Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

One Step Closer

When I started my summer at the SEC, I had heard from previous Babson interns, but I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. Now that my time here is coming to an end, I thought I’d look back at what I’ve been able to experience during my internship here.

I’ve been put on multiple cases including a $100 million Ponzi scheme, a less traditional pump and dump case, an FCPA violations case, and multiple investor manipulation cases. Before I came, I may have had a very basic knowledge of these situations, but based off the resources here at the office and my research I’ve been able to learn a lot more about securities law.

Last week, I was invited to a whistleblower proffer at the US Attorney’s Office. There the SEC along with the Department of Justice was able to hear more from the whistleblower. Whistleblowers with information on possible securities violations can come to the SEC and it’s our job to protect their identity. One thing that I was really interested in when I finished the meeting with the DOJ was whether there was an award for whistleblowers. I found that they get about 10%-30% of the money that’s collected.

Also in that same week, I was able to sit in on a testimony for the same case. It was interesting to be able to see what happens behind the closed doors. I was fascinated by how the questions were worded and to see how much work was put into each case.

Earlier in my internship I was able to walk over to the Boston Courthouse and sit in on a few appeal cases. One of the cases involved the SEC and it was interesting to see how it played out. When talking to previous interns this was definitely something that I was really looking forward to since I had always been fascinated by law.

Of course, I’ve also learned a lot of different accounting tricks but I think the most important thing is to see the mindset and how these accountants think. There’s never one correct way to tackle a case and there’s never a clear answer right staring you in the face. The most important thing is to be able to take in the facts and think of different ways to take on the problem so that we can get to the end goal of protecting the investors.

After learning about the actual law and practical accounting skills, I’m happy to say that this is one of my first internships that have made it clearer in what I’m looking for as a possibility for my future career. If anyone is pursuing accounting and considering forensics, I highly recommend the summer internship here.