U.S. Senator Charles Grassley asked the Securities and ExchangeCommission to answer allegations that the agency destroyed filesfrom initial investigations of firms including Goldman Sachs GroupInc., SAC Capital Advisors LP and Bernard Madoff InvestmentSecurities LLC.

Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee,made the request in a letter to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro datedyesterday, citing claims by an agency employee that more than 9,000such files have been purged. The Iowa lawmaker asked Schapiro toexplain whether the SEC routinely destroys documents related toso-called matters under investigation that are dropped in theirinitial phases.

“It doesn't make sense that an agency responsible forinvestigations would want to get rid of potential evidence,”Grassley said in a statement. “If these charges are true, theagency needs to explain why it destroyed documents, how manydocuments it destroyed over what timeframe, and to what extent itsactions were consistent with the law.”