All Regulatory Enforcement articles – Page 159
-
Blog
Third Citigroup Compliance Update Posted
More than one year after Citigroup’s $7 billion landmark settlement with the government to resolve a federal investigation into the sale of sub-prime mortgages comes the third report on the bank’s progress. Details of the report include an assessment of Citi’s consumer relief efforts through March 31 and a review ...
-
Blog
SEC Cites 'Analysis and Detection Center' in Recent Insider Case
A litigation release announcing the SEC’s headline-generating case against former JPMorgan analyst Ashish Aggarwal for insider trading included an interesting note: The Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit was able to detect the insider trading “through trading data analysis tools in its Analysis and Detection Center.” This marks the first time ...
-
Blog
De Niro to Play Bernie Madoff in HBO’s ‘Wizard of Lies’
Nearly six years after the scandal unfolded, HBO is moving forward with a film on the Madoff scandal based on Wizard of Lies, a book by NYT reporter, Diana B. Henriques. Robert De Niro will play the role of Bernard Madoff and Henriques will play herself in the movie.
-
Blog
SEC Prevails in First Appellate Decision on Challenges to APs
Recently, respondents challenging the SEC’s ability to bring administrative proceedings have had success in two cases in federal district court. Last week, the Seventh Circuit became the first appellate court to weigh in on this issue and found in favor of the SEC. The Seventh Circuit held in Bebo ...
-
Blog
UBS to Pay $1.7 Million for Sanctions Violations
Swiss bank UBS yesterday reached a $1.7 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to resolve allegations that it violated global terrorism sanctions regulations. Lessons learned from the bank’s compliance failures, as well as the mitigating factors that reduced the penalty amount, are inside.
-
Blog
Trade Group Pushes Guidelines for CCO Enforcement Actions
Image: The National Society of Compliance Professionals has written to Andrew Ceresney, director of enforcement at the SEC, urging that compliance officers not be subject to enforcement actions except in cases where a CCO exhibited reckless conduct or knowingly assisted the primary violator. The letter is the latest salvo ...
-
Blog
Plan B? Feds Pursue Insider Trading Charges Under SOX
An unusual insider trading prosecution brought under a provision of SOX (rather than Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act) suggests that prosecutors are seeking a "Plan B" in the wake of the Second Circuit's disruptive decision in U.S. v. Newman.
-
Blog
Report Shows Global Enforcement of Foreign Bribery Still Weak
Transparency International released its 11th annual OECD progress report last week. TI found that of the 41 countries that have agreed to make foreign bribery a crime for which individuals and enterprises are responsible, there is active enforcement in only four countries and little or no enforcement in 20 countries.
-
Blog
SEC Files Rare Subpoena Enforcement Action Over Failure to Testify
The SEC is understandably loath to file subpoena enforcement actions. Such actions are basically a waste of time and resources, and involve getting a court to order people to do what they are already required to do. Sometimes, however, the SEC has no choice but to wield the "stick" of ...
-
Blog
Citigroup to Pay $15M for Compliance Failures
Citigroup Global Markets today reached a $15 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges that it failed to enforce policies and procedures to prevent and detect securities transactions that could involve the misuse of material, nonpublic information. The SEC also said the firm failed to adopt ...
-
Blog
Shamoil Shipchandler Named Regional Director of SEC's Fort Worth Office
Shamoil T. Shipchandler has been named Regional Director of the SEC's Fort Worth Regional Office, filling the vacancy created when former Regional Director David Woodcock left the agency in June 2015 to join law firm Jones Day.
-
Blog
Citigroup Affiliates to Pay $180 Million for Hedge Fund Fraud
Two Citigroup affiliates—Citigroup Global Markets and Citigroup Alternative Investments—today agreed to pay nearly $180 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges that they defrauded investors in two hedge funds by claiming they were safe, low-risk, and suitable for traditional bond investors. The funds later crumbled and eventually ...
-
Blog
Report: No Bias Found in SEC Hearings So Far
A report from the SEC’s inspector general says he is looking into allegations of bias among administrative law judges in the SEC’s administrative proceedings, but has found no evidence so far to support those accusations. More inside.
-
Blog
Edward Jones to Pay $20M for Overcharging Customers in Municipal Bond Sales
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged brokerage firm Edward Jones and the former head of its municipal underwriting desk have agreed to settle charges that they overcharged customers in new municipal bonds sales. It’s the SEC’s first case against an underwriter for pricing-related fraud in the primary market for ...
-
Blog
DVR Alert: Showtime's Wall Street Drama 'Billions' Debuts January 17
I'm always up for watching some insider trading drama, and Showtime will attempt to deliver some on January 17, 2016 when it debuts its new Wall Street drama series, "Billions."
-
Blog
‘Outsider Trading’ Crackdown Announced
The Justice Department and SEC both announced high-profile cases on Tuesday against a large group of hackers and traders. Over a five-year period, the group allegedly carried out a scheme that involved hacking more than 150,000 confidential press releases from the computer networks of Marketwired, PR Newswire Association, and Business ...
-
Blog
On the Death of Cecil the Lion and the FCPA
By now most everyone knows that in July, U.S. citizen and big game hunter Walter Palmer traveled to Zimbabwe and then shot and killed Cecil the Lion, a protected animal. What does that have to do with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act? Quite a lot, columnist Tom Fox notes. This ...
-
Blog
Beware the 'SEC Impersonator' Scams Targeting Your Money
You might not think that fraudsters impersonating the SEC would be a significant or ongoing problem but the volume of the SEC's "Investor Alerts" on this topic would seem to suggest otherwise.
-
Blog
SEC Alleges Accounting Fraud at Miller Energy Resources
The Securities and Exchange Commission is alleging that the former chief financial officer and current chief operating officer of Miller Energy Resources, an oil and natural gas production company, inflated values of oil and gas properties, resulting in fraudulent financial reports for the Tennessee-based company. The audit team leader ...
-
Blog
The End: Prosecutors Wrap Up Case Against Final Madoff Defendant
Yesterday, over six years after the criminal case began in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme case, the Madoff firm's long-time controller, Irwin Lipkin, was sentenced to six months in prison. Lipkin is the 15th -- and final -- defendant to be prosecuted in the Madoff case.