Khuzami: SEC’s Alleged Destruction Of Files Has Not Harmed Investigations

Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division Director Robert Khuzami Sept. 14 said the SEC’s past destruction of “matters under inquiry” files has not hurt any investigations.

“We do not believe that current or future investigations have been harmed by the [Enforcement] Division’s old MUI retention guidance,” Khuzami said in a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). Until July 2010, when “questions” arose about SEC document retention, Khuzami said, the division’s policies directed destroying closed files of so-called matters under inquiry.

The letter comes on the heels of a directive by SEC General Counsel Mark Cahn to suspend the destruction of ...