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Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 16:18:26

SEC Staff Reviews Use of Derivatives by Mutual Funds and ETFs

Posted on March 25, 2010
The SEC staff is conducting a review to evaluate the use of derivatives by mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other investment companies. The review will examine whether and what additional protections are necessary for those funds under the Investment...

SEC's Inspector General Criticizes Investigation into Allied Capital

Posted on March 24, 2010
More poor marks for the SEC from its Inspector General. A report (available at the Washington Post's website) finds that the agency did not seriously pursue allegations against Allied Capital, a D.C.-based private equity firm, but did go after the...

Treasury's Wolin Addresses Chamber of Commerce on Financial Reform

Posted on March 24, 2010
Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin came out swinging today in a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the Urgency of Financial Reform: So while we can have legitimate disagreements on the details of financial reform, there...

Is It Financial Reform's Time Finally?

Posted on March 24, 2010
Senators Gregg and Corker, two Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee (which voted Senator Dodd's version out of committee, on a partisan vote, without debate), say yes: WPost, GOP's Gregg, Corker predict financial regulation bill will pass in 2010

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SEC Charges New Mexico Realtor with $80 Million Ponzi Scheme

Posted on March 24, 2010
The SEC yesterday filed fraud charges against Douglas F. Vaughan, a prominent New Mexico realtor, and obtained an emergency court order to halt an alleged $80 million Ponzi scheme. According to the complaint, Vaughan through his company ? The Vaughan...

SEC Freezes Assets in Alleged Life Settlement Fraud

Posted on March 23, 2010
The SEC recently obtained a judicial order temporarily freezing assets and appointing a receiver to take control of the assets and operations of American Settlement Associates, LLC ("ASA") in an alleged $3.5 million life settlement fraud. According to its complaint,...

SEC Issues Statement on Modifications to 2003 Analysts Settlement

Posted on March 23, 2010
You will recall that I reported last week that the securities firms subject to the 2003 Analysts Settlement sought modifications to certain provisions of the settlement, which request the SEC did not oppose. The Judge approved most of them, but...

TARP Special Master Issues Rulings on 2010 Executive Pay for 5 "Exceptional Assistance" Firms

Posted on March 23, 2010
The Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation, Kenneth R. Feinberg, issued his rulings on 2010 executive pay packages for the `Top 25' executives at the five remaining firms that received exceptional assistance from taxpayers: AIG, Chrysler, Chrysler Financial, GM, and...

Massachusetts Issues Subpoenas to Broker-Dealers Over Private Placements

Posted on March 23, 2010
Massachusetts securities regulator William Galvin yesterday issued subpoenas to six brokerage firms concerning sales of participations in private placements marketed by Medical Capital Holdings Inc. and Provident Royalties LLC, seeking information on due diligence efforts, suitability data and promotional materials...

Dodd Calls for DOJ Investigation of Lehman Brothers Accounting

Posted on March 23, 2010
Today Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking that he commission a task force to investigate activities at Lehman Brothers and other companies that may have engaged in similar accounting manipulation...

Senate Banking Committee Votes Financial Reform Bill to Senate

Posted on March 23, 2010
Yesterday the Senate Banking Committee voted, on strict party lines, to send the committee's version of the financial reform package to the Senate for debate and vote. The House approved its version last December. NYTimes, Bank Panel Clears Bill on...

Daimler Agrees to Settle FCPA Charges

Posted on March 23, 2010
Daimler AG has agreed to pay $185 million to settle charges brought by the DOJ and SEC that the company paid bribes to secure overseas business. In addition to paying the fines, the company will plead guilty to violating the...

UK Arrests Six in Insider Trading Crackdown

Posted on March 23, 2010
The U.K. regulator, the Financial Service Authority, announced a major crackdown on insider trading, including the arrest of six individuals. Although the FSA release did not name names, the Wall St. Journal does -- including an employee of the U.S.....

Afsharipour on Reverse Termination Fees

Posted on March 22, 2010
Transforming the Allocation of Deal Risk Through Reverse Termination Fees, by Afra Afsharipour, University of California, Davis - School of Law, was recently posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Buyers and sellers in strategic acquisition transactions are fundamentally shifting...

Thomas & Wells on Executive Compensation

Posted on March 22, 2010
Executive Compensation in the Courts: Board Capture, Optimal Contracting and Officer Fiduciary Duties, by Randall S. Thomas, Vanderbilt University - School of Law, and Harwell Wells, Temple University Beasley School of Law, was recently posted on SSRN...

