'The SEC is a farce' - expert

With the Securities and Exchange Commission filing charges against Goldman Sachs, arguably Wall Street's most lauded and respected firm, it's tempting to say the agency is targeting corporate titans to get its mojo back.

The civil charges leveled last Friday are in fact only the most recent in a string of investigations into some of the largest corporations in the U.S. and the world. Last week, Bloomberg News reported that the SEC was investigating General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) and CEO Jeffrey Immelt; and five days ago Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500) acknowledged that SEC regulators were examining whether the company bribed Russian officials to win business in the country. (more)