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Post Frequency: 38.1/day

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

Judge Rakoff Defers Approval of Proposed Settlement in SEC v. Collins

Posted on February 21, 2010
You may recall that on Jan. 14, 2010, Joseph Collins, former partner at Mayer Brown, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for his role in helping his client Refco defraud investors. (Collins is appealing his conviction.) Judge Patterson at...

Gordon & Muller on Systemic Risk Management

Posted on February 21, 2010
Avoiding Eight-Alarm Fires in the Political Economy of Systemic Risk Management, by Jeffrey N. Gordon, Columbia Law School; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), and Christopher Muller was recently posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The inherent tensions in the...

Pacific Asian Atlantic Foundation Settles SEC Fraud Charges over Worthless Bonds

Posted on February 19, 2010
The SEC settled fraud charges against Pacific Asian Atlantic Foundation, a purported international humanitarian organization, and its president and chief executive officer for fraudulently offering billions in worthless bonds to several U.S broker-dealers...

SEC Charges Greenstone Holdings, CEO and Attorneys with Illegal Stock Distribution

Posted on February 19, 2010
On February 18, 2010, the SEC filed a civil action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York charging issuer Greenstone Holdings, Inc., the company's Chief Executive Officer, Hisao Sal Miwa, the company's outside counsel,...

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SEC Announces Agenda for Feb. 24 Open Meeting

Posted on February 19, 2010
SEC Open Meeting - February 24, 2010 The subject matter of the Open Meeting will be: Item 1: The Commission will consider whether to adopt amendments to Rules 201 and 200(g) of Regulation SHO relating to short sale restrictions. Item...

Judge Rakoff Mulls Over Deposition Testimony in Deciding Whether to Approve SEC-BofA Settlement

Posted on February 19, 2010
The New York Attorney General's Office turned over to Judge Rakoff copies of five depositions, including that of former (and fired) Bank of America GC Timothy Mayopoulos, as the judge requested. Judge Rakoff is trying to figure out why the...

FINRA Proposes Rule Change Addressing Attorney Representation of Non-Party Witnesses

Posted on February 18, 2010
FINRA filed with the SEC a proposed rule change that would explicitly permit non-party witnesses to be represented by attorneys in arbitration proceedings. The release explains that in customer disputes against the brokerage firm the registered representative who dealt with...

Former UBS Executive Settles ARS Insider Trading Charges with New York

Posted on February 18, 2010
The New York AG continues its aggressive enforcement in the auction rate securities (ARS) market, announcing today settlement of insider trading charges against David Shulman, formerly a top executive at UBS. According to the AG, Shulman sold his personal holdings...

Judge Rakoff Seeks More Information on BofA GC's Firing

Posted on February 17, 2010
Why was former Bank of America GC Timothy Mayopoulos fired five days after the BofA shareholders approved the merger with Merrill Lynch? In its complaint the New York AG suggests that the firing resulted from Mayopoulos' advice that Merrll's growing....

Should Brokers be Subject to a Fiduciary Duty?

Posted on February 17, 2010
Anyone with an interest in the ongoing debate over the regulation of broker-dealers and investment advisers (the "harmonization" of regulation or "should brokers be held to a fiduciary duty standard" debate) should read the article in yesterday's New York Times,...

Two Investment Firms Sign on to New York's Public Pension Fund Reform Code of Conduct

Posted on February 17, 2010
Two more investment firms have agreed to adopt New York Attorney General Cuomo?s Public Pension Fund Reform Code of Conduct, which eliminates placement agents and campaign contributions from the public pension fund system nationwide. Ares Management LLC (?Ares?) and Freeman...

FINRA Proposes to Expand Publicly Available Information about Brokers

Posted on February 17, 2010
FINRA is seeking authority to significantly expand the amount of information available to the public on current and former securities brokers through its free online BrokerCheck service. The proposed expansion ? which FINRA will submit to the SEC in the...

SEC Charges Doctor with Insider Trading in LCA Visions Stock

Posted on February 16, 2010
The SEC filed on February 11, 2010 securities fraud charges against Gerald D. Horn ("Horn") for his alleed illegal insider trading in the securities of LCA Visions, Inc. ("LCA") that resulted in total illicit gains of approximately $1.4 million. LCA....

Four Individuals Enjoined for Distribution of Unregistered Securities

Posted on February 16, 2010
The SEC announced today that the United States District Court for the District of Arizona granted the Commission's motion for summary judgment and entered final judgments, on February 8, 2010, against the four remaining defendants in a civil injunctive action...

SEC's Investor Advisory Committee Announces Agenda for Feb. 22 Meeting

Posted on February 16, 2010
The Securities and Exchange Commission Investor Advisory Committee will hold an Open Meeting on Monday, February 22. The agenda for the meeting includes a report from the Education Subcommittee, including a presentation on the National Financial Capability Survey, a report...

