I know very little about the S.E.C., but it seems odd that an agency tasked with combating &quot;Ponzi frauds, insider trading and accounting fraud&quot; would be unable to obtain a criminal warrant.<p>Are those not criminal investigations that may lead to criminal charges for those under investigation? Why then should a search warrant not be required?<p>Perhaps this is a quirk (or a feature) of the way the agency is intended to operate?