Ed Royce: “one of the points I was going to make was that prior to the passage of our CAARTA bill, during a Committee on Financial…”

“one of the points I was going to make was that prior to the passage of our CAARTA bill, during a Committee on Financial Services meeting, I asked the SEC chairman if the SEC had all of the tools that it needed to return the ill-gotten gains from dishonest executives to the shareholders of these companies. His response was that it would be helpful if Congress were to include language that made it clear that it is Congress's intent that the SEC have the power to return these stolen funds to the shareholders. Now, the Federal Account for Investor Restitution language, as proposed by the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker), would effectively accomplish this task. Now, currently, the Securities and Exchange Commission has the power to disgorge these funds from corrupt managers. However, the funds rarely make it back to the shareholders who deserve them. They are currently distributed in an ad hoc fashion. I would say less than 20 percent are returned to the shareholders today, with the rest going to the plaintiffs, attorneys' fees, and to the Treasury's general revenue. So this proposal that is offered by the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker) to the conference would ensure that all of these ill-gotten gains be returned to the people who deserve them, and that is the individual shareholders and pension investors who were bilked out of their money through corporate malfeasance. It is another reason why we need to move forward with that conference.”