By JOE NEWMAN
Michael Smallberg, a Project On Government Oversight investigator, tells CNN that a recent Treasury inspector general report gives an example of how federal regulators can get too close to the people and institutions they're supposed to be watching:
When folks wonder why regulators didn't do a better job of stopping the financial crisis, or they're wondering why OCC didn't spot the huge trading loss at JP Morgan earlier this year, I think part of the issue is just that the examiners were just too close to the folks they were supposed to be examining.
Last week, Smallberg wrote about the inspector general, which found a bank examiner in Florida violated federal ethics rules by playing golf and dining with officials from one of the banks he oversaw.
Joe Newman is the director of communications for the Project On Government Oversight.
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