Regulators continue to hammer firms with fines for violating rules regarding the use of unapproved communication methods by employees, issuing $120 million in fines this week. And for the first time, two firms were not fined because they self-reported their violations.
Regulatory Enforcement
Posted inInternal Controls
How lax compliance led three defense companies to give military secrets to U.S. adversaries
There are dozens of ways foreign countries can get their hands on U.S. military secrets, including cyberhacking, espionage, theft, and more. But one increasingly concerning way has been through unintentional disclosures by trusted defense contractors, including Boeing, 3D Systems Corp., and RTX Corp., parent company of Raytheon.
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC penalizes Macquarie Asset Management $80M for overvaluing assets, fraud
Historically, the SEC has fiercely protected the rights of retail investors, and is constantly churning out enforcement actions against investment advisers it alleges have defrauded and manipulated its customers. So, it was somewhat unusual the agency issued an enforcement action this week that involved protecting the rights of institutional investors.
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
‘Biblically responsible’ investment adviser ordered to pay $300K over misleading investors
A “biblically responsible” investment adviser agreed to pay $300,000 and hire an independent compliance consultant to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it misled investors, along with other compliance failures.
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Prager Metis agrees to pay $2M over failed audits, including FTX
Waves of fallout from the collapse of cryptocurrency trading platform FTX continue to ripple, as accounting firm Prager Metis has learned.
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
SEC charges Kubient ‘gatekeepers’ with failing to stop CEO’s AI fraud
Gatekeepers including chief financial officers and the chair of the audit committee have a responsibility to shareholders to report fraud wherever they find it–especially when that fraud involves an artificial intelligence tool meant to combat fraud.
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC nets $1.3M in off-channel comms sweep against municipal advisory firms
Fines for off-channel communications use by employees just keep on coming, with 12 municipal advisory firms fined a total of $1.3 million in the latest Securities and Exchange Commission sweep.
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
DOJ orders Walgreens to pay $107M for fraudulent claims caused by Rx ‘software error’
Walgreens agreed to pay nearly $107 million to resolve allegations, first brought by two whisteblowers, that it improperly billed federal healthcare programs for prescriptions that were never picked up or delivered.
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
FINRA fines Wells Fargo unit $3M for repeatedly pushing ‘unsuitable’ investments
A Wells Fargo subsidiary will pay nearly $3 million to settle allegations that it failed to properly supervise an employee attempting to sell unsuitable investment products to retail investors–the fifth time it has been penalized for similar supervisory failings since 2020.
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Chinese regulators impose six-month ban, $62M fine on PwC’s China unit
Chinese authorities banned PwC’s Chinese unit from performing audits in the country for six months, labeling the subsidiary’s flawed audit work as complicit in the failure of giant property developer Evergrande.
