All Regulatory Enforcement articles – Page 162
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Blog
SEC Rebukes Investment Advisory Firm for Ignoring CCO Pleas
A bit of good news amid the discussion of personal liability for chief compliance officers: The SEC has delivered a one-year suspension to an investment advisory firm’s former president on the grounds that he consistently ignored the chief compliance officer’s request for resources, which led to the firm’s compliance failures. ...
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Utah AG Brings Charges Against Latest 'Affinity' Ponzi Scheme
Shortly after Utah introduced the nation's first "White Collar Crime Offender Registry" to help fight affinity fraud, the state's Attorney General charged a father and son with 15 counts of securities fraud in which they allegedly exploited their membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to win ...
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Anti-Corruption Groups Challenge the SFO on DPAs
Image: Title: GreenA number of well-known anti-corruption activists, such as Transparency International and Corruption Watch, are urging David Green, director of Britain’s Serious Fraud Office, to rethink replacing criminal charges with deferred prosecution agreements. The group warns that if DPAs are offered, that will allow banks and other companies to ...
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SEC, Secret Service Reportedly Investigating 'FIN4' Hackers
The SEC and the U.S. Secret Service are reportedly separately investigating a group of hackers called FIN4. In December 2014, cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc. released a report stating that FIN4 that was hacking the email accounts of top executives, lawyers and others in an effort to obtain non-public information about ...
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SEC Charges 36 Firms for Fraudulent Muni-Bond Offerings
The SEC has brought enforcement actions against 36 municipal underwriting firms for violations in municipal bond offerings. The cases are the first to be brought against underwriters under the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation Initiative, a voluntary self-reporting program targeting material misstatements and omissions in municipal bond offering documents. Details inside.
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SEC Charges CCO of SFX With Compliance Failures
The Securities and Exchange Commission last week brought fraud charges against the former president of SFX Financial Advisory Management Enterprises for stealing client funds. The firm and its chief compliance officer separately agreed to settle charges that they were responsible for related compliance failures and other violations. Details inside.
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India Attempts to Tackle the Supply Side of Bribery
India’s Union Cabinet recently approved amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act (PoCA) that will expand the scope of the law to corporate executives. Currently the law prohibits corrupt acts by public servants and government officials, who have been at the center of enforcement actions. Over the years, government corruption ...
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Two More NPAs Reached Under Swiss Bank Program
The Department of Justice today announced that two more banks—Bank Linth (Bank Linth) and Bank Sparhafen Zurich AG (BSZ)—have reached a resolution under the Department’s Swiss Bank Program, which provides a means for Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal liabilities in the United States. Bank Linth will pay a $4.1 ...
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SEC in 1942: Everybody Into the Pool!
How did the SEC staff end up working at the bottom of a swimming pool in 1942? The SEC Historical Society has the answer.
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Gallagher Uncorks on SEC Action Against CCOs
Image: SEC Commissioner Dan Gallagher, often a contrarian voice at the agency, spoke up again last week to denounce recent enforcement actions against compliance officers at investment advisory firms. Gallagher panned the SEC rule that dictates how investment advisers establish compliance procedures, and he railed that “the Commission seems to ...
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Same Old, Same Old With SEC Budget Process
On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal year 2016 appropriations bill eerily similar to the bill Congress passed four years ago—both bills appropriate $222 million less than the SEC requested, freeze the SEC’s budget at the prior year’s level, and prohibit the SEC from drawing upon an important ...
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Sand Hill Exchange Founder Accepts Responsibility, Has Feedback for SEC
Despite a few outliers, most defendants in SEC settlements continue to settle cases "without admitting or denying" the allegations against them. While such language was also included in the Order memorializing the settlement of the SEC's recent administrative proceeding In the Matter of Sand Hill Exchange, et al., the settlement ...
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PetroTiger Exonerated From FCPA Prosecution
First, it was Morgan Stanley in 2012. Now, for only the second time in the history of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (at least, that's been publicly reported), the Department of Justice has exonerated a company from FCPA prosection, despite guilty pleas by three of its top executives. The Justice ...
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As BHP Enforcement Shows, the Proof Is in the Doing
Yes, Virginia, you can violate the FCPA even without bribing a foreign government official—just ask BHP Billiton, fined $25 million by the SEC for having a compliance program that looked great on paper, but was never strongly implemented. This week, columnist Tom Fox does a post-mortem on how BHP’s program ...
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Société Générale to Pay $17.8 Million Under Swiss Bank Program
The Justice Department announced that two more banks—Société Générale Private Banking and Berner Kantonalbank—have reached a resolution under the Swiss Bank Program, which provides a means for Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal liabilities in the United States. Société Générale will pay a $17.8 million penalty, Berner Kantonalbank a $4.6 ...
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Former Federal Regulator Offers Consulting Services for Wolters Kluwer
Former federal regulator Sandra Braunstein will provide compliance management and Community Reinvestment Act consulting services to the U.S. banking clients of Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. In April 2014, Braunstein retired from her role as director of the Federal Reserve Board’s Division of Consumer and Community Affairs after nearly 27 years ...
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SEC Judge RSVP's 'No' to Commission's Invitation to Submit Affidavit
On June 4, 2015 the SEC issued an unusual order inviting one of its ALJs to file an affidavit addressing whether he has experienced any pressure to find in favor of the SEC in his cases. This week, the ALJ declined to do so, effectively RSVP'ing "no" to this "invitation."
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Prosecutors Search Deutsche Bank Head Offices in Tax Fraud Probe
Deutsche Bank took another blow this week after law enforcement officials searched the bank’s headquarters amid suspicions of tax fraud relating to client securities transactions. The practice, known as “dividend stripping,” has once again placed the largest German lender under the regulatory spotlight. Details inside.
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Former KPMG Partner Scott London out of prison, back to work
Scott London—the former KPMG partner who pleaded guilty to insider trading in June 2013 and was sentenced to serve 14 months in prison in April 2014—is out of prison and back to work. London is now employed as the assistant to the CFO of a computer company.
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Innocent Attorney Tries to Clear Name He Shares With Securities Fraudster
Itamar Cohen, age 52, of Thornhill in Ontario, Canada recently pleaded guilty in New Jersey to a $17 million stock fraud. This has created considerable stress and drama for Itamar Cohen, age 53, of Thornhill in Ontario, Canada -- an innocent attorney who is the victim of this unfortunate coincidence.