Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot

Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot is a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) attorney who worked on the Bernard Madoff investigation in 2004 as the Lead Investigator for the SEC on the case. She discovered key elements of his Ponzi scheme and reported them to her superiors. She was silenced and moved off of the case prior to being able to fully complete the investigation. Had she been allowed to complete her investigation she could have discovered and stopped Bernard Madoff from bilking thousands of people out of their savings and investment.

Genevievette E. Walker-Lightfoot
Born	Genevievette E. Walker Miami, Fl.
Nationality	American
Citizenship	United States of America
Education	Georgetown University (Bachelor of Arts Governmental and International Relations (minor in French)) May 1995 The Catholic University of America (Juris Doctor and Certificate, Comparative and International Law Institute) May 1999 University of Maryland, College Park Robert H. Smith School of Business (Master of Business Administration (MBA)) May 2007
Alma mater	Columbus School of Law
Occupation	Attorney
Years active	10
Employer(s)	Federal Reserve Board of Governors (Jan 2006 - Present) Securities and Exchange Commission (April 2001 - Jan. 2006) American Stock Exchange (Aug. 1999 - March 2001) NASD (Jan. 1999 - March 1999)
Height	5 ft 3 in (160 cm)
Political party	Democratic
Board member of	Howard County Human Rights Commission Sierra Villas Board of Directors
Spouse	Johnathan Lightfoot
Parent(s)	Sarah Powell and Gene Walker
Awards	SEC Chairman's Award for Excellence 2004 SEC Capital Markets Award 2003 Securities Law Moot Court Competition 1st Place Best Brief 2nd Place Best Overall 3rd Place Oral Arguments
Website	http://twitter.com/GewelEsq

Lead SEC Investigator (2004 Bernard Madoff Investment Scandal)

A former lawyer in the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, informed her supervisor Branch Chief Mark Donohue that her review of Bernard Madoff found numerous inconsistencies and recommended further questioning. However, because of agency pressure to investigate the mutual fund industry, she was told to conclude work on the probe. Donohue's boss, Eric Swanson, an assistant director of the department, married Shana Madoff after the investigation concluded. A spokesman for Swanson, who has left the SEC, said he "did not participate in any inquiry of Bernard Madoff Securities or its affiliates while involved in a relationship" with Shana Madoff.

Mrs. Walker-Lightfoot sent emails to her supervisor saying information provided by Madoff during her review didn't add up and sent up a set of questions to ask Madoff's firm, a report in The Washington Post said.

Several of the questions directly challenged Madoff activities that turned out to be elements of his massive fraud, the newspaper said.

Madoff, 71, was sentenced to a prison term of 150 years on June 29, 2009 after he pleaded guilty in March to a decades-long fraud that U.S. prosecutors said drew in as much as $65 billion.

The Washington Post reported that when Walker-Lightfoot reviewed the paper documents and electronic data supplied to the SEC by Madoff, she found it full of inconsistencies, according to documents, a former SEC official and another person knowledgeable about the 2004 investigation.

The newspaper said the Ms. Walker-Lightfoot raised concerns about Madoff but, at the time, the SEC was under pressure to look for wrongdoing in the mutual fund industry. Walker-Lightfoot was told to focus on a separate probe into mutual funds, the report said.

Swanson, no longer with the agency, declined to comment, the Post said.

SEC spokesman John Nester also declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation by the agency's inspector general, Reuters reported.

Mrs. Walker-Lightfoot left the SEC in January 2006 after having received a judgement in her favor against the SEC in a Hostile work environment case Mrs. Walker-Lightfoot did not experience a break in Federal service as she immediately went to work at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; where she continues to be employed.

On November 16, 2009 Ms. Walker-Lightfoot was sworn into the Supreme Court of the United States Bar.

Changes to the SEC Leadership

Leaders of the Securities and Exchange Commission testified on February 4, 2009 before the United States House Committee on Financial Services subcommittee including Linda Chatman Thomsen S.E.C. enforcement director, acting General Counsel Andy Vollmer, Andrew Donohue, Erik Sirri, and Lori Richards (SEC's Director of compliance inspections and examinations (Ms. Walker-Lightfoot's Senior Department Head)) and Stephen Luparello of FINRA. The subject of the hearings was on why the SEC had failed to act when Harry Markopolos, a private fraud investigator from Boston alerted the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing his persistent and unsuccessful efforts to get the SEC to investigate Bernard L. Madoff, beginning in 1999.

Ms. Richards ultimately testified that the her department failed to find Madoff due to having to "match available staff resources to the most pressing needs". She restated the same cause for missing the Madoff Ponzi scheme June 17, 2009 in a speech at SIFMA's Compliance and Legal Division St. Louis Regional Seminar The New World of Compliance and Legal (Lori, Richards (2009), Strengthening Examination Oversight: Changes to Regulatory Examinations, St. Louis, Mo, retrieved 2009-08-23{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link))

On July 9 (six days after the Washington Post article concerning Ms. Walker-Lightfoot's involvement in the Madoff investigation was published) The Washington Post announced that Richards would resign from the SEC in order to "take on new challenges."