A federal appeals court last week gave the Securities and Exchange Commission broad power under The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to freeze “extraordinary payments” to company officers that are made when the Commission is investigating possible wrongdoing.
A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals initially held in May 2004 that the SEC did not have the power under SOX to block $37.6 million in severance payments to the former chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Gemstar-TV Guide International.
