Waves of fallout from the collapse of cryptocurrency trading platform FTX continue to ripple, as accounting firm Prager Metis has learned.
Regulatory Enforcement
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Budweiser Budvar registration failures show ESG impacts of U.K. noncompliance
Most businesses think more about their products than what they come wrapped in, but a recent U.K. penalty against Czech brewery Budweiser Budvar indicates packaging is an increasingly important element in sustainability regulations.
SEC charges three Medly execs with fraud for investment scheme
Former executives of Medly, an online pharmacy that is now shuttered, have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with defrauding investors.
Wells Fargo agrees with OCC to shore up BSA/AML, sanctions program deficiencies
The Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ordered Wells Fargo to make “comprehensive corrective actions” to its Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering and U.S. sanctions programs, along with receive permission from the OCC to offer new products and services or enter new geographic markets with “medium or high” BSA/AML and sanctions risks.
CFPB orders TD Bank to pay $28M for sending false info to credit agencies
TD Bank has been ordered to pay $27.7 million and implement compliance measures, for providing inaccurate, negative credit information to credit agencies about tens of thousands of its customers and taking too long to fix the errors, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said.


