The Associated Press and British Movietone announced on Wednesday of last week that they have made more than 550,000 video stories dating from 1895 to the present available on their YouTube channels. The AP noted that "viewers can see video from the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, exclusive footage of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Marilyn Monroe captured on film in London in the 1950s and Twiggy modeling the fashions of the 1960s."

Very interesting, but what about some good SEC-related clips, you ask? Well, they have that, too! After conducting a few searches, I came across several interesting "Enforcement Action"-worthy video clips. Here are a couple of them:

1. "Worldcom executives Congressional hearing" -- In this clip from July 2002, Bernie Ebbers and Scott Sullivan, the former CEO and CFO of WorldCom, appear before the House Financial Services Committee to answer questions about the massive fraud uncovered at WorldCom. Both men refused to answer questions based on their Fifth Amendment rights, but Ebbers added that

When all of the activities at Worldcom are fully aired, and when I get the opportunity - and I'm very much looking forward to it - to explain my actions in a setting that will not compromise my ability to defend myself in the legal proceedings arising out of the recent events, I believe that no one will conclude that I engaged in any criminal or fraudulent conduct during my tenure at Worldcom.

(The jury, of course, disagreed).

 

2. "House committee hearing on Madoff scandal" -- In this video from early January 2009, the House Financial Services Committee was out for blood just after the Madoff scandal broke in mid-December 2008. This was the hearing in which Congressman Gary Ackerman famously ranted that “I want to know who is responsible for protecting the securities investor because I want to tell that person or those people whose job it is that they suck at it.” 

Unfortunately, the only two witnesses the Committee brought before it were the SEC's Inspector General, who had nothing to do with the SEC's mishandled investigation into Madoff, and the CEO of SIPC, who quickly shot back at Rep. Ackerman: "Congressman, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation becomes involved only after it has been determined that a brokerage firm has failed. We have no role prior to that." Good times!

You can explore the vast AP video archives here.

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