Judge Rejects to Tear Down Firewall between Analysts and Investment Bankers

Posted on March 18, 2010
As the Wall St. Journal reported this morning, Judge Pauley, who is responsible for overseeing the 2003 Analysts' Settlement between major securities firms and the SEC that separated the investment banking from the research departments, rejected a modification that would...

Interview with SEC Chair Schapiro

Posted on March 18, 2010
Charles Lane of the Washington Post has a video interview with SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, in which she discusses improvements at the agency in response to the Madoff scandal, the inadequacies of the SEC's Consolidated Supervised Entity (CSE) Program and...

More Bad Press for the SEC

Posted on March 18, 2010
The Wall St. Journal reported this morning on the SEC's approval of some easing of the restrictions on dealings between analysts and investment bankers at the major firms that are signatories to the 2003 Analysts' Settlement. (Elimination of a significant...

Innospec Settles FCPA Charges

Posted on March 18, 2010
The SEC settled charges that Innospec, Inc. (?Innospec?), a specialty chemical company incorporated in Delaware with principal offices in the United States and the United Kingdom, violated the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt...

SEC Warns Firms on Muni Pay-to-Play Rules

Posted on March 18, 2010
The SEC today issued a report warning firms that municipal securities rules prohibiting pay-to-play apply to affiliated financial professionals, not just a firm's employees. The pay-to-play rule, MSRB Rule G-37, generally prohibits firms from underwriting municipal bonds for an issuer...

Provident Asset Management Expelled from FINRA for Marketing Fraudulent Private Placements

Posted on March 18, 2010
FINRA announced today that it has expelled Provident Asset Management, LLC, a Dallas-based broker-dealer, for marketing a series of fraudulent private placements offered by its affiliate, Provident Royalties, LLC, in a massive Ponzi scheme. Provident Asset Management misrepresented to investors...

Schapiro Testifies and Says Lehman Oversight was Inadequate

Posted on March 17, 2010
SEC Chair Shapiro testified today before the House Appropriations Committee on what the agency would do with the $1.26 billion appropriated to it in next year's budget and also reported on her efforts to reinvigorate the agency. In response to...

Dodd Punts on Harmonizing Regulation of Investment Advice Providers

Posted on March 16, 2010
An important issue in any financial reform package adopted by Congress is the so-called "harmonization" of regulatory treatment of broker-dealers and investment advisers that provide personalized investment advice to retail customers. While "harmonization" can be subject to many interpretations, there...

SEC Obtains Freeze on Russian Defendants' Assets in Online Intrusion Scheme

Posted on March 16, 2010
On Monday, March 15, 2010, the SEC obtained a freeze on the assets of Russian defendants allegedly responsible for a hi-tech market manipulation scheme. According to the SEC, BroCo Investments, Inc. and its president Valery Maltsev hijacked the online brokerage...

Florida Broker-Dealer Settles Charges It Sold Unsuitable Annuities to Seniors

Posted on March 16, 2010
The SEC today issued an administrative Order imposing sanctions on Prime Capital Services, Inc. and Gilman Ciocia, Inc. The Order finds that from approximately November 1999 through February 2007, Prime Capital Services, Inc. (PCS) sold unsuitable variable annuities to senior...

Senator Dodd's Financial Reform Bill

Posted on March 15, 2010
The complete text of Senator Dodd's Financial Reform bill is now posted at the Senate Banking Committee's website.

Dodd Releases The Democrats' Version of Regulatory Reform

Posted on March 15, 2010
Senator Chris Dodd, Chair of the Senate Banking Committee, just released the Senate Democrats' summary(Download FinancialReformSummary231510FINAL) of proposed federal financial reform. (In case you've forgotten, the House passed a version last December...

SEC Commissioner Aguilar on Money Market Fund Reform

Posted on March 15, 2010
Excerpt from Speech by SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar, Making Sure Investors Benefit from Money Market Fund Reform, Investment Company Institute and Federal Bar Association Mutual Funds and Investment Management Conference, Phoenix, AZ, March 15, 2010: Potential Further Action Notwithstanding the...

Former InfoUSA CEO Settles Charges of Fraudulent Compensation Scheme

Posted on March 15, 2010
The SEC oday charged three former senior executives and a former director of infoUSA Inc., an Omaha-based database compilation company, for their roles in a scheme in which the CEO funneled illegal compensation to himself in the form of perks...

Scarlett on Shareholders in the Jury Box

Posted on March 14, 2010
Shareholders in the Jury Box: A Populist Check Against Corporate Mismanagement, by Ann M. Scarlett, Saint Louis University - School of Law, was recently posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The recent subprime mortgage disaster exposed corporate officers and...

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