Elaine C. Greenberg, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit and Associate Director of the Philadelphia Regional Office, is leaving the agency at the end of July to enter the private sector. Greenberg was the first-ever Chief of the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit, which was formed in January 2010, and […]
Bruce Carton
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC to Require Admissions of Wrongdoing in Settlements of Most Egregious Cases
The SEC made some news yesterday at the Wall Street Journal CFO Network conference, as Chairman Mary Jo White announced that the agency will now begin requiring admissions of wrongdoing from defendants to settle enforcement actions in certain circumstances. The announcement is a significant change in course from the SEC’s long-standing–and increasingly criticized–policy of allowing defendants […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Video: Former KPMG Partner’s Frank Interview on Courthouse Steps Should Be Wake Up Call
Last year I posted some photos here of Danielle Chiesi sashaying her way out of federal court in Manhattan in a pink dress after being sentenced to 30 months in prison, two years of supervised release, 250 hours of community service, and a $25,000 fine for insider trading. As one commenter on the Gothamist site […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Amelia Cottrell Promoted to Associate Regional Director for Enforcement in NY
The SEC’s Amelia Cottrell has been promoted to the position of Associate Regional Director for Enforcement in the agency’s New York Regional Office. Since 2008, Cottrell has served as that office’s Assistant Regional Director as well as a member of the Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit. The Associate Regional Director position was previously held by Sanjay Wadhwa. […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
The Internal Audit Function and Anti-Corruption Compliance
Corporations’ internal auditors are increasingly becoming involved in anti-corruption compliance efforts. As Kara Brockmeyer, Chief of the SEC’s FCPA Unit, stated last year, “a company’s compliance and internal audit should be the first line of defense against corruption, not part of the problem.” Indeed, in many recent FCPA enforcement actions, the SEC and DOJ have specifically […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC Official Expects ‘Extremely Significant Whistleblower Awards’ in Coming Months
In May, I noted in my monthly column for Compliance Week that although the two-year anniversary of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Whistleblower is fast approaching, the office has still paid out only one award to a whistleblower, in the amount of just $50,000. I wrote that The conspicuous, ongoing silence from the […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC Hammers CBOE for Lacking ‘Fundamental Understanding’ of Abusive Short Selling
What do the Chicago Board Options Exchange and I have in common? According to the SEC, through at least 2009, neither of us had a fundamental understanding of Regulation SHO! (Note–I still do not have a fundamental understanding of Regulation SHO. I assume CBOE now does). In an administrative proceeding brought today, the SEC charged the CBOE […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC’s White Defends ‘No Admission’ Settlements, But Says Policy Under Review
As I recently discussed here, in a letter dated May 14, 2013, Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked SEC Chairman Mary Jo White to answer the following question: Have you conducted any internal research or analysis on trade-offs to the public between settling an enforcement action without admission of guilt and going forward with litigation as necessary to […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Behind the SEC’s Renewed Focus on Financial Fraud
The early part of the last decade was a busy time for the Securities and Exchange Commission, as it responded to a corporate crime wave perpetrated by companies such as Enron, WorldCom, and HealthSouth. It filed a record 679 enforcement actions during its 2003 fiscal year. Of those, 199 cases—or nearly 30 percent (also a […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
After Monitoring Rakoff-SEC Battle, Ontario Limits ‘No-Contest’ Settlements
After monitoring the growing judicial unrest in the U.S. with respect to approving “no admit, no deny” SEC settlements, the Ontario Securities Commission changed a proposed new rule this week that would have allowed such “no-contest” settlements (the OSC’s term for settlements that do not include an admission of a breach of securities law) in its […]
