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Post Frequency: 38.1/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 16:18:26

The Last Days of Bear Stearns

Posted on May 27, 2008
Over two months later, what do we know about the collapse of Bear Stearns? Bear's CEO Alan Schwartz blames an unforeseen "market tsunami." The Wall St. Journal, in the first of a three-part series, looks at the role internal dissension...

SEC Reverses Position on Shareholders' Proposals on Universal Health Care

Posted on May 27, 2008
The SEC, in a reversal of its position, told several companies, including United Health and Boeing, that they cannot exclude from the management proxy statement shareholders' resolutions urging universal health insurance coverage under Rule 14a-8's exclusion for ordinary business decisions,...

Fed and SEC Work Out Oversight Relationship over Big Banks

Posted on May 27, 2008
What will be the future of financial regulation? Treasury Secretary Paulson's Blueprint would make the Treasury Dept. the uber-financial regulator (with a diminished role for the SEC), while SEC Chairman Cox, in recent weeks, has advocated for that agency's increased...

Winship on Fair Funds

Posted on May 25, 2008
Fair Funds and the Compensation Conundrum, by VERITY WINSHIP, Fordham University School of Law, was recently posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Fair Fund provision of Sarbanes-Oxley allows the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") to direct money penalty...

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Jordan & Hughes on Self-Regulation

Posted on May 25, 2008
Which Way for Market Institutions? The Fundamental Question of Self-Regulation, by CALLY E. JORDAN, University of Melbourne - Law School, and PAMELA S. HUGHES, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, was recentlly posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract: It is...

Attorney Settles SEC Charges of Authoring Fraudulent Legal Opinion

Posted on May 23, 2008
The SEC charged Global Development & Environmental Resources, Inc., and individual defendants with securities fraud for their participation in a fraudulent scheme to evade registration requirements and a "pump and dump" stock manipulation scheme. The SEC also settled fraud charges...

Former Gemstar-TV Guide CEO Indicted on Obstruction of Justice Charge

Posted on May 23, 2008
The SEC announced that on May 13, 2008, Henry C. Yuen, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc., was indicted on a felony charge of obstructing a Commission investigation. The indictment alleges that during an...

Rating Firms Switch Analysts at Issuers' Request

Posted on May 23, 2008
Additional evidence that raises doubts about the independence of the bond rating agencies -- all three rating companies, Moody's, Fitch, and S&P, acknowledge that on some occasions they have changed the analysts assigned to rate an issuer's bonds after the...

Yahoo Postpones Annual Meeting

Posted on May 23, 2008
Yahoo filed its preliminary proxy materials with the SEC on May 22, with nine of the current 10 directors up for re-election (one, Michael Kozel, has resigned), and postponed the date of the annual meeting from July 3 to the...

Eight individuals Indicted in Stock Lending Kickbacks Investigation

Posted on May 22, 2008
Federal prosecutors indicted eight more individuals in connection with a scheme involving illegal kickbacks paid by brokerage firms in connection with stock lending. Those indicted include former stock-lending supervisors at Morgan Stanley and Janney Montgomery Scott...

Canadian Court Blocks BCE Buyout

Posted on May 22, 2008
A Canadian appellate court sided with the bondholders of Canadian telecommunications company BCE Inc. and held that the company's LBO is unfair to them. According to the court, "The Board should have considered the interests (including reasonable expectations) of the...

Shareholder Votes On Say on Pay Down at Big Banks

Posted on May 22, 2008
Shareholder support for "say-on-pay" proposals at the four big banks -- Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley -- averaged 37% of shareholder votes. While that's a healthy percentage, it's down from last year's average of 43% for...

Former Investor Relations Director of Provide Commerce Settles Insider Trading Charges

Posted on May 21, 2008
The SEC filed an insider trading action against Gordon C. Bigler, the former director of corporate finance and investor relations for Provide Commerce, alleging that Bigler traded in Provide Commerce stock immediately after learning confidential information about its pending acquisition...

First Quarter Securities Issuance Reached $1.43 Trillion

Posted on May 21, 2008
According to the latest Research Quarterly released by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), securities issuance in the first quarter of 2008 reached $1.43 trillion, an increase from the $1.36 trillion issued in the fourth quarter of 2007...

Law & Society Annual Meeting Sessions from Corporate and Securities Law Women Scholars

Posted on May 21, 2008
For those attending the Law and Society Annual Meeting next week (May 29-June 1) in Montreal, I hope you will mark the following six programs on your calendar. All are organized by the Corporate and Securities Law Women Scholars under...

