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Post Frequency: 38.1/day

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

SEC Charges Attorney in Adviser Kenneth Starr's Fraud

Posted on December 16, 2010
The SEC today charged Jonathan Star Bristol, attorney for former financial advisor Kenneth Ira Starr, with aiding and abetting Starr's multi-million dollar fraud by allowing Starr to use Bristol's attorney trust accounts to mask the misappropriation scheme...

DOJ Arrests Consultants in Probe of insider Trading Involving Expert-Networking

Posted on December 16, 2010
We have been waiting for a shoe to drop in the three-year investigation into insider trading, and here it is: the government arrested four consultants and one employee of Primary Global Research LLC, an "expert-network" firm. The government alleges illegal...

Judge Rakoff Orders Arbitration of Brokers' FLSA Collective Action

Posted on December 16, 2010
There is no arrogance quite like that of a federal district judge, and Judge Jed Rakoff' provides an excellent example in Gomez v. Brill Securities, Inc., 10 Civ. 3503 (JSR) (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 2, 2010). Plaintiffs, brokers formerly employed at defendant....

NASAA Proposes Model Rule on Registration and Reporting Requirements for Advisers to Private Funds

Posted on December 16, 2010
Dodd-Frank made significant changes to the provisions governing the regulation of investment advisers under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (?IAA?). In addition to expanding the states? oversight of investment advisers by increasing the assets under management threshold for registration...

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SEC Charges Former Wachovia Employees with Defrauding Customers

Posted on December 16, 2010
The SEC filed a civil injunctive action in Charlotte, North Carolina on December 15, 2010, alleging that William K. Harrison (?Harrison?) and Eddie W. Sawyers (?Sawyers?), former employees of Wachovia, defrauded at least forty-two Wachovia brokerage customers of at least...

SEC Charges Nevada Lawyer with Multi-Million $ Fraud Scheme

Posted on December 15, 2010
On December 14, 2010, the SEC filed a civil action in the U.S. District Court of Nevada charging Marcus Luna, Nathan Montgomery, Adam Daskivich, David Murtha, St. Paul Venture Fund LLC ("St. Paul VF"), Minnesota Venture Capital, Inc. ("Minnesota VC"),...

SEC Proposes Specialized Disclosures Mandated by Dodd-Frank

Posted on December 15, 2010
The SEC today voted unanimously to propose measures, as mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, which would require new disclosures by reporting issuers concerning conflict minerals that originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country...

SEC Proposes Review Process for Mandatory Clearing of Security-Based Swaps

Posted on December 15, 2010
The SEC today voted unanimously to propose rules required under the Dodd-Frank Act that would set out the way in which clearing agencies provide information to the SEC about security-based swaps that the clearing agencies plan to accept for clearing....

SEC Proposes End-User Requirements for Security-Based Swaps

Posted on December 15, 2010
The SEC today voted unanimously to propose requirements of end-users when they engage in a security-based swap transaction that is not subject to mandatory clearing. The proposed rule, required under the Dodd-Frank Act, specifies the steps that end-users must follow...

Budget Issues Slow Down SEC Enforcement Efforts

Posted on December 15, 2010
The Wall St. Journal reports that the SEC is slowing down some investigations and inspections because of the budget impasse in Congress. Regulator Is Slowed By Budget Impasse Pro Publica is running a similar story which also addresses the extensive...

Current SEC & PCAOB Developments

Posted on December 14, 2010
CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DIVISION OF CORPORATION FINANCE, Presentation at the National Conference on Current SEC & PCAOB Developments, December 7, 2010

SEC Open Meeting Agenda for December 15 Meeting

Posted on December 14, 2010
SEC's Open Meeting Agenda for December 15, 2010 Item 1: Process for Submissions for Review of Security-Based Swaps for Mandatory Clearing and Notice Filing Requirements for Clearing Agencies Office: Division of Trading and Markets Item 2: End-User Exception to Mandatory...

PCAOB Proposes Interim Inspection Program and Rules on Funding

Posted on December 14, 2010
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board today proposed for public comment rules to begin implementation of provisions of Dodd-Frank that expand the Board's oversight authority to encompass audits of securities brokers and dealers. Specifically, the Board proposed for public comment...

FINRA Releases Updated Information on Pilot Program Results

Posted on December 14, 2010
FINRA recently posted at its website an update on the results of its Pilot Program that allows eligible customers that have instituted arbitration proceedings against 14 firms to opt for an all-public arbitrator panel. On Oct. 26, FINRA filed a...

