became publicly identified with it, rather than the committee's chairman. The Pecora Investigation uncovered a wide range of abusive practices on the part of banks and bank affiliates. These included a variety of conflicts of interest, such as the underwriting of unsound securities in order to pay off bad bank loans, as well as "pool operations" to support the price of bank stocks. The hearings galvanized broad public support for new banking and securities laws. As a result of the Pecora Commission's findings, the United States Congress passed the Glass–Steagall Banking Act of 1933 to separate commercial and investment banking, the Securities Act of 1933 to set penalties for filing false information about stock offerings, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which formed the SEC, to regulate the stock exchanges. The Banking Committee's hearings ended on May 4, 1934, after which Pecora was appointed as one of the first commissioners of the SEC. Impact Historian Michael Perino argues that Pecora's investigation "Forever Changed American Finance by its impact on the financial laws of the New Deal. In 1939, Ferdinand Pecora published a memoir that recounted details of the investigations, Wall Street Under Oath. Pecora wrote: "Bitterly hostile was Wall Street to the enactment of the regulatory legislation." As to disclosure rules, he stated that "Had there been full disclosure of what was being done in furtherance of these schemes, they could not long have survived the fierce light of publicity and criticism. Legal chicanery and pitch darkness were the banker's stoutest allies." In 2010, a similar investigation was launched by the U.S. Congress into the reasons behind the 2007–2008 crash of Wall Street and the resultant economic crisis and recession. See also Pujo Committee United States v. Morgan (1953) (the “Investment Bankers Case”) References Further reading Pecora Commission Report 1934 A retrospective of the Pecora Commission's conclusions. De Long, J. Bradford. "J.P. Morgan and his money trust." Wilson Quarterly 16.4 (1992): 16-30 online External links Guide to the Records of the U.S. Senate at the National Archives Introduction to the Banking Committee's Report Damnation of Mitchell Time magazine 1929. Pecora Investigation Hearings- Also known as Stock Exchange Practices. Hearings before the Committee on Banking and Currency Pursuant to S.Res. 84 and S.Res. 56 and S.Res. 97.'' The full-text of these hearings are posted on the FRASER website of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in searchable pdf format.