Regulatory Enforcement

As the government ramps up its war on fraud, companies ought to prepare to do battle with more False Claims Act lawsuits. Thanks to the passage of the Fraud Enforcement & Recovery Act earlier this year, the already broad scope of the False Claims Act, the government’s primary tool to guard against fraud, has grown […]

Corporate legal departments might want to move antitrust enforcement a few steps higher on the priority scale for 2010. So said numerous speakers at the Association of Corporate Counsel’s annual meeting last week, during a forum to review the Obama Administration’s appetite for antitrust compliance. With new heads of antitrust policy at both the Federal […]

It’s here: the joint report by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission recommending ways to harmonize regulation of futures and securities The 96-page report comes in response to a June white paper issued by the White House calling for the agencies to recommend legislative and regulatory actions to address key […]

A settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and a corporate executive for violating the SEC’s Regulation Fair Disclosure offers guidance that could potentially help public companies avoid enforcement trouble over executives talking out of turn. Experts say the SEC’s Sept. 24 civil action against Christopher Black, the former chief financial officer of American Commercial […]

To my knowledge, it is extremely difficult for an issuer to successfully sue an analyst for a negative research report. This daunting challenge is not stopping Hertz Global Holdings, however, in a new case reportedly filed on Monday of this week. On September 15, research firm Audit Integrity issued a report listing Hertz and 19 […]

Stay tuned: An expected report recommending ways to harmonize regulation of futures and securities is due out shortly, according to the chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In a press release issued on Sept. 30—the deadline given by the White House in its June white paper calling for […]

Following the release of its scathing report on its investigation into the Securities and Exchange Commission’s failure to uncover the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Bernard Madoff, the SEC Inspector General has issued a report detailing 21 recommendations to improve the agency’s enforcement program. The report, released Sept. 29, was based in part on a survey […]

U.S. and international regulators and law enforcement agencies are upping their game with increased resources and greater cooperation in response to the global financial crisis, which means corporate compliance departments and counsel may want to do the same. Questions and criticisms raised by the financial crisis about the pre-existing regulatory regimes in the United States […]

While the Treasury’s proposed legislation to regulate over-the-counter derivatives is “an important step forward,” the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission called for Congress to strengthen the plan to avoid regulatory gaps and eliminate regulatory arbitrage opportunities. In Sept. 22 testimony before the House Committee on Agriculture, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro offered her views […]

Corporate legal departments have caught another break on the e-discovery front, thanks to an appeals court ruling that reaffirms the idea that electronic data seized during a criminal investigation can’t be retained unless it’s in the scope of a search warrant. The ruling also gives a de facto blueprint for both government agents and judges […]