Schwarcz on Marginalizing Risk

Posted on December 12, 2010
Marginalizing Risk, by Steven L. Schwarcz, Duke University - School of Law, was recently posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract: A major focus of finance is reducing risk on investments, in order to reduce a borrower?s costs of funds....

Gulinello on Retail Investor Vote

Posted on December 12, 2010
The Retail Investor Vote: Mobilizing Rationally Apathetic Shareholders to Preserve or Challenge the Board's Presumption of Authority, by Christopher John Gulinello, Northern Kentucky University - Salmon P. Chase College of Law, was recently posted on SSRN...

Krishnan et alia on M&A Litigation

Posted on December 12, 2010
Litigation in Mergers and Acquisitions, by C. N. V. Krishnan, Case Western Reserve University - Department of Banking & Finance; Ronald W. Masulis, University of New South Wales (UNSW) - School of Banking and Finance ; Vanderbilt University - Owen...

SEC & Vitesse Semiconductor Settle Backdating Charges

Posted on December 11, 2010
The SEC filed civil fraud charges against California-based integrated circuit maker Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation and four former senior executives of Vitesse ? co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer Louis Tomasetta, former Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Eugene Hovanec,...

PCAOB Establishes Office of Outreach and Small Business Liaison

Posted on December 11, 2010
Section 982 of Dodd-Frank authorized the PCAOB to establish, subject to approval by the Commission, auditing and related attestation, quality control, ethics, and independence standards to be used by registered public accounting firms with respect to the preparation and issuance...

RAE Systems Settles FCPA Charges Involving Chinese Joint Ventures

Posted on December 11, 2010
On Friday the SEC filed a settled enforcement action against RAE Systems Inc., a San Jose-based company, alleging violations of the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (?FCPA?). RAE has offered to...

What are Federal Prosecutors Doing?

Posted on December 09, 2010
Be sure to read The Feds Stage a Sideshow, While the Big Tent Sits Empty, by Jesse Eisinger, a reporter for ProPublica. It begins: You may have noticed that prosecutors are in something of a white-collar slump lately.

SEC Obtains Freeze on Trading Proceeds of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods Securities

Posted on December 09, 2010
On December 8, 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a Temporary Restraining Order freezing assets and trading proceeds of certain Unknown Purchasers of the Securities of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC (the ?Unknown Purchasers?) and...

SEC Announces Agenda for December 15 Meeting

Posted on December 09, 2010
The SEC released the agenda for its December 15, 2010 Open Meeting: The Commission will consider whether to propose rule 3Cg-1 under the Exchange Act governing the exception to mandatory clearing of security-based swaps under Section 763(a) of the Dodd-Frank...

AIG Takes Steps to Repay Taxpayers

Posted on December 09, 2010
American International Group, Inc. (AIG) announced on December 8 that it had filed a Form 8-K announcing the signing of the Master Transaction Agreement among ALICO Holdings LLC, AIA Aurora LLC, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the United...

SEC Bars Former Car Czar Rattner from Securities Industry

Posted on December 09, 2010
The SEC barred former Car Czar Steven L. Rattner (who served as managing principal of Quadrangle Group LLC from 2000 until March 2009 and managing principal of Quadrangle Securities LLC, which was a registered broker-dealer from 2000 through 2006, and...

Taxpayers Get $11.7 Billion from GM IPO

Posted on November 24, 2010
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that with the delivery of $11.7 billion in proceeds from the initial public offering of General Motors (GM), the total amount of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds returned to taxpayers now exceeds...

SEC Announces Second Hearing on Muni Securities Market

Posted on November 24, 2010
The SEC announced the agenda and speakers for its second field hearing to examine the municipal securities markets at its Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on December 7. Topics will include market stability and liquidity, investor impact, and self-regulation...

Feds Arrest Networking Executive in Insider-Trading Probe

Posted on November 24, 2010
The Wall St. Journal reports that federal authorities have made their first arrest in the three-year investigation into insider trading rings. Don Ching Trang Chu, identified as an Asia expert on the website of Primary Global Research LLC, was arrested...

Former Comverse CEO Settles SEC Backdating Charges

Posted on November 23, 2010
The SEC today settled civil charges against Jacob ?Kobi? Alexander, the co-founder and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comverse Technology, Inc., arising out of his role in the company?s long-running stock options backdating scheme. Shortly before the SEC...

FBI Raids Three Hedge Funds in Insider-Trading Probe

Posted on November 22, 2010
For the past few days, the Wall St. Journal has been reporting on a blockbuster federal investigation of insider-trading rings involving hedge funds and independent analysts. Today it reports that the FBI raided the offices of three hedge funds: Diamondback...

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