FCPA Declination Opinions? SEC and DOJ Sort of Have Them
The Justice Department and the SEC released long-awaited joint guidance on enforcement and compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act yesterday. Many have pointed out that the guidance does not...
View ArticleSeveral Thoughts about the Largest Insider Trading Case in History
The SEC and Justice Department filed a massive insider trading case in the Southern District of New York yesterday. The actual defendants include University of Michigan neurology professor Sidney...
View ArticlePCAOB Brings Case on Audit Documentation
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board brought a settled action on November 13th against three outside auditors whose errors were measured not in substance, but in process. Dale Arnold Hotz,...
View ArticleRemote Tippee Issues Hang over SEC/Wells Fargo Insider Trading Case
The SEC brought a big insider trading case against a number of individuals in the Western District of North Carolina yesterday. The complaint alleges $11 million in illicit profits. The complaint calls...
View ArticleSEC’s Asset Management Unit Focuses on Compliance Failures, Vol. 2
As we discussed last month, the SEC’s Asset Management Unit has developed a likeness for not just big, headline-grabbing cases, but relatively small compliance-based cases that are designed to prevent...
View ArticleSEC Charges Allianz with FCPA Violations
On December 17th, the SEC brought a settled administrative FCPA action against Allianz SE, a German insurance company with a subsidiary in Indonesia. The order does not allege violations of the FCPA’s...
View ArticleA Profile That’s Not about Nothing
Do you know what Jerry Seinfeld has been doing for the last fifteen years, since his eponymous sitcom went off the air in 1998? My daughters are big fans of Bee Movie, so I knew he starred in that and...
View ArticleSEC Charges Indian Firms with Acting as Unregistered Broker-Dealers
On November 27th, the SEC charged four Indian financial services firms with acting as unregistered broker-dealers in the United States....By: David Smyth
View ArticleSEC Brings Case Involving EB-5 Investment Program
It’s not often that the securities enforcement and immigration law worlds collide, but I suppose it occasionally happens....By: David Smyth
View ArticleSEC Staff Seeking Hard Drives, Etc. (but without authority)
Last month brought us this story from Reuters, in which we learned that the SEC “has become more aggressive in seeking full hard drives from the companies and individuals it investigates, startling...
View ArticleSEC Enforcement Coming to a Private Equity Firm Near You
Bruce Karpati, chief of the SEC’s Asset Management Unit (“AMU” or the “Unit”), recently spoke at the Private Equity International Conference in New York, and opened a window into the Unit’s views...
View ArticleSEC Issues Risk Alert on Investment Adviser Custody Rule
The SEC can express its displeasure with a particular securities practice in a number of different ways, with increasing levels of fun for the alleged malefactor. Here’s a non-exhaustive list: 1. One...
View ArticleSEC Ramps Up Its Private Equity Parade
Bruce Karpati, chief of the SEC’s Asset Management Unit, promised us several weeks ago that enforcement actions against private equity firms were about to heat up. He wasn’t kidding. Last Monday, the...
View ArticleAccounting Fraud Not Just for Public Companies Anymore
One of the salient features of the SEC’s enforcement program in recent years has been a dearth of accounting fraud cases. While those cases used to be the SEC’s bread and butter, and hovered around 200...
View ArticleSEC Publishes Report on Reg. FD and Social Media – Joy, Vexation Follow
You probably remember a dustup from a few months ago when the SEC threatened to sue Netflix for violations of Regulation FD. Basically, the rule says that when a public company gives material nonpublic...
View ArticleSEC Highlights Compliance and Ethics for Broker-Dealers
On Tuesday the SEC held a National Compliance Outreach Program for Broker-Dealers at an open meeting at its D.C. headquarters. The first panel – titled The Role of Compliance and Ethics – was nominally...
View ArticleRalph Lauren Escapes FCPA Problems with Minimized Damage
Often, enforcement officials at the SEC and the Justice Department express their wish that securities law violators own up to their (mis)conduct as soon it comes to light. That is, come to the...
View ArticleSEC Dings Investment Adviser for Custody Violations, Failure to Supervise
Readers of this space – and SEC observers generally – will recall a March 4 risk alert designed to warn investors about the ways U.S. investment advisers had recently been found to have violated the...
View ArticleThe SEC Does Not Care about Your FINRA Document Request
If you are a broker-dealer or a registered representative at one, you sign on for some meddling by FINRA. The self-regulatory organization is responsible for overseeing your securities business and...
View ArticleKeeping Internal Investigations Independent and Conflict-Free
Internal investigations can arise in a number of different ways and can concern a number of different subjects. Allegations of financial misconduct, employment-related missteps, and breaches of...
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