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

Moody's Considers New Rankings for Mortgage-Backed Securities

Posted on February 05, 2008
Moody's announced it is considering a new ratings system for mortgage-backed securities, so that investors can distinguish them from traditional debt instruments that Moody's ranks according to a three-letter (A, B, C) system. In addition, it may add a "warning...

Actively-Managed ETFs Receive Preliminary SEC Approval

Posted on February 05, 2008
The SEC will soon approve actively-managed ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) -- mutual funds whose shares trade like stock. Currently, all ETFs track an index. The industry has sought this move for some time, but the SEC has had several concerns, including...

SEC Settles Late Trading Charges with Ritchie Capital

Posted on February 05, 2008
The SEC settled an enforcement action against a hedge fund, its investment adviser, its founder and CEO, and two employees for their roles in an illegal late trading scheme. The SEC charged hedge fund Ritchie Multi-Strategy Global Trading Ltd. and...

SEC Budget Request Remains Constant with Last Year's Budget

Posted on February 04, 2008
The SEC posted on its website its FY 2009 Congressional Justification for its budget. Its FY 2009 budget request totals $913 million, a $7 million (.8%) increase over the agency's FY 2008 budget. The FY 2009 budget request funds 3409...

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January's IPO Count Down

Posted on February 04, 2008
January was a slow month for IPOs, with only five that raised a total of $892 million. This compares with ten in January 2007 that raised a total of $2.25 billion. These numbers exclude REITs and "blank check" offerings. There...

U.S. Authorities Investigate Sales of Societe Generale Stock

Posted on February 04, 2008
Both the SEC and the DOJ are reportedly investigating wrongdoing at the beleagered French bank, Societe Generale. The investigation apparently is looking into sales of Societe General stock by American investor Robert A. Day and two foundations associated with him...

O'Hare on Corporate Monitors

Posted on February 03, 2008
The Use of the Corporate Monitor in SEC Enforcement Actions, by JENNIFER O'HARE, Villanova University School of Law, was recently posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper addresses the SEC's recent use of the corporate monitor as ancillary...

Merrill Lynch Buys Back CDOs Sold to Springfield

Posted on February 01, 2008
Merrill Lynch repurchased CDOs that it sold to Springfield, Massachusetts last spring at the original sale price of $13.9 million. The CDOs are currently worth about $1.2 million. Merrill Lynch said its investigation showed that the city did not authorize...

Motorola Plans to Shed Handset Business

Posted on February 01, 2008
Motorola said it might spin off or sell its handset business in response to pressure from Carl Icahn. An early leader in the industry, Motorola's market share has declined in recent years, and the industry faces continued challenges to innovate....

McKee Nelson's Role in Securitization

Posted on February 01, 2008
A small law firm based in New York and D.C., McKee Nelson, made a name for itself by doing the legal work associated with bundling mortgage loans into securities. Since 2000, the firm handled over 3,000 deals totalling $2.7 trillion....

SEC Staff Begins Small Business Cost-Benefit Study on SOX 404 Compliance

Posted on February 01, 2008
The SEC today announced that its professional staff has commenced a cost-benefit study of an upcoming auditor attestation requirement for smaller companies under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The study will collect and analyze cost and benefit...

SEC and European Commission Discuss Mutual Recognition

Posted on February 01, 2008
SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services Charlie McCreevy met in Washington, D.C., on February 1. To quote from the press release: They had a wide-ranging discussion on topics of mutual interest, including...

Massachusetts Sues Merrill Lynch over CDOs Sold to City

Posted on February 01, 2008
The Massachusetts Secretary of State is suing Merrill Lynch in connection with the firm's sale of CDOs to the city of Springfield, charging that it was an unsuitable investment. Yesterday the firm bought back, at the original sale price of...

MBIA Reports $2.3 Billion Net Loss for Fourth Quarter

Posted on January 31, 2008
MBIA, the largest bond insurer, reported a $2.3 billion fourth quarter net loss and a $3.5 billion write-down of its credits derivatives portfolio. Warburg Pincus purchased $500 million worth of stock to provide much-needed capital. MBIA's triple-A credit rating, which...

Cuomo's Investigation into Subprime Mortgage Pools Intensifies

Posted on January 31, 2008
New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is using the state's Martin Act (made famous by his predecessor Eliot Spitzer's investigations into analysts' conflicts) in the investigation into whether Wall St. firms failed to disclose adequately that loans it was...

