All Regulatory Enforcement articles – Page 153
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Blog
Citigroup: Law Firms at High Risk of Cyber-Attacks
In a recent internal report, Citigroup's cyberintelligence center warned employees that law firms are targets of attacks by foreign governments and hackers because they house valuable data concerning their clients' transactions and strategies.According to the NY Times, the Citigroup report alerted employees that cybersecurity at law firms remains weak as ...
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PayPal to Pay $7.7 Million for 486 Sanctions Violations
PayPal, an electronic payments company, this week reached a $7.7 million settlement with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for processing 486 transactions in violation of OFAC regulations governing sanctions programs. The civil penalties could have been significantly higher, had PayPal not self-reported the violations and cooperated with ...
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Schlumberger Subsidiary Fined $232.7 Million for Sanctions Violations
Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings, a subsidiary of oilfield services giant Schlumberger, has entered into a guilty plea and will pay a record $232.7 million criminal fine for economic sanctions violations. The amount is the largest criminal fine in connection with an International Emergency Economic Powers Act prosecution. Details inside.
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Ceresney Testifies on Enforcement's Budgetary Needs and Performance
Last week, Andrew Ceresney, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, testified before the Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee. Ceresney provided the subcommittee with details on how the Enforcement Division would use a proposed increase in the SEC's budget for FY 2016, ...
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U.K. Financial Regulator Issues Priorities for Coming Year
Image: Title: WheatleyBritain’s Financial Conduct Authority released a laundry list of priorities for the upcoming financial year, pledging to continue work on concerns like poor culture and technological developments while ramping up efforts on financial crime, the pensions sector, and individual accountability. “This is an important day in terms of ...
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Article
Managing Data Security and Privacy Risks 2.0
Image: Modern technology allows powerful employee monitoring ability to sharpen business performance and even support compliance efforts. The bad news: Those technologies also spawn a new set of data security risks to keep compliance officers busy. “The key is trying to strike a balance between the employee’s personal privacy interests ...
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Article
Human Trafficking Compliance Arrives for Federal Contractors
Image: Starting this month, government contractors must ensure that their supply chain is free of human-trafficking activities. The thicket of new requirements isn’t too different conceptually from other compliance obligations, but the nuances of human-trafficking risk will pose some tricky policy challenges. Companies previously might not have thought much about ...
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Aguilar: SEC Must Extend Its Global Reach
SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar, an outspoken proponent of stronger agency oversight, says the regulator must do more to extend its global reach. In a recent speech, Aguilar framed the SEC’s imperative simply: “As companies increasingly have foreign operations, the SEC will need to address how best to extend its supervisory ...
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BNY Mellon Settles FX Charges, Will Pay $714 Million
Bank of New York Mellon has agreed to pay $714 million in a series of settlements related to accusations it fraudulently overcharged clients on foreign exchange currency transactions. The settlements stem from long-running lawsuits by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and New York’s Attorney General.
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Jury Returns Mixed Verdict in Willie Gault Case, Part II: 'Negligent Fraud'
Yesterday I wrote here about the jury verdict reached this week in the SEC's trial against former Chicago Bears wide receiver Willie Gault. I wrote that "the jury found that Gault was not liable on any of the four fraud-related charges against him, but that he was liable on three ...
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March Madness! SEC Loses an AP for First Time Since FY 2013
As I observed here a year ago,It is hard to make anything 100% pure. Ivory Soap famously falls just short at 99.44% pure. Even Breaking Bad's Walter White could not get his blue-tinted methamphetamine purer than 99.1%.In FY 2014, however, the SEC maintained 100% perfection in its administrative proceedings. The ...
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SEC Trial Scorecard Update: Jury Returns Mixed Verdict in Willie Gault Case
After a verdict-free period that spanned three months, my SEC Trial Scorecard is finally back in action to report on yesterday's verdict in the SEC's case against former NFL wide receiver Willie Gault. This running SEC Trial Scorecard tracks the SEC's trials and outcomes for FY 2015. To date ...
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British Regulator Slaps Bank of Beirut With A Hefty Fine
Image: Title: PhilippouBritish regulators are taking action after two former Bank of Beirut employees misled the Financial Conduct Authority about whether the bank had complied with orders to boost its financial crime protections. The bank was fined £2.1 million and is temporarily banned from “acquiring new customers from high-risk” locations. ...
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FinCEN Advisory Addresses Jurisdictions With AML Deficiencies
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network this week issued guidance in response to the Financial Action Task Force’s updated list of jurisdictions with Anti–Money Laundering and Counter–Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) deficiencies. “Financial institutions should consider these changes when reviewing their enhanced due diligence obligations and risk–based policies, procedures, and practices ...
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SEC Disclosure Crackdown Turns to Beneficial Ownership Reports
With another enforcement sweep made possible by its ongoing data dive into corporate filings, the Securities and Exchange Commission has fined several officers, directors, and major shareholders in companies for failing to update their stock ownership disclosures. The charges relate to the failure to file Schedule 13D, commonly known as ...
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$1.45B Commerzbank Settlement Hits AML Controls
Germany-based Commerzbank and its U.S. branch, Commerz New York, will pay a total of $1.45 billion in penalties to resolve criminal charges for violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Bank Secrecy Act. The settlement provides a litany of lessons on the importance of implementing proper anti-money ...
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Utah Lawmakers Approve First 'White Collar Crime Offender Registry'
This week, legislators in Utah passed a bill that will require the state to establish a new "Utah White Collar Crime Offender Registry." The New York Times reports that the Registry, which is similar in concept to the sex offender registries now in every state in the U.S., will be ...
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EU Court Annuls European Location Policy for CCPs
The General Court of the European Union has overturned a European Central Bank framework requiring large central counterparties (CCPs) dealing with euro-denominated transactions to be located within the Eurozone. The court ruled that the ECB lacked the authority to require CCPs involved in clearing securities to be located within the ...
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Brazil's Landmark Insider Trading Case Derailed as Seized Cash Now Missing
When we last checked in on the Brazilian insider trading case against former billionaire Eike Batista, the case was, by all accounts, in "turmoil." As I discussed here, the criminal prosecution against Batista -- a landmark case that may make him the first person ever sent to prison in Brazil ...
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Germany's Push For Gender Diversity in the Boardroom Gains Traction
A shifting regulatory landscape in Germany has paved the way for more women to hold supervisory seats in the boardroom. To promote greater gender diversity, across the board, this regulation sets quotas on the country’s public and private sectors. Now, corporate Germany will have to award at least 30 percent ...