Regulators helped cause the financial crisis

When Scott M. Polakoff was named Deputy Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision in 2005, his boss praised him, saying the career bureaucrat "will be a valuable asset to OTS and the OTS mission." Now, he is at the center of an investigation into whether the bank regulator allowed companies under its supervision to falsify their financial records.

According to the Washington Post, Polakoff has been placed on leave by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner while "The Treasury's inspector general is investigating a number of instances in which OTS employees allowed banks to exaggerate their financial health in required filings by including money they did not receive until after the reporting period."