All Regulatory Enforcement articles – Page 158
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Blog
Mindtree Partners With MetricStream to Simplify Regulatory Compliance for Financial Firms
Mindtree, a digital transformation and technology services company, announced this month that it has partnered with GRC provider MetricStream to help simplify regulatory compliance for financial firms. Mindtree will leverage MetricStream's Zaplet, a cloud-based open platform to build, deploy, and manage a variety of GRC applications for financial firms globally. ...
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Blog
GM to Pay $900 Million to Resolve Criminal Charges in Product Safety Case
General Motors today agreed to a $900 million forfeiture to resolve criminal charges for wire fraud and for concealing information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning safety defects in its vehicles. The automaker also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement under which it admitted that it failed to ...
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Swiss Authorities to Unveil New ‘Lex-FIFA’ Anti-Corruption Reform
A new draft anti-corruption law in Switzerland, named after scandal-ridden football organization FIFA, will treat bribery as a criminal offence and allow Swiss authorities to launch corruption probes against the country’s international sporting federations without tip-offs from inside the organization in question. Some members of Swiss Parliament argue that the ...
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Article
Getting a Better Read on ‘Conduct Risk’
Image: “Conduct risk” is a phrase uttered by many regulators these days and a menace compliance officers in banking circles worry about more and more. Still, putting a precise definition on it isn’t easy. “Conduct risk frequently demands that a firm address the widest range of policies, processes … and ...
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Advocacy Group Rolls Out 'Dump (Mary Jo) Truck' on D.C. Streets
What stunts are even left for the next disgruntled advocacy group to pursue? Skywriters? Taking over the television airwaves to deliver a message like the Joker in Batman? Falconers? Stay tuned!
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Blog
Newman Decision Leads to Rare Loss for SEC in an AP
SEC Administrative Law Judge Jason Patil dismissed an insider-trading case against a former Wells Fargo trader, noting that the SEC failed to prove that the person who allegedly tipped the trader did so for a personal benefit, as required by the Second Circuit’s disruptive opinion in U.S. v. Newman. Patil ...
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Cohen and Sansone Named Co-Chiefs for SEC's Market Abuse Unit
The SEC has named Robert Cohen and Joseph Sansone as the new Co-Chiefs of the Division of Enforcement’s Market Abuse Unit, filling the position recently vacated by Dan Hawke.
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Blog
Court: Whistleblowers Protected, SEC Reporting or Not
A federal appeals court has ruled that employees are covered by anti-retaliation protections for whistleblowers provided by the Dodd-Frank Act, even if they don’t file a report with the SEC. The ruling is a warning to businesses to tread carefully when handing out discipline to a suspected whistleblower, whether or ...
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Blog
DoJ Shifts Policy on Corporate Prosecutions, Individual Culpability
Image: Representing a potential sea change in how the Justice Department approaches corporate prosecutions, a new policy memo stresses the importance of individual prosecutions. The memo, by Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, appears to be a reaction to widespread criticism that in the wake of the financial crisis the Justice ...
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Blog
Welcome to the Enforcement Action Art Gallery!
Welcome to the "Enforcement Action Art Gallery," this blog's collection of the finest SEC and securities enforcement-related art available anywhere.
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Article
Preventing an FTC Cyber-Security Action
Image: A federal appeals court has upheld the Federal Trade Commission’s efforts to sanction companies for poor data security practices—which opens a new front of cyber-security compliance and legal risks for Corporate America. “Basically, if consumers trust you with data, you need to use reasonable business efforts to honor that ...
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Blog
SEC Charges Bankrate, Former Executives With Accounting Fraud
Bankrate Inc. has agreed to pay $15 million to settle accounting fraud charges leveled against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Three former executives were also charged, accused of fraudulently manipulating the company’s financial results to meet analyst expectations. Bankrate’s former CFO Edward DiMaria is also accused of selling ...
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Blog
Former Gov. Contractor in Afghanistan Charged With Bribery
A former employee with International Relief and Development Inc., a government contractor, has pleaded guilty to charges of bribery in connection with a federal program and attempting to avoid currency transaction reporting requirements. The announcement was made this week by Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal ...
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SEC Charges BDO USA, Partners for Misleading Audit Opinions
The SEC has charged audit firm BDO USA with issuing false and misleading unqualified audit opinions about the financial statements of staffing services company General Employment Enterprises. BDO agreed to admit wrongdoing, pay disgorgement of its audit fees and interest totaling approximately $600,000, and pay a $1.5 million penalty. Details ...
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Blog
Tougher Regulations Lead to Structural Overhaul in Europe’s Biggest Banks
The size and number of European investment banks is shrinking, due to tighter regulations that are causing some big banks to retreat from expansion plans. The move comes as financial firms anxiously await final ring-fencing rules from the U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority. More inside.
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Blog
Bulgaria’s Anti-Graft Bill Failed to Win Parliamentary Approval
The Bulgarian government’s plan to create a special anti-corruption unit designed to tackle high-level corruption cases through anonymous reporting has failed to gain parliamentary approval as the fight to end corruption across Europe intensifies. In 2014, Bulgaria was ranked as one of the most corrupt EU countries, according to Transparency ...
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Blog
FDIC Hits Comenity Banks Over Deceptive Credit Card Add-Ons
The FDIC has settled with Delaware-based Comenity Bank and Comenity Capital Bank of Salt Lake City for deceptive practices relating to the marketing of credit card add-on products. Comenity Bank will pay a civil money penalty of $2 million and provide $53 million in restitution to harmed consumers. ...
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Oh Craps: Caesar’s Palace Fined $8M for Lax AML Controls
Caesar’s Palace will pay an $8 million penalty for poor money laundering controls that apparently let wealthy clienete gamble millions of dollars in a single visit, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The AML compliance holes let the high-rollers use front money instead of their own, thwarting recordkeeping and ...
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Blog
Gallagher Out: SEC Commissioner Sets Departure Deadline of Oct. 2
Nearly four months after SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher announced his intention to depart the SEC, no successor has been nominated by the White House. Today, Commissioner Gallagher issued a short statement indicating that his offer to stay on as a commissioner now has an expiration date: Friday, October 2, 2015.
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Blog
From Bad to Worse for Apple Day-Trader Sued by SEC
Things looked like they couldn't get much worse for an Apple day-trader sued by the SEC in February 2015 for a scheme that was allegedly quite audacious. But they just did.