Madoff, Stanford, and now, Wasendorf. The names of those discredited financial titans make up the rogues’ gallery of the current economic crisis, just as bank robbers once did during the Great Depression. They have become the John Dillingers of our time — helping themselves to billions of dollars in customer funds and undermining investor confidence in U.S. financial markets. Critics of the financial regulatory system say several factors have abetted the misconduct: Regulators have failed to embrace new technology with the same speed as market players, they are overly dependent on industry-funded regulators like the National Futures Association — which served as the first-line watchdog for Peregrine — and the financial sector has outsized political influence. More in the Des Moines Register here.
