All Regulatory Enforcement articles – Page 162
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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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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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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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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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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.
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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.
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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 ...
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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.
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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 ...
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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.
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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.