Pointing to recent Congressional testimony by SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro on July 14th, a Madoff victim group called the BernardMadoffVictims.org says that it is now clear that SIPC is a “mere façade” and is underfunded because SIPC and the SEC failed to charge the securities industry a realistic price for SIPC insurance.
In her testimony before the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, Schapiro was asked by Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York, “[w]hich investors are eligible for their SIPC insurance?” Schapiro responded that “[i]t shouldn’t be such a difficult issue but it is. The tragic truth is there is not enough money available to pay off all the customer claims.”
