Regulatory Enforcement

A federal appeals court has just opened the door for corporate whistleblowers considerably more, ruling that the ex-employee of an instrumentation company has the right to argue his retaliation complaint in federal court because the Labor Department wasn’t moving quickly enough to resolve the issue. The Virginia-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling in Stone […]

In December the U.S. House of Representatives passed a key financial reform bill, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, which would provide sweeping new oversight of the financial sector. The bill, which passed the House narrowly and without a single Republican vote, includes new regulations in a host of areas of […]

2009 again saw record levels of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions brought by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission according to a recap of FCPA enforcement activity by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. By the GDC’s count, last year saw a combined 40 enforcement actions, with 26 brought by the DoJ, and […]

2009 was a year to forget for the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street, the White House, law firms-everywhere, really. However, 2009 was truly the gift that kept on giving for those of us who write about SEC enforcement and securities litigation. Here is my look back at 2009, which I have learned I must […]

2009 was a notable year for securities litigation and regulatory enforcement, as the first consequences of the financial crisis had their days in court. Expect more to come in 2010. The year started with a stern ruling from the Delaware Chancery Court that, no, shareholders at Citigroup could not sue the company’s leaders solely because […]

Around the globe, people seek some kind of connection to each other. I’m in the U.S., you are in the U.K., he is in Sweden, she is in Australia–what do we possibly have in common? Well, here’s one thing: As far as I can tell, in 2009, people universally do not like their country’s securities […]

Defense attorneys’ attack against one of the Justice Department’s primary tools to prosecute fraud has begun. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week over the merits of the “honest services statute,” which ostensibly requires executives to avoid corrupt activity and execute their duties in good faith. Defense lawyers, however, have long said the 21-year-old […]

Congressional efforts to chart the future of U.S. financial services regulation continue to forge ahead with the passage by the House of Representatives of a mammoth regulatory reform bill that combines several previous proposals into a massive 1,279 page tome. The House on Dec. 11 voted 223-202 to approve the Wall Street Reform and Consumer […]