The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Olympus.

FORBES: Japanese Business Culture and Why Good Governance Matters

Would brokers and banks have been pushing auction rate securities as entirely safe investments if the bureau had been around three years ago?

FORBES: Regulators At Last Step Up Retail Financial Oversight

In addition, securitisers face probes by several state attorneys-general, the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department, as well as lawsuits from investors and a rising number of stricken municipalities.

ECONOMIST: Securitisation

SAC's success also has helped attract the scrutiny of prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which are examining whether SAC follows securities laws prohibiting trading on material nonpublic information, according to people familiar with the investigation.

WSJ: SAC Sees Investors Pulling Out $3.5 Billion

Even before his past had been disclosed, two of the SEC's five commissioners had opposed his appointment on the grounds that the 78-year-old, a former director of both the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was not qualified for the job of regulating the securities industry.

ECONOMIST: The boss bows out | The