This week the SEC brought six actions tied to the failure of a rapidly growing enterprise to maintain the proper internal controls. The agency also brought two proceedings tied to municipal bond offerings and one insider...more
3/11/2016
/ Enforcement Actions ,
False Statements ,
Insider Trading ,
Internal Controls ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Misappropriation ,
Municipal Bonds ,
Offering Statements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Unregistered Brokers ,
Wells Fargo
Municipal bond offerings have become a key focus of SEC Enforcement. The agency has brought a series of actions in addition to an initiative that encourages the self-reporting of underwriters in return for reduced sanctions....more
3/9/2016
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Liquidation ,
Municipal Bonds ,
Municipal Securities Issuers ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Reporting ,
Underwriting ,
Wells Fargo
This is the second of two posts on the personal benefit test for tipping and insider trading. The first appeared yesterday. ...more
The SEC had a significant courtroom victory this week, prevailing in the Payton insider trading trial. A jury returned a verdict in favor of the agency. ...more
The SEC announced the partial resolution of one action last week and the conclusion of another. One centered on the collapse of Dewey & LeBoeuf, LLP. The other concluded an insider trading action involving inside information...more
At SEC Speaks Chair White noted that the SEC is more than a disclosure agency. In areas like exchange regulation financial standards and investment advisers the Commission engages in substantive regulation, suggesting perhaps...more
The SEC filed another insider trading action as an administrative proceeding – a continuing trend. This action may also represent another trend – it is the second which names as a Respondent a member of the finance department...more
The Commission filed a series of actions this week which included: three cases based on insider trading; an accounting action against a company and its employees; an audit failure; the unregistered sale of securities; and the...more
2/12/2016
/ Accounting Fraud ,
CFTC ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Fraud ,
Hong Kong ,
Insider Trading ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
UK
Perhaps the SEC is developing a sense of ironic timing. The day after the Super Bowl the Commission filed an insider trading action. The conversations which are the predicate for the alleged illegal securities trades began in...more
The SEC filed fourteen settled actions against municipal underwriting firms this week. The settlements were part of a program that commenced in 2014 called the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation Initiative. The...more
The SEC filed another settled FCPA proceeding in which cooperation substantially mitigated the sanctions. Specifically, a monetary penalty was not imposed on the firm in view of its cooperation, although the company did not...more
Financial fraud was a staple of SEC enforcement for years. Complex financial fraud cases in which the “books were cooked” to make earnings guidance, increase bonuses or for other reasons were the daily grist of SEC...more
Washington spent much of this week digging out from a monster snow storm which left the government closed for two full days and reporting for work on a delayed based for two others.
Two recent reports from Cornerstone...more
SEC enforcement is brining more actions, more administrative proceedings but obtaining lower amounts of penalties and disgorgement, according to a recent report by Cornerstone Research. SEC Enforcement Activity Against Public...more
Gatekeepers are a critical focus for SEC enforcement. Lawyers, accountants and other professional are often at the scene and, in many instances, can be either key to halting, or in some instances implementing a wrongful...more
It is fundamental that investment professionals accurately disclose their polices and procedures and adhere to them. Yet an increasing number of proceedings are being brought by based on failing to follow to those procedures....more
The Commission resolved actions with SAC Capital founder Steven Cohen and the former Chairman of Dewey & Leboeuf in addition to filing settled actions against Goldman Sachs and State Street. The agency also filed another...more
During the holiday period the SEC filed three insider trading cases as administrative proceeding. Three actions were brought involving major Wall Street banks; one centered on “parking” allegations involving Morgan Stanley...more
1/8/2016
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Audits ,
Capital One ,
CFTC ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Advertising ,
Hong Kong ,
Insider Trading ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Market Manipulation ,
Offering Fraud ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The SEC began the year by filing a settled insider trading case. The action is largely unremarkable as insider trading cases go, although some might question if all the key elements of a claim are pleaded. The facts are...more
As the new year begins SEC Enforcement appears to be at a cross-roads. Commissioners have, or will, depart; there are, or will be, new appointees. The reconstituted agency will have to determine if its current...more
The Commission closed out the week before the holidays with a joint press conference with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney. The U.S. Attorney and the Director of Enforcement announced actions against former hedge fund manager and...more
Undisclosed conflicts by investment advisers and others is a focus of the current SEC enforcement program. In its most recent action, the conflicts came from a firm with an indirect, undisclosed controlling interest in the...more
The SEC prevailed in one court case this week but lost in another. In an investment fund fraud action the agency won at trial. In the First Circuit, however, it lost in an appeal of the long running action against two former...more
ZeeksRewards is the case that just keeps on giving. The multi-level pyramid and Ponzi scheme has generated two prior SEC enforcement actions. One involved the company, Rex Ventures Group, LLC, and its principal, Paul Burks....more
The EB-5 program was designed by Congress to stimulate job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. In return for an initial investment of $1 million in a new commercial enterprise that creates or preserves at...more