All Regulatory Enforcement articles – Page 170
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Blog
Daiichi Sankyo to Pay $39 Million for FCA Violations
Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo this month agreed to pay $39 million to the government to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to induce physicians to prescribe Daiichi drugs. “Settlements like this one show that the government will continue to pursue health care companies ...
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Former S&P Official Seeks to Pull Plug on 'Imminent' AP Against Her
In recent months, defendants in multiple SEC cases that the agency has brought as administrative proceedings have shot back as plaintiffs in federal court claiming that the SEC's use of these "APs" is unconstitutional. On December 11, 2014, the SEC prevailed in the first of these challenges to be decided ...
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UBS Dark Pool Operation Leads to SEC Charges
The Securities and Exchange Commission this week charged a UBS subsidiary with disclosure failures and other securities law violations related to the operation and marketing of its dark pool. UBS Securities agreed to pay more than $14.4 million, including a $12 million penalty—the SEC’s largest against an alternative trading system. ...
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'Digital Currency Working Group' Helped SEC Bring Bitcoin Case
On December 8, 2014, the SEC announced that it had filed an administrative proceeding against a computer programmer for "operating two online venues that traded securities using virtual currencies Bitcoin or Litecoin without registering the venues as broker-dealers or stock exchanges." The programmer, Ethan Burnside, agreed to settle the case ...
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SEC Enforcement – An Analysis of Key Developments in 2014
2014 was another eventful year in the world of SEC enforcement, with a number of "first-ever" cases and other key developments in areas including insider trading, whistleblowers, admissions, trials, administrative proceedings and the SEC's use of new technologies.In a webcast I moderated yesterday, a panel consisting of four former senior ...
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Article
NLRB Push Forces Rethinking of Social Media Policies
Through numerous rulings last year, the National Labor Relations Board reshaped the boundaries of acceptable social media policies companies can impose on employees. The result: an unsettling world where, yes, employees might be allowed to curse a manager or to use corporate e-mail to raise pro-union sentiments. Compliance officers might ...
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Latest PCI Standard Pushes Toward Risk Management
Image: Version 3.0 of the PCI Data Security Standard goes into effect this month—and maybe, just possibly, it will strengthen companies’ discipline against credit card data theft. The new standard prods companies to approach security as a continuous risk monitoring duty. “You can’t have smooth implementation until you start to ...
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Painful Lessons Learned From Alstom, Avon Settlements
Two long-standing FCPA investigations—one into Avon, the other into Alstom—wrapped up in December, with results sure to alarm any audit committee. The fines were huge, the investigation costs just as large and, above all, the costs of non-cooperation were demonstrated to be painfully high. Inside, Compliance Week columnist Tom Fox ...
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Andrew Weissmann Rejoins DoJ as Chief of Criminal Fraud Section
Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell of the Justice Department announced that Andrew Weissmann has been named chief of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. Weissmann is rejoining the Justice Department, where he previously served as director of the Enron task force.
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U.S. Sentencing Commission Rethinks Securities Fraud Punishments
The U.S. Sentencing Commission is considering changes to how securities-related crimes are punished, potentially imposing less jail time upon defendants in securities fraud cases. A proposal unveiled on Friday detailed a plan to rely on gains obtained by a defendant, rather than the traditional assessment of the losses suffered by ...
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Swiss Bank Feels Force of Cyber Attack in the Social Media Age
In June 2014 I wrote here about how the concept of hackers demanding ransom from companies in exchange for the hackers leaving them alone and moving on to other targets was new to me. Just seven months later, we have the U.S. government accusing foreign countries of hacking massive companies ...
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NHTSA Issues Record Fines in 2014; Fines Honda $70 Million
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration slapped Honda with two $35 million civil penalties for failing to report deaths, injuries, and certain warranty claims to the federal government in violation of the TREAD Act. Including Honda, NHTSA issued more than $126 million in civil penalties in 2014, exceeding the total ...
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Article
Preparing for Pay Rules, Privacy, and a New Congress
The SEC is likely to spend 2015 churning through as much rulemaking for the Dodd-Frank Act as it can, never mind being years behind schedule on that front. To complicate matters for the agency, Congress is also likely to try repealing some parts of the law even before the SEC ...
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Article
Better Ways to Test Banks’ Stress
Image: Title: KraynThe banking world will start 2015 with another bout of hand-wringing over stress tests. Critics question whether the tests probe what truly makes large banks a threat to the financial system, and banks know they must somehow use technology to streamline the annual exercise. “Throwing people at the ...
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SEC Fights 'Pre-taliation' Against Dodd-Frank Whistleblowers
According to whistleblower lawyer Erika Kelton, companies that fear Dodd-Frank whistleblower programs are aggressively trying to squash potential tips to the SEC through a practice the agency has dubbed "pre-taliation." Kelton, a partner at law firm Phillips & Cohen LLP who recently helped one of her clients obtain the largest ...
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SEC.gov's Top 10 News Stories, Search Terms in 2014
The SEC marked the end of 2014 by tweeting "Top 10" lists of both the most-viewed news stories of 2014 on SEC.gov, as well as the most-searched terms on SEC.gov.Here are 2014's Top 10 most-viewed news stories on SEC.gov: See the list: 2014’s most-viewed news on http://t.co/kacEcWakdu pic.twitter.com/zrASY0Ia9j— SEC_News (@SEC_News) ...
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FTC Finalizes User Privacy Charges Against Snapchat
Image: The Federal Trade Commission has approved a final order settling charges that Snapchat deceived consumers with promises about the disappearing nature of messages sent through the service. “If a company markets privacy and security as key selling points in pitching its service to consumers, it is critical that it ...
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FBI Recruiting New Wave of Cyber Agents
The FBI is actively trying to hire a new wave of Special Agents with specialized cyber skills to help it "protect the United States against cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes." In a recent FBI job posting for "Special Agent (Cyber)," the FBI emphasized that the position is for applicants ...
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Computer Sciences to Pay $190 Million in Accounting Probe; Makes Compliance Enhancements
Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) disclosed in a securities filing yesterday that it has reached a $190 million proposed settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will restate three years of financial results to resolve accounting issues dating back four years ago. The SEC charged the IT services company with ...
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CSC Discloses $190 Million Settlement Agreement With SEC
Computer Sciences Corp. is settling an SEC enforcement action relating to accounting errors in the company’s 2009-2012 financial statements. As part of the settlement, CSC will pay a penalty of $190 million and restate past financial statements. CSC said the errors concerned operations in Europe and Australia, and the company’s ...