All Regulatory Enforcement articles – Page 153
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Blog
Bulgaria’s Anti-Graft Bill Failed to Win Parliamentary Approval
The Bulgarian government’s plan to create a special anti-corruption unit designed to tackle high-level corruption cases through anonymous reporting has failed to gain parliamentary approval as the fight to end corruption across Europe intensifies. In 2014, Bulgaria was ranked as one of the most corrupt EU countries, according to Transparency ...
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FDIC Hits Comenity Banks Over Deceptive Credit Card Add-Ons
The FDIC has settled with Delaware-based Comenity Bank and Comenity Capital Bank of Salt Lake City for deceptive practices relating to the marketing of credit card add-on products. Comenity Bank will pay a civil money penalty of $2 million and provide $53 million in restitution to harmed consumers. ...
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Oh Craps: Caesar’s Palace Fined $8M for Lax AML Controls
Caesar’s Palace will pay an $8 million penalty for poor money laundering controls that apparently let wealthy clienete gamble millions of dollars in a single visit, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The AML compliance holes let the high-rollers use front money instead of their own, thwarting recordkeeping and ...
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Gallagher Out: SEC Commissioner Sets Departure Deadline of Oct. 2
Nearly four months after SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher announced his intention to depart the SEC, no successor has been nominated by the White House. Today, Commissioner Gallagher issued a short statement indicating that his offer to stay on as a commissioner now has an expiration date: Friday, October 2, 2015.
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From Bad to Worse for Apple Day-Trader Sued by SEC
Things looked like they couldn't get much worse for an Apple day-trader sued by the SEC in February 2015 for a scheme that was allegedly quite audacious. But they just did.
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Third Citigroup Compliance Update Posted
More than one year after Citigroup’s $7 billion landmark settlement with the government to resolve a federal investigation into the sale of sub-prime mortgages comes the third report on the bank’s progress. Details of the report include an assessment of Citi’s consumer relief efforts through March 31 and a review ...
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SEC Cites 'Analysis and Detection Center' in Recent Insider Case
A litigation release announcing the SEC’s headline-generating case against former JPMorgan analyst Ashish Aggarwal for insider trading included an interesting note: The Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit was able to detect the insider trading “through trading data analysis tools in its Analysis and Detection Center.” This marks the first time ...
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De Niro to Play Bernie Madoff in HBO’s ‘Wizard of Lies’
Nearly six years after the scandal unfolded, HBO is moving forward with a film on the Madoff scandal based on Wizard of Lies, a book by NYT reporter, Diana B. Henriques. Robert De Niro will play the role of Bernard Madoff and Henriques will play herself in the movie.
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SEC Prevails in First Appellate Decision on Challenges to APs
Recently, respondents challenging the SEC’s ability to bring administrative proceedings have had success in two cases in federal district court. Last week, the Seventh Circuit became the first appellate court to weigh in on this issue and found in favor of the SEC. The Seventh Circuit held in Bebo ...
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UBS to Pay $1.7 Million for Sanctions Violations
Swiss bank UBS yesterday reached a $1.7 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to resolve allegations that it violated global terrorism sanctions regulations. Lessons learned from the bank’s compliance failures, as well as the mitigating factors that reduced the penalty amount, are inside.
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Trade Group Pushes Guidelines for CCO Enforcement Actions
Image: The National Society of Compliance Professionals has written to Andrew Ceresney, director of enforcement at the SEC, urging that compliance officers not be subject to enforcement actions except in cases where a CCO exhibited reckless conduct or knowingly assisted the primary violator. The letter is the latest salvo ...
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Plan B? Feds Pursue Insider Trading Charges Under SOX
An unusual insider trading prosecution brought under a provision of SOX (rather than Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act) suggests that prosecutors are seeking a "Plan B" in the wake of the Second Circuit's disruptive decision in U.S. v. Newman.
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Report Shows Global Enforcement of Foreign Bribery Still Weak
Transparency International released its 11th annual OECD progress report last week. TI found that of the 41 countries that have agreed to make foreign bribery a crime for which individuals and enterprises are responsible, there is active enforcement in only four countries and little or no enforcement in 20 countries.
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SEC Files Rare Subpoena Enforcement Action Over Failure to Testify
The SEC is understandably loath to file subpoena enforcement actions. Such actions are basically a waste of time and resources, and involve getting a court to order people to do what they are already required to do. Sometimes, however, the SEC has no choice but to wield the "stick" of ...
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Citigroup to Pay $15M for Compliance Failures
Citigroup Global Markets today reached a $15 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges that it failed to enforce policies and procedures to prevent and detect securities transactions that could involve the misuse of material, nonpublic information. The SEC also said the firm failed to adopt ...
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Shamoil Shipchandler Named Regional Director of SEC's Fort Worth Office
Shamoil T. Shipchandler has been named Regional Director of the SEC's Fort Worth Regional Office, filling the vacancy created when former Regional Director David Woodcock left the agency in June 2015 to join law firm Jones Day.
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Citigroup Affiliates to Pay $180 Million for Hedge Fund Fraud
Two Citigroup affiliates—Citigroup Global Markets and Citigroup Alternative Investments—today agreed to pay nearly $180 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges that they defrauded investors in two hedge funds by claiming they were safe, low-risk, and suitable for traditional bond investors. The funds later crumbled and eventually ...
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Report: No Bias Found in SEC Hearings So Far
A report from the SEC’s inspector general says he is looking into allegations of bias among administrative law judges in the SEC’s administrative proceedings, but has found no evidence so far to support those accusations. More inside.
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Edward Jones to Pay $20M for Overcharging Customers in Municipal Bond Sales
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged brokerage firm Edward Jones and the former head of its municipal underwriting desk have agreed to settle charges that they overcharged customers in new municipal bonds sales. It’s the SEC’s first case against an underwriter for pricing-related fraud in the primary market for ...
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DVR Alert: Showtime's Wall Street Drama 'Billions' Debuts January 17
I'm always up for watching some insider trading drama, and Showtime will attempt to deliver some on January 17, 2016 when it debuts its new Wall Street drama series, "Billions."