned Clayton that his latest attempted deregulatory move would “suppress shareholder rights, impair shareholder engagement, reduce capital market transparency and decrease investor protection, overall.”
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