"The SEC never went after the powerful."

"The SEC has become “an agency that polices the broken windows on the street level and rarely goes to the penthouse floors,” Kidney said, according to a copy of his remarks obtained by Bloomberg News. “On the rare occasions when enforcement does go to the penthouse, good manners are paramount. Tough enforcement, risky enforcement, is subject to extensive negotiation and weakening.

Kidney said his superiors were more focused on getting high-paying jobs after their government service than on bringing difficult cases. The agency’s penalties, Kidney said, have become “at most a tollbooth on the bankster turnpike.”
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"Kidney essentially confirmed everyone’s worst fears – that the regulators have been captured by the businesses they are supposed to be regulating and that the law only applies to some."

http://news.firedoglake.com/2014/04/09/retiring-sec-attorney-says-agency-fails-to-hold-powerful-accountable/