UBS Announces $4 Billion Net Loss for 2007

Posted on January 30, 2008
UBS announced it would write-off a higher than expected $14 billion because of the U.S. mortgage markets and would post a $4 billion net loss for the year. Its fourth quarter net loss was $11.4 billion. NYTimes, UBS Takes a...

Comverse Internal Probe Finds Additional Wrongdoing

Posted on January 30, 2008
A Comverse Technology investigation found that, in addition to backdating stock options, Kobi Alexander, its former CEO now living in Namibia, manipulated the company's earnings and falsified dates when he exercised some stock options. WSJ, Probe Finds Comverse Executives Falsified...

Atkins on Attorney-Client Privilege

Posted on January 30, 2008
SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins, in Remarks at the Federalist Society Lawyers' Chapter of Dallas, Texas, on January 18, 2008, said the attorney-client privilege was under siege due to the aggressive actions of the DOJ and SEC.

NASAA's Legislative Agenda

Posted on January 30, 2008
The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) identified its initiatives and legislative agenda for the second session of the 110th Congress. The initiatives fall into five broad categories: 1. Preserving the authority of state regulators to protect investors; 2...

CME, Nymex in Merger Talks

Posted on January 29, 2008
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the world's largest market for derivatives trading, and the New York Mercantile Exchange, a leader in energy and metals trading, are in talks about a $11 billion merger. CME would acquire Nymex for a combination of...

SEC Criticizes Disclosure on Executive Pay Policies

Posted on January 29, 2008
As the SEC has increased its scrutiny of how corporations describe their executive compensation policies, it has expressed dissatisfaction at how many companies describe the role of individual performance in pay decisions. In the past year the SEC sent out...

Lazar Sentenced for Perjury

Posted on January 29, 2008
Seymour M. Lazar, a former Milberg Weiss client who received secret payments for serving as leading plaintiff in securities class actions, was sentenced to six months' home detention and a $600,000 fine for perjury. He previously forfeited $1.5 million in...

Former SafeNet CFO Sentenced in Backdating Case

Posted on January 29, 2008
Carole D. Argo, former CFO of SafeNet, was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $1 million for her role in backdating millions of dollars' worth of employee stock options. The judge said he imposed a lenient sentence because...

FBI Investigates Suprime Mortgage Fraud

Posted on January 29, 2008
The FBI is investigating 14 unidentified companies for fraud in the subprime mortgage markets, including accounting fraud and insider trading. Since the 1990s, th eFBI has investigated mortgage fraud in the primary real estate market. WSJ, U.S. Probes 14 Companies...

Former Bayou CFO Sentenced to 20 Years

Posted on January 29, 2008
Daniel Marino, former CFO of Bayou Management, was sentenced to 20 years for his role in defrauding investors out of more than $400 million. Marino, who pleaded guilty in 2005, said he was "truly sorry." WSJ, Former CFO of Bayou...

SEC Settles Fraud Charges Involving Unregistered Offerings

Posted on January 29, 2008
On January 25, 2008, the federal district court for the Northern District of Georgia entered an order permanently enjoining Coadum Advisors, Inc. ("Coadum"), et alia, ("collectively "defendants") from violations of the federal securities laws and continued a freeze of defendants'...

BOSC Settles Unsuitable DVA Sales Charges

Posted on January 29, 2008
FINRA continues to crack down on sales of deferred variable annuities to senior citizens. It fined Banc One Securities Corporation (BOSC) of Chicago $225,000 for making unsuitable sales of deferred variable annuities to 23 customers and for having inadequate systems...

SEC Settles Charges Against Heartland Advisors for Mispricing Bonds

Posted on January 28, 2008
The SEC recently settled administrative proceedings against Heartland Advisors, Inc. (Heartland), a Wisconsin-based investment adviser, and several current and former employees of Heartland. The Order finds that from March 1, 2000 into October 2000, Heartland negligently mispriced certain bonds owned...

Former Andersen Accountants for Enron Settle SEC Charges

Posted on January 28, 2008
The SEC settled a civil action against David B. Duncan, a former Arthur Andersen LLP ("Andersen") partner and former global engagement partner for the Enron engagement, in connection with the audits of Enron Corp.'s financial statements. Duncan, without admitting or...

Citigroup Enters Underwriting Arrangement in China

Posted on January 28, 2008
Citigroup will partner with a Chinese brokerage firm, Central China Securities Holdings Co., to compete for investment banking business in China. The arrangement, which requires approval from Chinese regulators, will allow Citigroup to earn fees for underwriting offerings on the...

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