M E M O R A N D U M
To: Reporters and Editors
Fr: Jill Gerber for Sen. Grassley
Re: Inspector general report on SEC lease
Da: Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today made the following comment on a new inspector general report saying the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission faces a $94 million claim after it backed out of a deal to lease office space in Washington, D.C. The report is available here. Grassley has a longstanding interest in conducting oversight of agencies including the SEC to help make sure the agencies function well on behalf of taxpayers and in SEC’s case, investors as well as taxpayers.
“The report portrays the SEC’s leasing operation as incompetent in just about every way. The report says employees grossly over-estimated the amount of needed space, maneuvered around leadership's concerns, and even backdated a key document to justify their decision. The taxpayers might be on the hook for nearly $100 million as a result of this mismanagement. Everyone who’s responsible needs to be held fully accountable. The agency needs to get a handle on its leasing operation to make sure this kind of mess doesn’t happen again.”