Finance & Banking › Business Torts › Criminal Law

DOJ and SEC Scrutinize Potential Misuse of Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans by Corporate Directors Affiliated with Investment Advisers

Over the past four years, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) have focused on insider trading involving private funds as one of their key targets in the fight against...more

What Does Cooperation Buy You?

Cooperation. The word is filled with meaning for enforcement professionals. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice profess to weigh it heavily when making charging and sanctioning...more

Financial Regulators Compete, JPMorgan Loses

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC); the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC); the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); and the Office of the Comptroller of...more

Prudential Sues Bank of America Over $2 Billion in RMBS

On March 14, several Prudential entities filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against several Bank of America and Merrill Lynch entities in connection with Prudential’s investments in...more

Restatements Resurrected?: Accounting Fraud By The Numbers

Several months ago, I raised the question of why the large-scale accounting fraud cases of the type that had been so prevalent in the early 2000s were no longer a staple for either federal prosecutors or the SEC. In so doing,...more

SEC Ramps Up Its Private Equity Parade

Bruce Karpati, chief of the SEC’s Asset Management Unit, promised us several weeks ago that enforcement actions against private equity firms were about to heat up. He wasn’t kidding. Last Monday, the SEC filed two sets of...more

Former Futures Trader at JP Morgan Cazenove is Sentenced to 4 Years Imprisonment for Insider Dealing

Following a prosecution brought by the FSA, Richard Joseph was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of six counts of conspiracy to deal as an insider. Joseph received inside information from a print room manager at JP Morgan...more

Orrick's Financial Industry Week in Review - March 18, 2013

In This Issue: *Financial Industry Developments - CFTC Announces the Start of Mandatory Clearing - CFTC Reminds Market Participants of Swap Data Reporting Requirements - Rating Agency Developments...more

Internal Investigation Fees Awarded To Goldman Sachs

On Monday, February 25, Goldman Sachs won its bid to force former director Rajat K. Gupta to pay legal fees it incurred while investigating Gupta’s insider trading activities. In October 2012, Gupta was sentenced to two years...more

Insider Dealing

On December 13, the FSA published a press release announcing that Thomas Ammann, a former investment banker and FSA Approved Person at Mizuho International plc, had been sentenced to 2 years and 8 months imprisonment for two...more

Remote Tippee Issues Hang over SEC/Wells Fargo Insider Trading Case

The SEC brought a big insider trading case against a number of individuals in the Western District of North Carolina yesterday. The complaint alleges $11 million in illicit profits. The complaint calls it an insider...more

Several Thoughts about the Largest Insider Trading Case in History

The SEC and Justice Department filed a massive insider trading case in the Southern District of New York yesterday. The actual defendants include University of Michigan neurology professor Sidney Gilman, hedge fund advisory...more

Orrick's Financial Industry Week in Review - November 19, 2012

In This Issue: - Personal Insurance Issues in the Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Orrick's Insurance Practice Group is offering a series of online webinars to walk individuals through the process of dealing with...more

The Government's War Against Financial Industry Crimes Continues with a Record-Breaking Insider Trading Case, But It's Still Too...

The Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission loudly have trumpeted victories achieved in their renewed battle against insider trading and Wall Street malfeasance, repeatedly warning that there are more cases...more

Criminal Conviction for Insider Dealing

On November 15, the FSA issued a press release stating that Thomas Amman, formerly an investment banker at Mizuho International plc, has pleaded guilty to two counts of insider dealing and two counts of encouraging insider...more

Years in the Making, Brokers Charged for Securities Fraud

The financial meltdown in Wall Street and the subsequent bailout of major financial institutions by the U.S. government has placed undue pressure on white collar defendants, particularly those charged with securities fraud....more

The Weekly Brief: Abu Hamza On Trial, Wells Fargo Sued, Bingham Cuts Costs [Video]

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg Law) -- Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia runs through the week's most important legal news. Islamic cleric, Abu Hamza al-Masri, has been extradited from the United Kingdom to stand trial on terrorism charges in...more

Peregrine Customers Get Partial Payout

Judge Carol Doyle of Chicago approved the return of $123 million dollars to customers of Peregrine Financial Group on Thursday. This amounts to 30 to 40 percent of initial customer investment held by the discredited firm. The...more

FSA’s Proposal to Prevent the Recurrence of the AIJ Scandal and the Results of the Second Survey

On September 4, 2012, the Financial Services Agency of Japan (“FSA”) published its proposal of measures to prevent the recurrence of the AIJ scandal while providing the opportunity to the public to provide their opinions...more

Do You Have an Insider Trading Compliance Policy?

Just to make every compliance officer’s job a little bit more difficult, companies need to adopt and implement an insider trading compliance policy. The Justice Department and the SEC have made headlines through its...more

Federal Court Declines to Enjoin AG Prosecution of Claims Subject to Class Settlement

On August 22, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida denied a major bank’s motion to enjoin prosecution by two state attorneys general of claims related to the bank’s credit card payment protection...more

SFO Confirms Criminal Offences are Capable of Covering LIBOR Conduct

On July 30, the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) published a press release stating that the Director of the Serious Fraud Office, David Green QC, is satisfied that existing criminal offences are capable of covering conduct...more

Barofsky: Govt. Complicity Provides Libor Defense [Video]

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg Law) -- The world's biggest banks are likely to defend lawsuits alleging they manipulated the Libor interest rate by saying the federal government knew it and did nothing, according to Neil Barofsky, former...more

HM Treasury Consults on Sanctions for Directors of Failed Banks

On July 3, HM Treasury published a consultation paper on sanctions for the directors of failed banks. ...more

United States of America vs. Russell Wasendorf Sr.

Criminal Complaint

Russell Wasendorf Sr., the chief executive of the futures brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group, violated section 1001(a)(1) & (3) of Title 18 by “making and using false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of...more