Patisserie Valerie is a British patisserie and café chain. In 2018, the company found itself at the centre of an alleged accounting scandal. In 2019, Patisserie Valerie announced that its board had been notified of accounting...more
On July 26, 2021, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California held, after a bench trial, that Plaintiff Botta failed to prove that Defendant PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”) terminated his...more
Corporate investigations can serve a variety of different purposes. From uncovering accounting fraud to responding to cybersecurity breaches and preparing for litigation, there are various circumstances in which corporate...more
NY AG Letitia James is suing Amazon, accusing the online retail giant “of not doing enough to protect workers in the state from the coronavirus” and calling its response to the pandemic “deficient.” ...more
“Germany’s Enron” Continues to Stagger Forward - It’s time to talk about Wirecard AG. In many respects, it’s yet another accounting fraud scandal – albeit a massive one. But now, inevitably, it also has become a money...more
It is one thing to wake up and find yourself as the lead story on a Sunday morning when the New York Times (NYT) runs a corruption story about your organization above the fold. It is quite another when the world’s top...more
In a recent keynote speech, Co-Director of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement Steven Peikin made it clear that the Division has made coronavirus (COVID-19) related enforcement matters a top...more
Wall Street’s post-tariff-delay jubilance was short lived, as an inverted bond yield curve reared its ugly head yesterday, sending shares plummeting on a brutal day across all markets....more
The SEC announced the award of more than $22 million to a whistleblower whose detailed tip and extensive assistance helped the agency halt a well-hidden fraud at the company where the whistleblower worked. The $22...more
Continual rejections worked for Hershey in fending off Mondelez’s takeover bid. The Deal Professor thinks that Tronc faces considerable risks in following the same strategy with Gannett’s repeated overtures....more
Globalization has connected people, companies, and products across national borders more than ever. Goods and services developed in one part of the world are readily available in other parts of the world and technology is...more
The PCAOB filed a settled action involving an auditing firm in which the consent order of settlement was based on admissions of facts. The approach is similar to the one adopted by the SEC in which the Commission requires...more
On September 10, 2015, the Second Circuit held that an employee who reports wrongdoing internally -- but not to the SEC -- is protected under the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. In Berman v. Neo@Ogilvie LLC,...more
Once upon a time, Daniel Berman was the finance director of Neo@Ogilvy LLC, a subsidiary of the publicly-traded WPP Group USA, Inc. He did not find a handsome prince or princess there. According to the allegations of a...more
In Berman v. Neo@Ogilvy LLC, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit reversed and remanded a decision of the SDNY, which had dismissed a claim for retaliation by a former employee on the basis that Dodd-Frank’s...more
On September 10, 2015, the Second Circuit issued its highly anticipated decision in Berman v. Neo@Ogilvy, ruling (in a 2-1 decision) that Dodd-Frank’s whistleblower protection provision applies to internal complaints (i.e.,...more