Senator Charles Grassley, an influential Republican senator from Iowa, had started complaining—loudly and publicly—that the SEC was not doing its job policing the stock market. The previous month, Grassley’s office had received a tip from someone suggesting that the Senate Judiciary Committee look into a rogue hedge fund called SAC Capital. Grassley had been a vocal critic of the Obama administration’s response to the financial crisis, arguing in interviews and press conferences that the president’s financial reform proposals weren’t strong enough. The SAC case looked like a ripe opportunity
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