In 2011, Judge Jed Rakoff, presiding over the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, rejected a $285 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup over the allegedly fraudulent sale of mortgage bonds. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said […]
Joe Mont
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Banks Asked to Flag Unnecessary, Overly Burdensome Regulations
The many requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act, and international Basel III accord, added to a lengthy list of existing requirements, give banks an ever-growing list of regulations to abide by. They will soon have the chance to tell regulators which of the many rules that govern them are the most burdensome and, in their eyes, […]
Posted inEthics & Culture
Identifying Top Indicators of an Effective Ethics and Compliance Program
Football has touchdowns and baseball has homeruns. If only keeping score for compliance officers was as easy. Measuring success, knowing what works and why, is no simple task for compliance departments. The hallmarks of an effective compliance program are spelled out in numerous pieces of regulatory guidance, including the U.S Justice Department’s Federal Sentencing Guidelines. […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Senate Confirmations Will Finally Give CFTC a Full House
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will soon fill its empty seats. After months of delays, the Senate on Tuesday confirmed all three of President Barack Obama’s nominees. Timothy Massad, picked to replace former chairman Gary Gensler, is a former Treasury Department official. Prior to joining Treasury, Massad was a partner with the law firm of […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC Awards $875,000 to More Whistleblowers Who Aided Investigation
Two tipsters will split a bounty of $875,000 paid by the Securities and Exchange Commission for their assistance with an enforcement action, the latest reward doled out as part of the agency’s whistleblower program. Details about the circumstances that led to the award are scarce. The SEC stresses it must “must protect the confidentiality of […]
Posted inUncategorized
EPA Plan Puts Power Plant Carbon Reductions in States’ Hands
Billed as the most sweeping action by the government to date to combat climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday unveiled tough new rules intended to curb emissions from coal-burning power plants. The proposed Clean Power Plan, for the first time, sets state-by-state targets for reducing carbon pollution from existing power plants. By 2030, […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC Petitions Appeals Court for Another Conflict Minerals Review
Citing a similar judicial review underway over the constitutionality of country-of-origin meat labeling rules, the Securities and Exchange Commission has petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for yet another judicial hearing to settle the lingering question of whether certain conflict minerals disclosures are constitutional. The latest legal gambit comes as conflict […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Google Begins Compliance With EU’s ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ Demands
Google has launched a new Website that gives European users the opportunity to demand the deletion of personal information and related links from its search engine. To comply with new “right to be forgotten” requirements in the EU, the Web giant now offers an online form to facilitate those requests. Earlier this month, the European […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Google Begins Compliance With EU’s ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ Demands
Google has launched a new Website that gives European users the opportunity to demand the deletion of personal information and related links from its search engine. To comply with new “right to be forgotten” requirements in the EU, the Web giant now offers an online form to facilitate those requests. Earlier this month, the European […]
Posted inEurope
Google Begins Compliance With EU’s ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ Demands
Google has launched a new Website that gives European users the opportunity to demand the deletion of personal information and related links from its search engine. To comply with new “right to be forgotten” requirements in the EU, the Web giant now offers an online form to facilitate those requests. Earlier this month, the European […]
