An NASD hearing panel said the enforcement unit failed to prove wrongdoing and threw out all the claims, the regulator said yesterday in a statement.

It lowers the penalties for accounting fraud and raises the bar for prosecutors by forcing them to prove not only wrongdoing but also damage.

In Massachusetts, Joanna Connolly, an assistant attorney general, said the problem was that the burden of proving wrongdoing rested with the policyholder.

Past inquiries have found that the Mayor may have lied under oath about the nature of the transaction, but could not prove wrongdoing.

In her statement last weekend, Ms. White noted that "allegations alone do not prove wrongdoing."

But it is typically very difficult to prove such wrongdoing.

The Telegraph reported that academics and climate change researchers dismissed the allegations, saying that nothing in the emails proved wrongdoing.

Its guiding principle: If you can prove wrongdoing, I'll admit it, but not if it's a crime.

Academics and climate change researchers said that nothing in the emails proved wrongdoing, and dismissed the allegations.

There has been no public indication that Mr. Starr is close to proving wrongdoing by the President, the First Lady or any top Administration officials.