Corporate & Securities Law

The New "Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission"

By broc

The New "Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission"

From Davis Polk: Legislation that creates an independent commission to examine the causes of the financial crisis was signed into law by the President on Wednesday. Section 5 of the "Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009" makes only one notable change to the bill discussed in Davis Polk's May 15th alert. Earlier versions of the bill required only a simple majority vote of the Commission for a subpoena to be issued - but the final version requires at least one affirmative vote of a Commission member appointed by the Republicans.

Congressional Democrats will appoint six members of the ten-member commission and Congressional Republicans will appoint four members. Whether this change has a material impact on the Commission's operations is uncertain, and will likely depend on the Commission's ability to secure voluntary production of witnesses and evidence.

"Early Bird" Conference Rates: Expires at End of Today

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Whistleblower's Fight over Definition of Risk

As has forever been the case, most scandals see the light of day because someone was brave enough to speak out. I don't know enough to know the merits of this situation, but this fight between a Deutsche Bank employee and his employer has many lessons for all of us in the corporate world. In this letter, the employee - Deepak Moorjani - shares his perspectives on his firm's risk policies and the culture and reward structure that he claims encouraged practices that were not in the company's best interests.

- Broc Romanek

Full post as published by The Corporate Counsel.net Blog on May 22, 2009 (boomark / email).