ABSTRACT
Steve Arky began his law career in 1968 at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington. Stanley Sporkin, former Director of Enforcement at the SEC, called Arky one of his “finest young men.”2 Arky eventually transferred to the SEC’s Miami office, where he investigated and prosecuted unscrupulous securities dealers until entering private practice in 1971. On July 22, 1985, Arky closed his bathroom door and fired a bullet into
his right temple. In his suicide note, addressed “To the world at large,” Arky swore that he was wholly unaware of the massive accounting fraud committed at ESM Government Securities, Inc. (ESM). Between 1977 and 1981, Arky had defended his friends at ESM in a ferocious battle with the SEC. Arky blocked the agency’s subpoenas and frustrated its investigators, eventually prompting the SEC to drop its investigation without filing charges. But in March 1985, a fraud was discovered at ESM that far exceeded anything the SEC had ever suspected. Although little evidence tied Arky directly to the fraud, the rumors and damage to his reputation were apparently more than he could bear.
