Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) created something called the Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee.

The idea was to bring together experts to examine equity markets and ensure they’re functioning effectively for the American people.

But there’s an unfortunate hitch.

The SEC appointed members who are corporate lawbreakers and wrongdoers.

That’s according to Better Markets President Dennis Kelleher.

“The committee has unfortunately been stacked with industry insiders, including lawbreakers and wrongdoers,” Kelleher wrote in a letter to SEC chair Mary Jo White.  “The SEC should immediately remove these lawbreakers and reconstitute the committee with a majority of members who will serve the public interest. It should also publicly explain how lawbreakers ended up on the committee in the first place.”

“Finally, the SEC should take transparent steps to assure that future appointments to the committee actually align with its goal of protecting investors. It’s unacceptable that an SEC committee that should be dedicated to the public interest appears to be just another insiders club dominated by Wall Street interests.”

In the letter, Kelleher identifies at least three firms “that have committed or been implicated in serious violations of law, including misconduct that was in some cases willful, board-approved, or even criminal. Those three firms are ITG, Convergex and Barclays.”

Kelleher said that as a separate matter, the committee is also flawed because, “since its inception, its membership has been grossly imbalanced in favor of industry’s perspective.”

Over half of the committee’s members represent financial market participants, Kelleher said.