All Regulatory Enforcement articles – Page 161
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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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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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
$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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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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Blog
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 ...
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Blog
Credit Suisse CEO Ousted After Tax Plea
Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan is stepping down after the bank pleaded guilty to criminal charges and violation of U.S tax laws, which resulted in $2.8 billion in fines by U.S regulators. The Swiss bank named Tidjane Thiam, Prudential’s current CEO, as Dougan’s successor. More inside.
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Blog
The Ups and Downs of FCPA Politics in Washington
Several events in Washington lately show just how well FCPA enforcement is—or more precisely, is not—understood there. This week, columnist Tom Fox turns his eye first to critics of the Justice Department’s new top FCPA prosecutor, and then to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and his ham-handed efforts to politicize the ...
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Blog
Second District Court Upholds SEC Use of Administrative Hearings
A hot topic on this blog of late has been the SEC's recent focus on bringing cases as administrative proceedings, an in-house type of action in which the agency has enjoyed extraordinary success. A related, and just as hot, topic has been the efforts of numerous respondents in these APs ...
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Congressman Lynch Offers First 'Post-Newman' Bill Banning Insider Trading
As I wrote here last month, the Second Circuit's decision in U.S. v. Newman has resulted in a flurry of recent pleas from people such as Mark Cuban, James Stewart and others for Congress to, finally, define the law of insider trading. On Monday, Congressman Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.) ...
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Blog
Google Realigns Amid Regulatory Heat
Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt met with the EU’s new antitrust chief on Monday. The search engine giant is being scrutinized by regulators for engaging in anticompetitive practices, potential antitrust violations, and oversight of privacy issues. In response to the mounting regulatory pressure, the company has realigned its European operations. ...