Director of SEC Unit That Investigated Madoff Resigns

A senior Securities and Exchange Commission official who oversaw an office that conducted key probes of Bernard L. Madoff's business is resigning, following a period when the agency reevaluated how it conducts oversight of brokers and investment advisers. Lori A. Richards is stepping down after 14 years as director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, which has come under scrutiny for its role in the SEC's monitoring of Madoff's business. Her office reviewed his firm at least three times, in 1999, 2004 and 2005, without finding the multibillion-dollar fraud he was conducting. With Richards' departure, SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro will soon have installed her own people in nearly all the top positions at the embattled agency.