University of Buffalo Researcher Accused of Hiring Actors to Testify on his Behalf in Misconduct Hearing

Posted on February 16, 2010
The following has nothing to do with securities fraud -- it's just weird. Also, Dr. Nancy Zimpher, Chancellor of the State University of New York system, who is credited for cooperating in the investigation, is the former President of my...

Senator Proposes Amendment Calling for SEC Study of Broker-Adviser Issue

Posted on February 16, 2010
Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) is circulating a change to the Senate financial reform legislation (remember that?) so that brokers offering advice to their customers would not have to register as investment advisers or owe fiduciary duties to their customers...

FINRA Settles Enforcement Action Against H&R Block Financial Advisors for Sales of RCNs

Posted on February 16, 2010
FINRA announced its first enforcement action involving the sales of reverse convertible notes (RCNs) ? fining H&R Block Financial Advisors, Inc., (n/k/a Ameriprise Advisor Services, Inc.) $200,000 for failing to establish adequate supervisory systems and procedures for supervising sales of...

Weber on Capital Adequacy Regulation

Posted on February 14, 2010
New Governance, Financial Regulation, and Challenges to Legitimacy: The Example of the Internal Models Approach to Capital Adequacy Regulation, by Robert F. Weber, Loyola University New Orleans - School of Law, was recently posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract:...

Financial Stability One Year Later

Posted on February 12, 2010
FINANCIAL STABILITY PLAN - ONE YEAR LATER FEBRUARY 10, 2010 (from the Treasury Secretary): ?It was one year ago today that the Obama Administration outlined a Financial Stability Plan to address the four problems at the heart of the financial...

Dodd Reaches Out to Corker on Financial Reform

Posted on February 12, 2010
Yesterday Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) issued the following statement on developments in financial reform negotiations. ?For over a year, the Senate Banking Committee has been grappling with how best to address the many problems that led to...

Former Brocade Communications Officer Settles Charges Related to Backdated Options

Posted on February 12, 2010
On February 3, 2010, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered Final Judgment as to Michael J. Byrd, former CFO and COO of Brocade Communications,based on his Consent submitted in order to settle the Commission's...

SEC Shut Down Because of Snow?

Posted on February 10, 2010
Nothing's going on at the SEC, at least to the public eye, because of the snow. Here's the forlorn posting on its "What's New" site: New materials may be forthcoming. Please check back later in the afternoon.

Georgia Supreme Court Addresses Holder Claims, Loss Causation & Brokers' Duties

Posted on February 10, 2010
The Georgia Supreme Court recently answered three important questions relating to a customer's claims against his broker-dealer. Holmes v. Grubman, 2010 WL 424225 (Ga. Feb. 8, 2010). This is yet another case brought by a WorldCom investor against Citigroup Capital...

Judge Questions Terms of Proposed SEC-BofA Settlement

Posted on February 09, 2010
Judge Rakoff has questions about the proposed SEC-BofA settlement. He thinks that the $150 million penalty is "still quite small," wonders if the court should exercise oversight over the implementation of some of the corporate governance changes and questions why...

Target Date Funds: Pro or Con?

Posted on February 09, 2010
Regarding the ongoing debate over target date funds: Apparently the Investment Company Institute has prepared a paper called "Dispelling Target Date Fund Myths with the Facts." I say "apparently" because I cannot find it on the ICI website. The BrightScope...

SIFMA's Ryan Asserts Financial Services Industry Has Reformed

Posted on February 08, 2010
In an opinion piece in The Washington Post that appeared last Friday, SIFMA President and CEO Tim Ryan argues that while recent proposals by the Obama Administration have suggested that the financial services industry hasn't changed, in fact, the industry...

Two Investment Firms Settle New York's Pay-to-Play Investigation

Posted on February 08, 2010
The New York AG's Office announced that it has secured agreements with two major investment firms in the ongoing New York State Pension Fund investigation. Markstone Capital adopts the Public Pension Fund Reform Code of Conduct and agrees to return...

Tung on Banker Pay for Performance

Posted on February 07, 2010
Pay for Banker Performance: Structuring Executive Compensation for Risk Regulation, by Frederick Tung, Emory University - School of Law, was recently posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Excessive risk taking by firm managers did not originate with the Financial...

Partnoy on Historical Perspectives on the Financial Crisis

Posted on February 07, 2010
Historical Perspectives on the Financial Crisis: Ivar Kreuger, the Credit-Rating Agencies, and Two Theories About the Function, and Dysfunction, of Markets, by Frank Partnoy, University of San Diego School of Law, was recently posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract:...

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