ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 10, 1993                   TAG: 9304100074
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short


SEC BUDGET CUT COULD MEAN SLOWER, FEWER INVESTIGATIONS

Federal investigations into Wall Street wrongdoing may take longer to complete and some smaller cases may not begin at all because of budgetary constraints, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday.

It was SEC probes that led to the prosecution of Wall Street scandal figures such as Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky and Dennis Levine.

The SEC said it expected minor delays from staff cuts it would endure under President Clinton's 1994 fiscal year budget for the watchdog agency. Forty-two jobs will have to be eliminated under Clinton's $255 million request.

And SEC Chairman Richard Breeden plans to cut more staff positions, including some in law enforcement, so he can add 15 examiners to oversee the growing number of mutual funds.

Cases likely to get hit include those involving complex frauds, such as market manipulation schemes, or ones involving difficult accounting and auditing issues, the SEC said in budget documents released Friday.

But the SEC's top administrator said all the cutbacks would be achieved by attrition, and any delays were expected to be minor.

"We don't think it's all that serious at this point," said James McConnell, the SEC's executive director. "I don't think it's going to mean that any substantial cases don't get brought or that any serious frauds that we uncover aren't going to be pursued vigorously."

Clinton's proposed budget for the SEC is slightly more than $2 million over the amount authorized for fiscal 1993. However, if inflation and other factors were figured in, it would amount to a cut of about $7 million, Breeden told a House subcommittee last month.



by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB