Fishy Comment Letters Are Being Investigated, SEC’s Clayton Says

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton says his agency is investigating claims that a Virginia-based advocacy group was behind suspicious comment letters submitted in support of a rule change sought by large corporations.

“We’re having an investigation done of this issue,” Clayton said Tuesday in response to a question at a Senate Banking Committee hearing in Washington.

Lawmakers sought answers from Clayton on what the SEC was doing to address revelations in a Nov. 19 Bloomberg News story that some people whose names appeared on comment letters in support of changes to shareholder-voting rules said they hadn’t submitted ...