FINRA Warns About Misleading Investors About Expertise

Posted on May 21, 2008
FINRA issued a regulatory notice to remind firms of their obligation to supervise representatives' communications with the public used to establish their expertise. FINRA is concerned that some representatives are misrepresenting their investment acumen by using ghostwritten communications that mislead...

Former U.S. Foodservice CFO Consents to Injunction

Posted on May 21, 2008
The SEC announced that the federal district court for the District of Maryland entered a final judgment against defendant Michael Resnick, former CFO of U.S. Foodservice (USF). The judgment permanently enjoins Resnick from violating Sections 10(b) and 13(b)(5) of the...

SEC Proposes to Require Interactive Data from Mutual Funds

Posted on May 21, 2008
The SEC voted unanimously to propose that mutual fund investors get access to key information about fees, performance, and strategies through interactive data, which would permit investors to make comparisons among thousands of funds. The SEC's proposal would require funds...

Pickens Supports Icahn's Proxy Fight to Replace Yahoo Board

Posted on May 21, 2008
T. Boone Pickens said he bought 10 million shares of Yahoo and supports Carl Icahn's effort to replace the Yahoo board. While some other big shareholders have indicated their support for Icahn, his success may depend on whether Microsoft renews...

Time Warner Will Announce Cable Spin-Off Details

Posted on May 21, 2008
Time Warner will announce details of its plan to spin off its 84% owned subsidiary, Time Warner Cable, by year end. The plan includes payment of a special $10 per share dividend by the cable company prior to the spin-off,...

SEC Sends Greenberg a Wells Notice

Posted on May 21, 2008
The SEC sent Maurice Greenberg, former AIG CEO, a Wells notice, informing him that he may face civil charges for his alleged role in the transactions with General Re creating sham loss reserves. A Wells notice gives the subject of...

D.C. District Court Finds Courts Cannot Impose Penalties for Aiding & Abetting Advisers Act Violations

Posted on May 20, 2008
In what the court describes as a "case of first impression," the federal district court for the District of Columbia held that the SEC does not have the authority to seek, and the court lacks jurisdiction to impose, monetary penalties...

SEC Remands NYSE Disciplinary Action for Reconsideration of Sanctions

Posted on May 20, 2008
The SEC sustained the NYSE's findings that James Gerard O'Callaghan, an NYSE member and independent floor broker, violated Section 11(a) and Rule 11a-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and NYSE Rules 90, 95, and 476 by executing trades...

SEC Obtains Relief Against $72 Million Ponzi Scheme

Posted on May 20, 2008
On May 16, 2008, the SEC obtained Orders of Preliminary Injunction and Other Relief (Orders) from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against Gregory N. McKnight (McKnight) and Legisi Holdings, LLC (Legisi), pursuant to their...

Senator Cornyn Introduces Bill to Address Kickback Arrangements in Private Securities Litigation

Posted on May 20, 2008
Senator John Cornyn (R-Tex.) recently introduced the Securities Litigation Attorney Accountability and Transparency Act in response to the recent scandals involving kickback arrangements by plaintiffs' counsel. According to the Senator's Floor Statement, Today, William Lerach, once a name partner at...

Greenberg Implicated in AIG-Gen Re Case

Posted on May 20, 2008
The judge who presided over the trial of five former insurance executives found guilty for their role in a sham deal between AIG and General Re to boost AIG's loss reserves stated that there was "sufficient evidence" for a jury...

Fifth Third Sues over Losses in Citigroup Hedge Fund

Posted on May 20, 2008
Fifth Third Bank sued Transamerica Life Insurance and Clark Consulting to recover $323 million in damages resulting from their investment of Fifth Third's BOLI-related assets (bank-owned life insurance program) in a Citigroup fixed-income hedge fund, Falcon Fund, that has lost...

Microsoft Proposes New Deal to Yahoo

Posted on May 20, 2008
Microsoft has proposed to Yahoo a deal that involves Microsoft's buying the search business and taking a stake in Yahoo, while Yahoo would sell or spin off its Asian assets, including its stake in Alibaba Group, a Chinese internet company....

SEC v. Berry

Posted on May 19, 2008
As attorneys are well aware, the SEC has been bringing enforcement actions against inhouse counsel, particularly with respect to backdating stock options. Since there are, to date, few opinions, every one is of interest. Recently, the federal district court for...

SEC Obtains Asset Freeze Against Plus Money, Inc.

Posted on May 19, 2008
The federal district court for the Southern District of California entered an order preliminarily enjoining defendants Plus Money, Inc. and Matthew La Madrid from violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and freezing the assets of both the...

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