FCPA procedures, internal controls and travel, entertainment and gifts were at the center of the SEC’s latest FCPA action. The action names as a Respondent Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and focuses on its efforts to sell...more
10/6/2015
/ Bristol-Myers Squibb ,
China ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Consent Order ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Meals-Gifts-and Entertainment Rules ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The SEC filed a settled insider trading case which names as defendants two attorneys, an accountant and two other individuals. The action is based on information misappropriated from a corporate director by his personal...more
Microcap fraud is a key part of the broken windows enforcement approach. One of the more significant actions brought in this regard is In the Matter of John Briner, Esq., Adm. Proc. File No. 3-16339 (Jan. 15, 2015). There the...more
9/21/2015
/ Auditors ,
Broken Windows ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Mining ,
Offerings ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
The SEC has been investigating sovereign wealth funds and issues relating to the hiring of friends and family of foreign officials for some time. Now it has filed a settled action centered on both of those issues which...more
8/19/2015
/ Asset Management ,
Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Banking Sector ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Code of Conduct ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Internships ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sovereign Wealth Funds
The market crisis may have ended years ago, but not the SEC’s supply of cases from that time period. The agency filed a settled action in which those soliciting sophisticated investors misrepresented the risks of two funds,...more
The SEC entered into partial settlements with three persons charged with acting as brokers without registering. The charges were tied to an offering fraud which centered on selling interests in a firm that claimed to be...more
The SEC filed another settled action in which payments to health care professionals at state owned entities in China were alleged to be violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Although the company furnished extensive...more
7/29/2015
/ Books & Records ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
China ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Disgorgement ,
Distributors ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Internal Controls ,
Marketing ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Commission has brought a series of cases focused on undisclosed conflicts of regulated entities. A number of those cases centered on undisclosed fee and compensation arrangements. In its most recent case the agency went...more
DOJ and SEC officials repeatedly encourage cooperation. There are benefits for both sides. Cooperation can facilitate the Government’s investigation, providing a road to the scheme. Testimony can aid in obtaining a favorable...more
7/14/2015
/ Cooperation ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Forfeiture ,
Government Investigations ,
Insider Trading ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Restitution ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SiriusXM
The SEC filed its first action involving a private equity fund and broken deal expenses. By the time the Commission discovered the question the firm realized it did not have a disclosure policy, retained a consultant to study...more
The acquisition of Foundry Networks, Inc., a networking hardware company, by Brocade Communications System, Inc., a technology company specializing in data and storage networking products, announced on July 21, 2008, has...more
6/15/2015
/ C-Suite Executives ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Injunctions ,
Insider Trading ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
The SEC continues to bolster its allegations regarding the relationships between tipper and tippee in insider trading cases as well as the knowledge of the tippee. Whether those allegations will be sufficient to meet the...more
6/9/2015
/ Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Insider Trading ,
Internal Investigations ,
Penalties ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Right to Remain Silent ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tippees ,
US v Newman
Deutsche Bank paid $2.519 billion in fines and disgorgement, a subsidiary pleaded guilty to criminal charges and the parent entered into a three year deferred prosecution agreement which requires a monitor to resolve charges...more
The Commission filed two settled offering fraud actions centered in part around an entity engaged in the purchase and sale of thoroughbred horses called Raintree Racing. A second involved an offering of interests in a real...more
The SEC filed a settled insider trading case in which a father is alleged to have misappropriated inside information obtained from his Son who obtained the information from his Girlfriend. The disgorgement he paid included...more
The SEC settled another action this week based on admissions of fact and that the Federal securities laws were filed, this time involving Oppenheimer. The action was based on the fact that the firm permitted an off-shore and...more
1/30/2015
/ Brokers ,
CFTC ,
Disgorgement ,
End-Users ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinCEN ,
Fraud ,
Investment Funds ,
Penalties ,
SAR ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Unregistered Brokers
The Commission filed another settled action based on undisclosed conflicts involving an investment adviser. In this proceeding Respondents, principals of the adviser, failed to disclose a fee splitting arrangement with an...more
This week the SEC and the DOJ filed a settled FCPA action. The disgorgement paid by the issuer put the case at number ten on the list for the largest such amounts paid in an SEC FCPA case....more
11/7/2014
/ Australia ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Insider Trading ,
Municipal Bonds ,
Price Manipulation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Stocks
Rengan Rajaratnam settled his insider trading case with the SEC this week, consenting to the entry of a permanent injunction and agreeing to pay disgorgement, prejudgment interest, a civil penalty and to be barred from the...more
10/24/2014
/ Breach of Duty ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Disgorgement ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Hong Kong ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment Funds ,
Misappropriation ,
PCAOB ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
Entering into new, international markets may be good for developing business, but it also carries certain risks. This is particularly true in many countries where doing business may include making gifts, paying gratuities and...more
7/29/2014
/ Compliance ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Markets ,
Gun Manufacturers ,
Penalties ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Smith & Wesson
The Commission filed two settled insider trading cases against medical practitioners who traded while in possession of material non-public information regarding clinical trials for a drug. SEC v. Lama, Case No. 5:14-cv-00996...more
5/20/2014
/ Clinical Trials ,
Disgorgement ,
Injunctions ,
Insider Trading ,
Medical Devices ,
Non-Public Information ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Physicians ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Section 17(a) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Most insider trading cases center on news about a corporate event such as an acquisition or an earnings announcement that has not become public. In SEC v. Lawson, Civil Action No. 3:14-cv-02157 (N.D. Cal. Filed May 12, 2014)...more
Earlier this month the Third Circuit resolved an issue regarding causation, intervening causes and disgorgement in an SEC enforcement action. SEC v. Teo (here). Now the Second Circuit has handed down a ruling on the measure...more
The SEC filed two civil injunctive actions this week. Once focused on an investment fraud scheme in which interests were sold in what was falsely claimed to be a motion picture production which would have A list celebrities....more
The Commission brought charges against three subsidiaries of ConvergEx Group, LLC, and two employees of subsidiaries, based on a scheme to defraud brokerage customers by charging excessive fees. In the Matter of G-Trade...more