- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2024-09-05T18:19:00
Broker-dealer Nationwide Planning Associates and two affiliated investment advisers impeded potential whistleblowers from reporting misconduct to the Securities and Exchange Commission and have agreed to settle the charges for a combined $240,000.
New Jersey-based Nationwide Planning Associates will pay $70,000, investment adviser NPA Asset Management will pay $160,000, and state-registered investment adviser Blue Point Strategic Wealth Management will pay $10,000, the SEC said Wednesday in a press release.
The firms asked 11 retail clients to sign confidentiality agreements in connection with payments made by the entities to the clients’ investment accounts. The agreements contained “provisions that impeded clients from reporting potential securities law violations to the SEC by permitting communications only where the SEC first initiated an inquiry,” the SEC said.
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A federal court in Florida has lashed out at federal whistleblower programs by dismissing a mundane False Claims Act case against a medical practice on the grounds that the qui tam provisions of the FCA are unconstitutional.
Seven public companies will pay a total of $3 million in fines for requiring employees to sign agreements containing provisions that impeded their ability to report misconduct to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Singapore-based commodity trading company Trafigura will pay $55 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to settle charges related to fraud, manipulation, and impeding whistleblower communications with the agency.
Becton Dickinson medical device company will pay $175 million for “repeatedly” misleading investors about its Alaris infusion pump, a product the company knew was flawed and was sold without the required patient-safety approvals, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged bankrupt fashion retailer Express with failing to disclose nearly $1 million in perks to a former chief executive, but did not levy a financial penalty thanks to its cooperation, the SEC said.
A Minnesota transportation company agreed to pay nearly $258,000 to settle allegations that a subsidiaries violated sanctions against Cuba and Iran more than 80 times, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said.
