A recent ruling in the Aon securities class action provides important protection from discovery for companies’ drafts of Form 10-K language. In an order dated January 9, 2009, Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled that Aon was not required to produce an email seeking comments […]
Bruce Carton
Posted inFrom the Archive
January 28 Webcast: FCPA Enforcement — The Paradigm Shift of 2008
On January 28, 2009, KPMG Forensic is sponsoring a webcast that will shed light on the game-changing developments in 2008 in the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. 2008 brought FCPA settlements of previously unthinkable amounts (including the historic Siemens settlement), but also important new trends such as: increasingly aggressive enforcement against individuals; ramped […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Mark Cuban Seeks Dismissal of SEC Insider Trading Case
Mark Cuban filed a motion to dismiss the SEC’s insider trading case against him yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The SEC filed the case on November 17, charging Cuban with insider trading for selling 600,000 shares of the stock of the Internet search engine company Mamma.com on the […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC Commissioner Aguilar’s Prescription for an Ailing Enforcement Division
On January 10, 2009, SEC Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar delivered a speech entitled, “Empowering the Markets Watchdog to Effect Real Results” in which he presented some specific “internal shifts in policy” that he would like to see made immediately. The speech was notable for the unusually candid recognition by Aguilar of several SEC policies and […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Madoff Scheme Leads to Host of Problems
It may feel like the Bernard Madoff case has been with us for years, but it was only Dec. 11, 2008, when news broke that the supposed Wall Street titan and former chairman of Nasdaq had been arrested for running a Ponzi scheme of unimaginable size. According to a complaint filed that day by the […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Time for a Brief Reality Check in the SEC Bashing
Hey, did you hear about Meaghan Cheung? It’s the age-old SEC tale, one you’ve probably read about recently in the op-ed section of the New York Times. Ms. Cheung, you see, was an Enforcement Division branch chief (a mid-level supervisor) in the SEC’s New York office who signed off on the decision to close a […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC — Wall Street Revolving Door Not the Problem
In a Sunday op-ed piece in the NY Times, Michael Lewis and David Einhorn argue that the revolving door of SEC enforcement attorneys to high-paying Wall Street jobs is a deterrent to the SEC working hard to penalize serious corporate and management malfeasance. They state: [A]nything the S.E.C. does to roil the markets, or reduce […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Out of the Office? Here’s What You Missed
Judging from the countless “out of the office” email replies I’ve received over the past two weeks, I think it is safe to say that the holiday-friendly calendar this year has allowed many to take a well-deserved break after a sometimes trying year. For those of you who have been in and out of the […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
House Sets Hearing to Assess Madoff Ponzi, Reform
The House Committee on Financial Services has scheduled a Full Committee Meeting for Monday, January 5, 2009, at 2:00 p.m., to hear testimony on “Assessing the Madoff Ponzi and the Need for Regulatory Reform.” The names of the witnesses are not yet listed on the Committee’s website, but TPMMuckraker reports that according to a press […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Invitation to January 6 Webcast: 2008 Year in Review
Enforcement Action readers are invited to attend what promises to be a great webcast — a review of the most important developments in 2008, and a look ahead to 2009. This free webcast is scheduled for January 6, 2008, at 2 pm Eastern, and is the first of many to come on the new “Securities […]