June 20, 2019 – Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and its subsidiary, WMT Brasilia, agreed to a combined criminal penalty and disgorgement of $282M, together with WMT’s criminal guilty plea and undertakings in an NPA, to reach a global...more
6/21/2019
/ Accounting Fraud ,
Brazil ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Sanctions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Internal Controls ,
Popular ,
Retailers ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
Third-Party ,
Wal-Mart
One of three counts in Volkswagen’s recent $4.3 billion guilty-plea was for obstruction of justice arising from a litigation-hold botched by house counsel.
As VW prepared to admit the defeat-device problems to US...more
1/19/2017
/ Automotive Industry ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Document Destruction ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Litigation Hold ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Obstruction of Justice ,
Volkswagen ,
White Collar Crimes
Last week, VW blamed its “culture” for allowing “individual misconduct” that lead to the emissions-testing-evasion scandal engulfing the company. It reminded me of a couple of corporate-compliance mantras and of DOJ’s recent...more
Last Thursday, November 12, the MSRB published its Compliance Advisory for Municipal Advisors (“MA’s”). The new MA regulatory regime was imposed by Dodd-Frank and implemented by the MSRB and SEC over the past several years....more
On September 30, the SEC issued its second round of mass settled actions over municipal securities disclosure issues, as part of its Municipal Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (“MCDC”) Initiative. In this round, 22 municipal...more
Tennessee has joined other states in formally approving lawyers’ cloud-storage of client-confidential data. The Board of Professional Responsibility (“BOPR”) held that lawyers ethically may use cloud storage for...more
9/25/2015
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Breach Notification Rule ,
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) ,
Client Data ,
Client Services ,
Cloud Computing ,
Compliance ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Policies ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Loss Prevention ,
Data Security ,
Due Diligence ,
Ethics ,
Financial Institutions ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Law Practice Management ,
OCIE ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Third-Party Service Provider
This week the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) announced a second-round of cybersecurity examinations, continuing its initiatives on the issue. The move follows the SEC’s: March 2014 roundtable...more
9/17/2015
/ Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Security ,
Due Diligence ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Loss Prevention ,
OCIE ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SIFMA ,
Third-Party Service Provider
The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) issued a recent “Risk Alert” noting observed deficiencies in broker-dealer supervision and compliance controls over retail sales of structured products –...more
9/4/2015
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Brokers ,
Compliance ,
Due Diligence ,
Elder Issues ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Fixed Income Investments ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
OCIE ,
Risk Alert ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Structured Financial Products
In an August 18 letter to SEC Enforcement Director Ceresney, the National Society for Compliance Professionals (“NSCP”) urged the SEC to adopt an internal guideline requiring a higher “aiding and abetting” standard for...more
The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday rejected a challenge to the SEC’s investment-adviser pay-to-play rule, holding that two state Republican Party organizations filed it almost four years too late....more
The Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority fined a UBS unit $750,000 for mistakenly reporting customers’ municipal-bond-account interest was tax-exempt, when the firm’s handling of the trades made it taxable instead....more
The MSRB responded August 12 to the SEC’s initiation of proceedings on proposed conduct standards for Municipal Advisors, filing some amendments to the proposed Rule. The MSRB’s Amendment No. 1: MSRB declined to make a number...more
FINRA issued its late-July Regulatory Notice 15-27 warning brokerage firms that inadvertent short positions or fail-to-delivers in municipal securities trading can create situations where the member-firm pays a customer...more
8/4/2015
/ Brokerage Accounts ,
Compliance ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
IRS ,
Municipal Bonds ,
Municipal Securities Issuers ,
Municipal Securities Market ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Exemptions
SEC Administrative Law Judge Grimes dismissed administrative charges against an investment adviser and its principals for allegedly failing to disclose material conflicts of interest in its Form ADV and willfully filing false...more
The Securities Exchange Commission announced June 18 the first major wave of underwriter sanctions under its Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (“MCDC”) Initiative. The SEC sanctioned 36 municipal underwriting...more
6/22/2015
/ Check the Box Rules ,
Compliance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
MCDC ,
Municipal Securities Issuers ,
Municipal Securities Market ,
Municipalities ,
Sanctions ,
School Districts ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Underwriting
Addressing the annual meeting of the Compliance & Legal Division of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stressed the importance of industry compliance and legal...more
The SEC last week approved new MSRB Rule G-44 implementing supervision and compliance requirements for municipal advisors. The MSRB touted the Rule as “its first dedicated rule for municipal advisors” under the Dodd-Frank...more
On September 30, the D.C. District Court rejected two GOP state committees’ challenge to the SEC’s regulation prohibiting pay-to-play among investment advisors. Bowing to “curious” precedent in which words don’t mean what...more
The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) announced August 19 a two-year, three-phase examination initiative targeting newly-registered municipal advisors. SEC Press Rel. 2014-170 (Aug. 19, 2014). ...more
In its August 18 Regulatory Notice No. 2014-15, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (“MSRB”) proposed amendments to Rule G-37 that would extend the long-standing “pay-to-play” prohibition’s reach to newly-registered...more
Responding to industry complaints, the SEC’s Enforcement Division modified its Municipal Continuing-Disclosure Cooperation (“MCDC”) Initiative to (a) extend the deadline for issuer disclosures until December 1 (from September...more
The MSRB proposed a Revised Draft of Rule G-42 (“Duties of Non-Solicitor Municipal Advisors”) by Reg. Not. 2014-12 issued July 23, 2014. We addressed the original proposal in our January 23 blog post.
The Revised Draft...more
In back-to-back keynote addresses Monday to the Securities & Financial Markets Association’s annual Compliance & Legal meeting, SEC-Chair Mary Jo White and Southern District of New York US Attorney Preet Bharara renewed the...more
Effective July 5, 2014, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (“MSRB”) implements a consolidation and re-write of its prior fail-dealing Rules and Guidance for municipal securities dealers. On March 7, the SEC...more
This past February, FINRA issued an acceptance, waiver and consent (“AWC”) against a firm and its global anti-money laundering (“AML”) Compliance Officer (“CO”) for failures in AML compliance regarding brokerage and custodial...more