SEC Lawyer Says Critical E-Mail Sent to Media Didn’t Come from Her

Media organizations got some unusual e-mail in their in-boxes Tuesday morning. The first, a lengthy e-mail harshly criticizing the chairman and inspector general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, was sent in the name of Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer Irene Gutierrez. The second e-mail, also from Gutierrez, said the first message was a hoax.

The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) wrote about the unusual messages. The first e-mail criticized SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro and SEC inspector general David Kotz, who has issued reports criticizing the agency’s failures in overseeing Wall Street and questioning stock trades by two SEC lawyers.

An SEC spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal that the hoax e-mail was sent outside the network’s servers and the sender faked Gutierrez’s e-mail address in the sender line.

The story says it isn’t the first time the SEC has warned of e-mail impostors. People pretending to work for the SEC lured some investors to disclose information about their brokerage accounts.