Cost of Noncompliance: More Than Just Fines
Life With GDPR: Cathay Pacific Enforcement Action
FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report-Episode 171-FCPA Enforcement in the Energy Industry
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently settled charges alleging that a company’s employee separation agreements restricted former employees from receiving monetary awards for reporting securities law...more
The SEC’s Complaint - According to the SEC’s complaint, Kraken offered and sold its staking services to the general public in which participants could transfer crypto assets to Kraken in exchange for “advertised annual...more
On December 17, 2021, a financial institution agreed to pay $200 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodities Futures Trading Commission for allowing employees to discuss business on their...more
In a first-of-its kind enforcement action, the SEC fined an alternative data provider for the mobile app industry and its former CEO for misrepresentations and misuse of confidential data. Together, they will pay over $10...more
For the past decade, anti-money laundering (“AML”) has been at the forefront of securities regulators’ priorities. Indeed, AML enforcement cases have resulted in some of the highest fines imposed by securities regulators,...more
The year 2020 witnessed a record level of $2.78 billion in corporate fines and penalties from enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Securities and...more
In a troubling recently-released Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (“AWC”), FINRA fined three Cetera Firms a total of $1,000,000 for failing to conduct the appropriate suitability review and to otherwise satisfy their...more
Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged a dually registered firm and its Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) with multiple violations of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”). The...more
Please join McDermott and Grant Thornton on Thursday, May 28, for a webinar training on anti-corruption and compliance. This training will discuss the auditing standards on illegal acts by clients and the auditor’s...more
On July 24, 2019, both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced landmark settlements with Facebook. The agreements were significant not only because of the hefty fines...more
In June, two seemingly unrelated events took place: during the first week of June the SEC filed suit in federal court against the company Kik Interactive, which raised about 100 million dollars in the summer of 2017 through...more
FCPA UPDATES FOR GLOBAL COMPANIES - In recent months, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued important guidance for global companies on corporate compliance programs and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)...more
The SEC, in conjunction with the Colorado Bar Association and Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants, recently sponsored the 51st Annual Rocky Mountain Securities Conference featuring SEC officials and corporate...more
The SEC recently instituted cease and desist proceedings relating to a company's use of non-GAAP financial measures, signaling the agency's continued focus on these disclosures, particularly in public company earnings...more
On December 26, 2018, the SEC filed a cease-and-desist order and fined ADT Inc. (“ADT”) $100,000 for its use of non-GAAP financial measures without giving equal or greater prominence to the comparable GAAP financial measures....more
ANTICORRUPTION DEVELOPMENTS - Petrobras Settles with U.S. Authorities Over Alleged FCPA Violations - On September 27, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)...more
On September 27, 2018, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged Elon Musk, the Chairman and CEO of Tesla, Inc., a publically-traded California-based technology company that specializes in electric...more
Last week, on September 11, 2018, a number of “firsts” occurred in the prosecution of cryptocurrency-related activities. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought its first-ever enforcement action involving a...more
ANTICORRUPTION DEVELOPMENTS - DOJ Extends FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy to Misconduct in Mergers and Acquisitions - On July 25, 2018, in a speech to the Ninth Global Forum on Anti-Corruption Compliance in High Risk...more
On May 16, 2018, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced a $5.3 million fine on a financial services company (ICBCFS) for alleged systemic anti-money laundering (AML) compliance failures, including an...more
In a speech at the New York City Bar White Collar Crime Institute on May 9, 2018, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced a new U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) policy designed to encourage coordination among law...more
Bass, Berry & Sims announces the release of its "FCPA: 2016 Year in Review & 2017 Enforcement Predictions," a review of trends and developments in FCPA as well as a look ahead into what to expect for 2017. The newly released...more
According to a recent report of the Eversheds Sutherland firm, 2016 was a banner year for FINRA-assessed fines. FINRA collected a record $176 million in 2016. So what gives? The increase in fines was attributable to two...more
The federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued six-figure fines to two different employers in the past several weeks, claiming that each crafted restrictive severance agreements that violated agency rules...more
My friend and a legend in the securities regulatory field, Edwin Nordlinger, who served as Deputy Regional Director in the SEC’s New York office for years, was one of the nation’s premier experts on the SEC’s net capital and...more