All Regulatory Enforcement articles – Page 144
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Article
A global glimpse at whistleblower protections in OECD countries
More OECD countries have put in place dedicated whistleblower protection laws in the past five years than in the previous quarter century, according to analysis by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But what’s a compliance officer to do when whistleblower protection laws in foreign countries directly contradict whistleblower ...
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Blog
Utah plays shame game with “White Collar Crime Offender Registry"
Utah’s “White Collar Crime Offender Registry”—its effort to identify and shame its white-collar criminals—is now up and running. The Registry lists over 100 offenders in alphabetical order, including mug shot, birthday, height, weight, and “Qualifying Convictions.” Offenders will remain on it for (a) a period of 10 years for a ...
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Blog
Former Goldman compliance employee settles SEC insider trading case
A former Goldman Sachs compliance employee settled his case with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve insider trading charges filed against him last year. Judge Valerie Caproni of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York last week entered a final judgment against defendant Yue Han, ...
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Blog
Toshiba faces U.S. accounting probe
Tokyo-based electronics maker Toshiba confirmed that it is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged accounting irregularities. Toshiba’s disclosure about the U.S. investigation follows media reports that U.S. regulators are investigating allegations that Toshiba’s U.S.-based nuclear business division, Westinghouse, hid $1.3 ...
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Blog
FBI's Cyber Division alerts law firms to hacker threats
The FBI's Cyber Division recently issued a Private Industry Notification alerting law firms that "[i]n a recent cyber criminal forum post, a criminal actor posted an advertisement to hire a technically proficient hacker for the purposes of gaining sustained access to the networks of multiple international law firms." The criminals ...
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Blog
SEC commissioner nominees Peirce and Fairfax receive Senate hearing
This week -- finally(!) -- the Senate Banking Committee held confirmation hearings for the two people nominated to be the next SEC commissioners: Hester Peirce and Lisa Fairfax. Presently, following the 2015 departures of SEC commissioners Luis Aguilar and Daniel Gallagher, the SEC is operating with just three commissioners (Chair ...
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Blog
How to stop banks from behaving like banks
In the never-ending quest to address the systemic risk posed by the banking industry, a team of academics and the Banking Standards Board have raised fresh initiatives to improve banking regulation itself. But are a globally imposed “risk tax” and a push to improve banking culture really what banks need?
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Blog
FTC to study credit card industry data security auditing
The Federal Trade Commission has issued orders to nine companies requiring them to provide the agency with information on how they conduct assessments of companies to measure their compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).
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Blog
Are anti-bribery experts focusing on the wrong numbers?
To be sure, enforcement data is an important tool for companies to understand their anti-bribery regulatory risks. But relying solely on U.S. enforcement statistics reveals only part of the increasingly complex and multi-layered regulatory landscape that multinationals are facing today. Inside, a look at what can be accomplished when the ...
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Blog
SEC awards nearly $2 million in latest blockbuster whistleblower payout
The SEC announced another blockbuster whistleblower award yesterday. The agency stated that it will pay nearly $2 million to three whistleblowers in a case -- including a payment of approximately $1.8 million to one of the three whistleblowers.
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Blog
Run, don't walk, from CEO conflicts of interest
On March 2, Aubrey McClendon—founder and CEO of American Energy Partners, and co-founder, CEO, and chairman of Chesapeake Energy—died in a fiery one-person car crash, where it appears he deliberately drove his vehicle into a concrete barrier around a highway overpass. This car accident occurred the day after he was ...
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Blog
DOJ's Patrick Stokes promoted, Daniel Kahn named acting head of FCPA unit
The current head of the DOJ's FCPA unit, Patrick Stokes, has been named Senior Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. Daniel S. Kahn, Assistant Chief of the FCPA unit since 2013, will now serve as Acting Head of the FCPA unit.
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Blog
21st Century Oncology to pay $34.7 million for False Claims Act violations
21st Century Oncology, a physician-led integrated cancer care provider, and its wholly owned subsidiary South Florida Radiation Oncology, will pay $34.7 million to settle allegations that they performed and billed for procedures that were not medically necessary. Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than ...
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Article
Putting FINRA’s priorities into practice
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s full court press on addressing emerging and existing risks in the securities industry will continue to intensify in 2016, reinforced by a steady surge in restitution, disciplinary actions, and bars and suspensions over the last five years. What are FINRA’s top regulatory and examination priorities, ...
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ArticleSpain bolsters anti-competition enforcement
Spanish regulators are paying closer attention to anti-competitive behavior across several industries, demonstrated by record fines and enforcement actions reached in 2015. Multinationals with operations in Spain should heed the warning. “We are now seeing that the amount of total fines [is] getting higher and higher,” says Crisanto Perez-Abad of ...
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Blog
No matter who wins the Presidential race in November, compliance officers might lose
After watching the most recent Democrat and Republican Presidential debates, one begins to wonder what the next President will seek to achieve on various regulatory fronts. Between candidates’ promises to regulate more strongly, or to deregulate entirely, it looks like no matter who wins in November, compliance officers are poised ...
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Blog
2016 SEC trial scorecard update: agency undefeated after three trials
On Monday, February 29, 2016, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York returned a verdict in favor of the SEC in the agency's third federal court trial of FY 2016. The agency remains undefeated in FY 2016having been successful in SEC v. Payton ...
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Blog
Throwback Thursday: The three-digit insider trading case
At least one commentator declared this week's SEC insider trading case alleging illegal profits of just $1,083 to be the smallest insider trading case ever. Nope!
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Blog
Glass walls and black curtains
The death of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia—and the scuttlebutt surrounding it—underscores the deep level of secrecy that surrounds the Supreme Court and how it operates. Meanwhile, compliance officers know only too well the price to pay for a lack of transparency. Maybe it’s time for the Supreme Court ...
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Blog
Stanford Law rolls out ‘Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Clearinghouse’
U.S.-based Stanford Law School announced earlier this month that it has teamed up with law firm Sullivan & Cromwell to launch the new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Clearinghouse. The FCPA Clearinghouse is a free, public resource that provides a comprehensive, searchable, and very useful database of enforcement actions and information ...