Yesterday, the SEC continued its undefeated streak in its FY 2016 federal court trials. The SEC announced that on April 29, following a two week trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, a jury returned a verdict in favor of the SEC in its case against Stephen D. Ferrone.
Bruce Carton
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC nominee confirmation watch: Nothing to see here!
Three more weeks have now passed since a supposedly “routine” April 7 vote in Congress to approve SEC commissioner nominees Lisa Fairfax and Hester Peirce was abruptly terminated without a vote even taking place. Surely the Senate has gotten its act together by now to confirm (or not) President Obama’s nominees for the short-handed SEC, right? Think again.
Posted inFrom the Archive
Law firms under cyber-siege: now what?
The past month has presumably been quite eye-opening for the many, many law firms that have been sleeping on their significant cybersecurity exposure. From an unusual and specific warning by the FBI, to reports of elite law firms being hacked, to the blockbuster “Panama Papers” matter, law firms are now firmly on notice that they are in the crosshairs of hackers worldwide.
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC’s Ceresney says more cybersecurity cases ‘coming down the pike’
The SEC has begun to bring cybersecurity-related enforcement actions under Regulation S-P of the Securities Act of 1933, and Enforcement Director Andrew Ceresney stated this week that more such cases are now “coming down the pike.”
Posted inFrom the Archive
Sen. Warren not mad at SEC, just disappointed
There are some basic certainties in life. Death. Taxes. The fact that “haters gonna hate.” And to this list I think we can add that Sen. Elizabeth Warren will be “disappointed” in the SEC.
Posted inFrom the Archive
OSC set to launch whistleblower program in summer 2016
The chairman of the Ontario Securities Commission confirmed this week that the OSC’s new whistleblower office is expected to receive final approval in June 2016 and begin operations in “early summer” 2016. The OSC will be the first securities regulator in Canada to adopt a whistleblower program.
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
AMU co-chief Marshall Sprung announces departure from SEC
Marshall S. Sprung, co-chief of the SEC Division of Enforcement’s Asset Management Unit, is leaving the agency after 13 years of service. Sprung’s co-chief, Anthony Kelly, will continue to lead the unit following Sprung’s departure later this month.
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
CFTC whistleblower program finally scores big with $10 million award
Image: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission had been off to a slow start with its Dodd-Frank whistleblower program, having paid out just two awards totaling $530,000 over the entire life of the program. That changed dramatically last week, however, when the CFTC announced a huge award of more than $10 million. Christopher Ehrman, director of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Office, hopes this award will encourage others to come forward with information.
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
‘Routine’ vote to finally approve two SEC commissioner nominees blocked
Image: The struggle to add two commissioners to the SEC drags on, leaving SEC Chair Mary Jo White (left) and two other SEC commissioners to do the work of what is supposed to be a five-member commission. The most recent development in this saga came yesterday, when a supposedly “routine” vote to approve two nominees was blocked.
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
How SEC legend Judge Stanley Sporkin hired future luminaries
Image: Title: SporkinIn the past two weeks there have been two interesting articles written about SEC enforcement legend Judge Stanley Sporkin, the SEC’s second director of enforcement (and much more). Inside, enforcement blogger Bruce Carton looks at the takes on “Sporkin’s kids”—his SEC protégés who went on to become luminaries in their own right, and what Sporkin looked for when he hired them.