All Regulatory Enforcement articles – Page 151
-
Blog
UK Insider Trader Returned to Prison For Failure to Repay Illegal Profits
In the UK, insider trading prosecutions are pretty rare. Indeed, there had never even been a criminal insider trading case in the UK until 2009, and to date there have only been a total of about two dozen criminal convictions for insider trading in the UK. Pardip Saini is one ...
-
Blog
Novaworks Issues New Solution for SEC Regulation SDR
New SEC rules scheduled to take effect May 18 and designed to increase transparency within the derivatives markets have left firms engaged in securities swaps searching for solutions. Novaworks, a provider of SEC filing software, announced this week the latest version of its GoFiler family of products contains an easy-to-use ...
-
Blog
FCA: Banks Should Rethink Derisking Strategies
The Financial Conduct Authority warns that banks should rethink their anti-money laundering strategies in light of reports that financial institutions have nixed services to customers that may pose potential money-laundering risks. The agency says, “These policies and procedures must be comprehensive and proportionate to the nature, scale, and complexity of ...
-
Blog
Selerity Strikes Gold with Early Look at Twitter Earnings Release
This week, a data services company called Selerity used an automated system and some very aggressive digging to obtain early -- and highly lucrative -- information about Twitter's earnings.
-
Blog
Belgium's Robust AML Regime
While Belgium has made significant progress in tracking down anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financial (AML/CFT) activities, a lot more work needs to be done, says a recent report by the Financial Action Task Force. In April, the European Union approved new draft rules that reflect the need of its member ...
-
Blog
$600,000 to Man in Whistleblower Retaliation Case
The SEC has awarded $600,000 to the first person ever at the center of a whistleblower retaliation case, giving him the maximum award possible for information he provided to the SEC in an investigation against a financial firm in Albany, N.Y. The firm itself was charged in 2014 with retaliating ...
-
Article
The Multimillion Dollar Question: When to Self-Report?
Image: The mantra from regulators when uncovering potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is clear: self-report early and often. Still, companies might want to take a more nuanced approach to that decision, and some legal voices maintain that occasionally shareholders are best served by staying silent. “Right now, ...
-
Blog
Judge Rakoff's New Securities Law Focus: Re-Defining Insider Trading
Image: Having already left his mark on how the SEC handles deferred-prosecution agreements and other settlements, U.S. Judge Jed Rakoff now appears to be focused on another key securities enforcement issue: the definition of insider trading. More inside.
-
Blog
Libor Scandal Costs Deutsche Bank $2.5 Billion in Penalties
Deutsche Bank and its subsidiary, DB Group Services (U.K.), pleaded guilty to wire fraud for their role in manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate and agreed to pay $775 million in criminal penalties to the Department of Justice, bringing the total amount of penalties against the bank to $2.5 billion. ...
-
Blog
SDNY Names New Chief, Deputy Chief of Securities Fraud Task Force
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has named Katherine Goldstein as Chief and Telemachus Kasulis as Deputy Chief of that office's Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.
-
Blog
Merrill Lynch Fined £13.2 million ($19.8 million) for 35 Million Compliance Lapses
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority fined Merrill Lynch International a record £13.2 million ($19.8 million) for inaccurately reporting more than 30 million transactions and for failing to report another 120,000 transactions over several years. The size of the fine marks the highest ever imposed for transaction reporting failures. Details inside.
-
Blog
Gazprom Faces Antitrust Trouble in Europe
The European Commission plans to file formal antitrust charges against Gazprom, as the Russian energy giant is suspected of abusing its power in the natural gas sector by preventing some countries—such as Lithuania and Poland—from re-exporting gas they purchased from the company. If the Commission succeeds, Gazprom will face a ...
-
Article
Conflict Minerals: From Compliance to Risk Management
Image: As a June 1 deadline nears for companies’ second year of conflict minerals compliance, some might consider life beyond the next Form SD filing to a broader risk management program for suppliers. It can be done, particularly with the OECD’s framework for conflict minerals due diligence. “The entire rule ...
-
Blog
FBI Agent David Makol Rejoins SEC as Forensic Accountant
Back in 2012, I recommended a "must-read" article by WSJ reporters Susan Pulliam, Michael Rothfeld and Jenny Strasburg about FBI agent David Makol. The article provided some fascinating insight into the tactics that Makol, then the FBI's go-to guy for "flipping" suspects in insider trading investigations, used so successfully in ...
-
Blog
White Defends Subpoenaing ISPs for E-Mails
Image: The SEC has long opposed efforts to modernize the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, fearing it could lose the ability to subpoena internet service providers for e-mails. Although ISP subpoenas are currently on hold, privacy concerns could harm investigations, Chairman Mary Jo White told a Congressional sub-committee.
-
Blog
FBI Establishes International Corruption Squads
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in conjunction with the Department of Justice’s Fraud Section, recently established another weapon in the battle against foreign bribery and kleptocracy-related criminal activity: three dedicated international corruption squads, based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Details inside.
-
Blog
BNY Mellon Units Fined $185 Million for Custody Rule Compliance Failures
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority this week fined two Bank of New York Mellon firms—Bank of New York Mellon’s London Branch and The Bank of New York Mellon International Limited—a total of $185 million for failing to comply with the FCA’s Custody Rules, which protect safe custody assets if a ...
-
Blog
Advocacy Groups Looking for an SEC Superhero
From the depths of the D.C. Metro system comes a social media campaign from an advocacy group that depicts SEC Chairman Mary Jo White as a superhero. The campaign revolves around the concept of White with a cape and an MJW logo, taking down the scourge of “dark money.” See ...
-
Blog
SEC Trial Scorecard Update: Jury Finds 'Feeder' Liable in Florida Ponzi Scheme
This running SEC Trial Scorecard tracks the SEC's trials and outcomes for FY 2015. To date in FY 2015, which began on October 1, 2014, the SEC has now had five trials in federal court reach a verdict (see the full list below). The most recent verdict was reached on ...
-
Blog
SEC's Lawsuit Against Freddie Mac Execs Fizzles Out in Unusual Settlement
On Dec. 16, 2011, the SEC charged three former top executives of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) with securities fraud. The SEC alleged that the executives "knew and approved of misleading statements claiming the companies had minimal holdings of higher-risk mortgage loans, including subprime loans." Yesterday, however, ...