Regulatory Enforcement

The SEC’s focus on options backdating cases has, by its own admission, diminished greatly. Indeed, the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office, which had been leading that charge, stated in November 2008 that it had brought the final options backdating case that it expected to file. In the home office in D.C., however, it appears that […]

The U.K. Financial Services Authority has finally won its first convictions for insider dealing, nine years after the government gave it the powers to prosecute such cases. A jury found that Christopher McQuoid, the general counsel of a listed technology company, had tipped off James Melbourne, his father-in-law, about a looming takeover bid. Melbourne traded […]

In a bid before Congress to maintain the SEC’s capital markets regulator and investor protection roles in any regulatory reform, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro also detailed plans to seek legislation from Congress to expand the agency’s powers and rule proposals it will consider in the coming weeks to strengthen its own rules. […]

Is your firm ready for a government effort to crackdown on cross-border withholding non-compliance? Probably not, according to experts, and that could mean major compliance headaches, not to mention stiff penalties. Observers say a number of recent developments signal that the government is ramping up enforcement related to the Section 1441 withholding regulations, an area […]

Amid efforts to revive enforcement and to restore the Securities and Exchange Commission’s reputation, another commissioner is sounding off on how to improve enforcement. SEC Commissioner Troy Paredes publicly offered his suggestions for how best to allocate the Enforcement Division’s resources in a March 19 speech at the 2009 Southeastern Securities Conference in Atlanta. Paredes […]

A recent enforcement action should serve as a reminder to companies to review their insider-trading compliance programs. A recent settled administrative proceeding against Merrill Lynch should serve as a reminder to all companies to review their programs and make sure they’re tailored specifically to their business, says Tom Gorman, a partner in the law firm […]

While the Securities and Exchange Commission has taken some important steps toward reinvigorating its enforcement program, more needs to be done, including revising its corporate penalty guidelines. That’s according to Commissioner Luis Aguilar, who offered his views on how to “unshackle and empower the SEC Enforcement staff” in recent remarks before the District of Columbia […]

As they continue efforts to revamp U.S. financial services regulation, lawmakers are now trying to tackle the thorny issue of “systemic risk”—in particular, what exactly it is and how to deal with it in an effort to avoid another financial meltdown. That was the topic of the first in a series of planned hearings by […]