[2] In March 2004 she informed her supervisor, Branch Chief Mark Donohue, and his boss, Assistant Director Eric Swanson, that she was concerned because her review of Bernard Madoff found numerous inconsistencies, and that she recommended further follow-up questioning.
[7] Madoff was sentenced to a prison term of 150 years on June 29, 2009, after he pleaded guilty to a decades-long fraud that U.S. prosecutors said drew in as much as $65 billion.
SEC spokesman John Nester also declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation by the agency's Inspector General, Reuters reported.
[10] Richards ultimately testified that her department failed to find Madoff due to having to "match available staff resources to the most pressing needs".
[11] She restated the same cause for missing the Madoff Ponzi scheme June 17, 2009, in a speech at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's Compliance and Legal Division St. Louis Regional Seminar.