This Week in FCPA-Episode 80, The Last Jedi Edition
Bill on Bankruptcy: Supreme Court Cases Will Have Wide Impact
Wayward Financial Institutions Facing Increasingly Stricter Punishment
Grassley: HSBC Should Face Criminal Charges
On November 7, 2023, the Division of Enforcement ("Division") of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") released its annual report of the results of its enforcement efforts, announcing that it had...more
Between February 23 and March 3, three leading global financial institutions announced updated environmentally linked targets aimed at reducing by 2030 their financed emissions in carbon intensive sectors, including oil &...more
On Monday March 13, 2023, the Bank of England announced that Silicon Valley Bank UK Limited has been sold to HSBC UK Bank Plc. The situation remains fluid, and the following Q&A reflects our understanding as of Monday...more
A global financial institution recently announced an updated energy policy, supplementing its previously issued 2030 targets. HSBC’s 2030 targets aimed, among other things, to reduce financed emissions in two carbon-intensive...more
One can prorogate all one wants, but raise the ire of British MPs, and a price will be paid, my friends. So goes the story for PM Boris Johnson, against whom British lawmakers “rose up” on Monday to “prevent him from taking...more
On December 1, 2018, acting at the request of the United States, Canadian authorities arrested a senior officer of Huawei Technologies Co. (“Huawei”), the Chinese telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics device...more
On Nov. 14, 2018, a New York appellate court held that in a derivative action brought in a New York court against a company incorporated in the United Kingdom, the plaintiff need not comply with U.K. Companies Act § 261(1)...more
Some reaction to the HQ2 x2 news, including what a pair of new tech hubs actually means for the cities that have thrown out the red carpet to Amazon and other technology giants....more
A federal jury in Brooklyn has found former HSBC Holdings exec Mark Johnson guilty on 9 counts of front-running that grew out of the DOJ’s investigation into forex manipulation at HSBC....more
HSBC’s making good on its plans to shift to a focus on Asia by naming John Flint—who spent his first 14 years at the bank in Asia—as its new CEO. Flint will take over from Stuart Gulliver in February....more
I take a break from my series on the new standard for revenue recognition to honor George Romero who passed away this weekend. If you have watched any monster/zombie picture over the past 50 years, you have witnessed the...more
Activist investor Carl Icahn has taken a sizeable stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb, a move that reportedly caught execs at the drugmaker unawares and sets the stage for a potential sale....more
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation—the company that “serves as the back end for much Wall Street trading”—has announced a big step forward in the embrace of blockchain technology to track and report transactions. IBM...more
With Fitch and DBRS [by most measures, the #3 and #4 rating agencies in a 3-player game] doling out AAA ratings for bonds backed by non-qualified mortgages that Moody’s has dubbed “risky.” Well worth keeping an eye on this...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Standing: foreclosing bank did not establish standing where it failed to submit evidence it was in possession of original note with blank endorsement at time of filing of foreclosure...more
China’s expected to announce Q3 economic growth of 6.7 percent this week—a number envied by any other country in the world but the sign of major slowdown there. Dealbook looks at what, exactly, a less-gangbusters Chinese...more
Like a hot new underground nightclub [I presume. Not exactly my scene], Marcus—Goldman Sachs’ new online lending platform aimed at the consumer banking segment—requires a password. Goldman’s reportedly sending out the...more
Look to Miami for the latest legal troubles for the country’s biggest banks. After most have finally put to bed the remnants of Great Recession RMBS litigation, a new tack by the city is looking to hold them responsible for...more
The Treasury Dept’s Office of Financial Research has found that money-market funds are increasingly entering into direct repurchase loans with large investors and insurers—another sign that “participants in short-term lending...more
We’ve heard about VW’s $15 billion settlement to resolve US claims by owners and regulators, but a spate of recent state AG-led actions shows that the fallout from the emissions cheating scandal is far from over. NY, MA, and...more
William Ackman’s multi-year effort to expose Herbalife as a Ponzi scheme (and make good on his massive short of its stock) saw something of a moral victory last week, with the FTC imposing big-time sanctions ($200 million in...more
We had an interesting week of anti-corruption enforcement actions last week, both in the US and the UK. We have now had four Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement actions since the announcement of the Depart Of...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - - Foreclosure/Standing/Hearsay: copy of a note with undated allonge containing blank endorsement sufficient to establish standing as a matter of law, even though bank did not have formal...more
Dealbook’s Strategies feature reviews the Fed’s latest non-move and suggests that the current bind in which the Fed finds itself is—at least in part—a problem of its own making....more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Requests for Admission: trial court erred by involuntarily dismissing foreclosure action based solely on lender’s failure to respond to requests for admission because lender’s...more