With a high-level White House meeting on Friday, the US and China have extended trade talks, even as a “final deal remains elusive” (aka, nothing at all is in writing yet). It also appears that the purported progress is...more
2/25/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
China ,
Currency Fluctuation ,
Data Collection ,
Enron ,
Exports ,
Facebook ,
Heinz ,
Imports ,
Index Funds ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Investment ,
Kraft ,
Personal Data ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State Street ,
Tariffs ,
Trump Administration ,
Twitter ,
US Trade Policies ,
Vanguard ,
Xerox
Kraft Heinz dropped a double-whammy on investors on Thursday, announcing a $15 billion charge against its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands and revealing news of an SEC subpoena related to the company’s accounting practices....more
2/22/2019
/ 5G Network ,
Accounting Fraud ,
Asbestos ,
Baby Products ,
Banks ,
Canada ,
Cancer ,
Case Consolidation ,
China ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Danske Bank ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
Ford Motor ,
Google ,
Heinz ,
Huawei ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Johnson & Johnson ,
Kraft ,
Mesothelioma ,
Money Laundering ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Pinterest ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Standard Chartered Bank ,
Tariffs ,
Toxic Exposure ,
US Trade Policies
Quite a start to the week for consulting powerhouse McKinsey & Co., with a Times expose on the questionable relationship between McKinsey’s clients and the investments its hedge fund has made in those same clients, not to...more
2/20/2019
/ 5G Network ,
Automotive Industry ,
Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Consultants ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Danske Bank ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Facebook ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Foreign Currency ,
Germany ,
Honda ,
Huawei ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Money Laundering ,
PCAOB ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
RMBS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
UK Brexit ,
US Trade Policies ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Wireless Technology
CBS isn’t the only large company with insider trading worries. In complaints made public yesterday, the SEC has accused Gene Levoff, Apple’s former senior director of corporate law and corporate secretary, of “repeatedly”...more
2/14/2019
/ Apple ,
Automobile Recall ,
CBS ,
CFTC ,
Class Action ,
Cloud Computing ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Data Breach ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Examination Priorities ,
Ford Motor ,
Futures ,
General Electric ,
Google ,
Housing Market ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Insider Trading ,
Levi Strauss ,
Product Defects ,
Renault-Nissan ,
Retail Market ,
Sears ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sprint ,
Swaps ,
T-Mobile ,
Takeover Bids ,
Telecommunications ,
Trade Options ,
Wendy's
US trade negotiations with China have stalled such that the anticipated meeting between the countries’ leaders is, according the White House, “highly unlikely” to occur before the March 1 deadline marking the end of a 90-day...more
2/8/2019
/ Aircraft ,
Airlines ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Aviation Industry ,
Blackmail ,
BSA/AML ,
China ,
Danske Bank ,
Depositions ,
Estonia ,
EU ,
Extortion ,
Financial Crimes ,
FRCP 30(b)(6) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Internal Controls ,
Jeff Bezos ,
Money Laundering ,
On-Demand Services ,
Publishers ,
Renault-Nissan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
UK Brexit ,
US Trade Policies ,
Witness Preparation
Qatar and ExxonMobil are teaming up on a $10 billion natural gas investment plan in Texas and America’s growing status as an LNG exporting power....more
2/6/2019
/ Banks ,
Barclays ,
Benchmarks ,
Canada ,
Cartels ,
China ,
Commodities ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Digital Currency ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Projects ,
EURIBOR ,
Exxon Mobil ,
Federal Reserve ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
Market Manipulation ,
Nasdaq ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Prices ,
OPEC ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Qatar ,
Russia ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stress Tests ,
Transparency ,
Unemployment
California’s trouble-plagued Pacific Gas & Electric utility has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing debts of more than $51.7 billion....more
1/29/2019
/ Apple ,
Bonds ,
Caterpillar ,
Chapter 11 ,
China ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Government Shutdown ,
Huawei ,
Made in the USA ,
Manufacturers ,
NVIDIA ,
PG&E ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
S&P ,
Sanction Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trump Administration ,
UK Brexit ,
Utilities Sector ,
Wildfires
Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn problems now extend to the United States, where the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a probe into the accuracy of the company’s financial disclosures and internal controls....more
1/28/2019
/ Audits ,
Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Canada ,
China ,
Facebook ,
Federal Budget ,
Federal Funding ,
Financial Statements ,
Government Shutdown ,
Huawei ,
Instagram ,
Internal Controls ,
Job Creation ,
KPMG ,
Next Generation ,
Nissan ,
RMBS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Social Media ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
Unemployment ,
US Trade Policies ,
US-Mexico Border Wall ,
Vodafone ,
WhatsApp
As world economic leaders (sans the U.S. government) gather in Davos this week, China’s economic cooling (coming just “when the world needs its spark”) is both a hot topic of conversation and a cause for concern....more
1/22/2019
/ Alphabet Company ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
China ,
Currency Fluctuation ,
Data Collection ,
Data Management ,
Fannie Mae ,
FHFA ,
Financial Crisis ,
Freddie Mac ,
GAO ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Insider Trading ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Online Advertisements ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Puerto Rico ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Theresa May ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
As expected, Theresa May’s Brexit deal was roundly defeated in Parliament yesterday by an overwhelming 230-vote margin, the biggest House of Commons loss for a PM “in recent British history.” Following the vote, Labour Party...more
1/16/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Barclays ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EDGAR ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Budget ,
Federal Funding ,
Government Shutdown ,
Hackers ,
Interest Rates ,
Netflix ,
Nissan ,
Office Space ,
Sears ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sharing Economy ,
Snapchat ,
Trump Administration ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
US-Mexico Border Wall ,
World Bank
The US and China have resumed trade talks in an effort to cool down an increasingly heated trade war between the economic powerhouses....more
1/8/2019
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
China ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Exports ,
Fidelity Investments ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Global Market ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Imports ,
Infrastructure ,
Insider Trading ,
Morgan Stanley ,
Nissan ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SoftBank ,
Stock Exchange ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
UK Brexit ,
US Trade Policies ,
US v Newman ,
White Collar Crimes ,
World Bank
The Fed will wrap up its Open Markets Committee meeting today, and the recent dive on Wall Street has rather suddenly brought a bit of drama to what was a long-promised rate hike. Here’s a bit of background on what it’s been...more
12/19/2018
/ Automotive Industry ,
Barclays ,
Blue Apron ,
Bonds ,
China ,
Corruption ,
Data Breach ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Facebook ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
Germany ,
Hedging ,
Huawei ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Prices ,
Personal Data ,
Quarterly Report ,
Registration Requirement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SpaceX ,
Subscription Services ,
Unicorns ,
Verizon ,
Volkswagen ,
Whistleblowers
Wall Street’s brutal December continued yesterday, with stocks diving to a new low “as investors braced for a Federal Reserve decision on interest rates this week and health care stocks were roiled by a decision about the...more
12/18/2018
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
CBS ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Credit Suisse ,
Failure to Comply ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Transactions ,
Foreign Investment ,
Google ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Internal Investigations ,
Recessions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Severance Pay ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Short-Term Investments ,
Silicon Valley ,
SpaceX ,
Sprint ,
Stock Prices ,
Stocks ,
T-Mobile ,
UBS ,
Wall Street
Prime Minister Theresa May has proven herself to be a remarkably good political survivor in the face of tall odds, but even she will have a difficult time this time around. Members of her own Tory party have called for a...more
12/12/2018
/ AOL ,
Banks ,
China ,
Elder Abuse ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extradition ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Markets ,
Foreign Relations ,
Google ,
Huawei ,
Infrastructure ,
Internet Streaming ,
Living Will ,
Net Neutrality ,
Netflix ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Scams ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
UK Brexit ,
US Trade Policies ,
Verizon ,
Yahoo!
