Hey SEC do you need a genealogist on staff?

Is the Securities and Exchange Commission becoming interested in genealogy?

Because of a new regulation for hedge funds which will take effect March 2012, the SEC has come up with a definition of "family members"

According to the SEC family members include all lineal descendants of a common ancestor (going back 10 generations) and the spouses of such lineal descendants. The descendants can be by blood, adoption, legal guardianship, step-children...

You get the idea. It's pretty much open-ended. For example, one of  my ancestors going back 10 generations is my 8th great-grandpa Jacques Cornelise Van Slyke who was born circa 1640 in New Netherland (present day New York). Can you imagine how many descendants there are? So a hedge fund manager would be smart to contact a genealogist like me who has researched the Van Slyke descent from Jacques to the present day. Think of all the potential investors' names I could give them!

The first question that came to my mind was - who on the SEC is going to verify that an investor is indeed a lineal descendant of a common ancestor 10 generations back? Do they have a permanent genealogist on staff?

Also, does a hedge fund manager have to provide primary documents proving the lineal ancestry of each of his/her investors? It sounds similar to submitting an application for DAR membership, or acceptance of a Loyalist or Metis ancestor!

Or can a Hedge fund manager make the claim that each of their investors are indeed family members, and the onus is on the SEC to prove otherwise?

Hey if there's an opening for a genealogist or two or three at the SEC, I'm available! And I know many other genealogists who'd be perfect for the job. 

With thanks to Laurie Bennett of Forbes.com who told me about the SEC definition of family members and sent me a link to her article "The Family That Hedges Together...."