by Pam Martens and Russ Martens at Wall Street on Parade
His name is Rick Fleming and there is a very good chance that you’ve never heard of him. Now, there’s a very good chance that you’ll never see the reports that he meticulously compiled twice a year over the past eight years that he served in the role of Investor Advocate on behalf of retail investors at the Securities and Exchange Commission. If you click on this SEC link where his reports are supposed to be housed, you’ll find that the majority of his reports since 2019 result in an “Oops! Page Not Found” message.
The role of Investor Advocate at the SEC was created under the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010 following the greatest financial collapse since the Great Depression, which resulted from unparalleled corruption on Wall Street and inept federal oversight.
The Dodd-Frank legislation clearly intended for the Investor Advocate to be immediately appointed by the Chair of the SEC in 2010 because the legislation calls for the Investor Advocate to file his report on priorities “Not later than June 30 of each year after 2010″ and the annual report of his office’s activities for the prior year “not later than December 31 of each year after 2010.”
But just as President Obama never got around to hiring the Dodd-Frank mandated Vice Chair for Supervision at the Federal Reserve throughout his time as President, Obama’s SEC Chairs did not get around to appointing an SEC Investor Advocate until four years after Dodd-Frank was signed into law.
Fleming was appointed by SEC Chair…
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