Three weeks after his initial arrest, Japanese prosecutors have officially indicted former Nissan Chair Carlos Ghosn for understating his income by $43 million....more
12/10/2018
/ Bernie Madoff ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Debt-Relief Industry ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Facebook ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Huawei ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Japan ,
Job Creation ,
Nissan ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Sanction Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Share Buybacks ,
Stock Prices ,
Student Loans ,
Uber ,
UK Brexit ,
Wall Street ,
Whistleblowers ,
Wire Fraud
We’ve already considered what the arrest of Huawei’s CFO will mean for the trade war between the U.S. and China. Now let’s dig in to what that move—and a host of recent country-level rejections of Huawei’s 5G...more
12/7/2018
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Biotechnology ,
China ,
Confirmation Proceedings ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Foreign Relations ,
Huawei ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Job Creation ,
Johnson & Johnson ,
Kickbacks ,
Lyft ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Registration Statement ,
Sears ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trade Relations ,
Unemployment ,
Whistleblower Awards
We’re glad the steak dinner went well, but we’re also still anxiously awaiting actual details about what exactly is covered by the pause in the US/China trade war....more
12/4/2018
/ Aetna ,
China ,
Confirmation Proceedings ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
CVS ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Markets ,
Hackers ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Marriott ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies
The G-20 summit in Buenos Aires wrapped this weekend with the nations agreeing to a joint statement that “affirms the importance of the multilateral trading system” while giving ground to both the US and China over language...more
12/3/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Automotive Industry ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Financial Crisis ,
Foreign Relations ,
FRCP 23 ,
G20 ,
General Electric ,
Material Misstatements ,
Microsoft ,
Natural Gas ,
Nissan ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Prices ,
OPEC ,
Qatar ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Snapchat ,
Tariffs ,
Tesla ,
US Trade Policies ,
White Collar Crimes
The Fed released minutes from its November meeting yesterday, and they reinforced the expected December rate hike while showing a more uncertain path for hikes in 2019....more
11/30/2018
/ Bayer ,
Cooperation Agreement ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Danske Bank ,
Data Breach ,
Debt ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Deregulation ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Energy Sector ,
G20 ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Layoffs ,
Marriott ,
Money Laundering ,
Oil Prices ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Quarterly Report ,
Raids ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tariffs ,
US Trade Policies ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Yates Memorandum
GM’s Monday announcement about cutting 14,000 North American jobs drew the ire of the White House yesterday, which threatened to “end federal tax credits” that have helped subsidize the company’s electric-vehicle fleet....more
11/28/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
China ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Conde Nast ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Breach ,
Data Mining ,
Debt Collection ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Facebook ,
General Motors ,
Hedge Funds ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Layoffs ,
Medical Records ,
NFL ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Retailers ,
Sears ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tax Credits ,
Uber
Nissan Board Chair Carlos Ghosn is on the verge of being ousted at the Japanese automaker after an internal investigation found that he had “underreported his compensation to the financial authorities for several years.”...more
11/19/2018
/ Automotive Industry ,
Brokers ,
China ,
Digital Currency ,
Disney ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Facebook ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Foreign Trade Regulations ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
J Crew ,
Nissan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tariffs ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
US Trade Policies
Early reports suggested that although Teresa May’s cabinet wasn’t thrilled, it backed the PM’s Brexit plan, leaving the controversial deal to make its way to Parliament. But the resignation of two Cabinet members—including...more
11/15/2018
/ Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Berkshire Hathaway ,
Class Action ,
Consolidated Audit Trail ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure ,
Economic Downturn ,
EU ,
Exports ,
Facebook ,
Failure to Comply ,
Germany ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Instagram ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Levi Strauss ,
Market Manipulation ,
Money Transfer ,
Preferred Shares ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Stock Prices ,
Uber ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
As widely expected, the Fed held rates steady when it wrapped its Open Market Committee meeting yesterday afternoon and deemed the economy “in good health,” laying the groundwork for another rate increase next month....more
11/9/2018
/ Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Ether Tokens ,
European Central Bank ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Markets ,
Futures ,
Google ,
Interest Rates ,
Investment Fraud ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Putative Class Actions ,
RMBS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Spoofing ,
Stocks ,
Trading Platforms ,
UBS ,
Unregistered Securities
Wall Street apparently views a divided Congress as a good thing (think less chance of tighter regulation), and it celebrated by pushing the Dow up 500 points and jumping back into tech stocks....more
11/8/2018
/ BlackRock ,
Canada ,
Citibank ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Executives ,
Cybersecurity ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Exxon Mobil ,
FCC ,
Financial Markets ,
General Elections ,
Germany ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Job Creation ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Net Neutrality ,
OCC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations ,
Stock Prices ,
Stocks ,
Tax Fraud ,
Technology Sector ,
Tesla ,
Wells Fargo
As promised, the Fed on Wednesday announced “one of the most significant rollbacks of bank rules” since the White House changed hands in the form of a draft proposal that would loosen capital and liquidity requirements for...more
11/1/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Annuities ,
Bitcoin ,
Capital Requirements ,
Credit Ratings ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Deregulation ,
Digital Taxes ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
General Electric ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Investment ,
Investment Products ,
Life Insurance ,
Liquidity ,
Minimum Wage ,
Moody's ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stocks ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
Virtual Currency