By Porter Wright on On Thursday, December 8, 2011, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California announced that it had indicted the David Tamman, outside counsel for New Point Financial Services, of conspiring with the company’s investment fund manager, who was also indicted, to obstruct an SEC investigation. The indictment alleges that that the two conspired to … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On December 8, 2011, various government agencies announced that Wachovia Bank, N.A. has entered into a series of settlements with the SEC, the Department of Justice, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Internal Revenue Service, and 26 state attorneys general to pay $148 million related the bank’s entry into fraudulent secret arrangements … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On December 1, 2011, Judge A. Howard Matz entered an order granting the motion to dismiss filed by Lindsey Manufacturing Company, Keith Lindsey, Steve Lee in the criminal FCPA case against them. As discussed here, the Court announced its intention to do so at a hearing on November 29, 2011. In its Order, the Court … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on At a hearing on November 29, 2011, Judge A. Howard Matz stated that he would be granting the motion to dismiss for prosecutorial misconduct filed by Lindsey Manufacturing Company (a privately-held company), its President Keith Lindsey, and its Vice President Steve Lee in the criminal FCPA case against them. Judge Matz prepared a tentative order … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The Federal Securities Law Blog is pleased to announce its second e-Book: "Insider Trading: A Look At Some Of The Key Civil And Criminal Cases In 2011." The last few years have seen a remarkable number of insider trading cases brought by both the SEC and federal prosecutors. In the criminal cases, many Wall Street … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Tuesday, October 25, 2011, defendants Joel Esquenazi and Carlos Rodriguez, former executives of Terra Telecommunications Corporation who were convicted in August 2011 for their roles in a conspiracy to violate the FCPA and commit money laundering, were sentenced to 15 years and 7 years in prison, respectively. With respect to Mr. Esquenazi, a Press … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Wednesday, October 26, 2011, both the SEC and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed charges against Rajat Gupta, the former Managing Director of McKinsey & Company and board member at Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble. Mr. Gupta, who previously argued that an Administrative Proceeding brought by the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on A pair of articles appeared this week that traced trends in particular areas of securities enforcement. The Wall Street Journal presented data showing an increase in the length of sentences in insider trading cases over the last eighteen years. A second article which appeared in Corporate Counsel suggested that the SEC’s settlement of a case … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Today, in a case closely watched on Wall Street, Judge Richard Holwell sentenced Raj Rajaratnam, the Managing Member of Galleon Management, LLC, to Eleven years in prison. Although the sentence is the longest to date for anyone involved in the Galleon Group, it fell considerably short of the lengthy sentence sought by the Government.… Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The SEC brought a case against Thomas Wu, the former CEO of United Commercial Bank, for misleading investors regarding the financial state of the bank during the 2008 financial crisis. Mr. Wu, who the SEC described as a "rising star in the banking industry," allegedly directed subordinates to conceal information regarding the true value of … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on A report on Monday, October 3 from Bloomberg Markets Magazine detailed a years-long scheme by Koch Industries, Inc. to make improper payments to win contracts in six countries – payments which the company admitted "constitute violations of criminal law." The article states that the Justice Department would not confirm or deny the existence of any … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Wednesday, September 21, two defendants who were convicted of conspiracy and insider trading charges in separate trials earlier this year were sentenced in federal court in New York. Zvi Goffer, who formerly worked at with the Schottenfeld Group LLC (part of Raj Rajaratnam’s Galleon Group), was sentenced to ten years in prison, while Winifred … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on There were two interesting news items this week regarding what the nation’s regulators are doing to protect investors – one from the SEC and the other from the Department of Justice. The SEC announced that it "is in the process of re-establishing an Investor Advisory Committee," while Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar expressed disappointment that the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Friday, September 9, the Department of Justice announced that it had entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement with CSK Auto Corporation, a retailer of automotive parts and accessories which used to be publicly traded, to settle a criminal investigation into alleged securities law violations stemming from a corporate earnings manipulation and double-billing scheme. Under the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On August 23, 2011, the Government filed a Motion with Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stating that it was dropping its appeal of the decision of District Court Judge George Wu to sentence Gerald and Patricia Green to only six months in prison following their conviction on FCPA charges. The Government had originally requested that … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In the FCPA Sting Case, U.S. v. Goncalves, No. 09-cr-00335 (D.D.C.), which resulted in a mistrial last month for four of the 22 defendants (as discussed here), the Court has set a new schedule for the defendants, with four separate trials scheduled to begin between September 22, 2011 now and mid-May 2012. In the mean … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Friday, August 5, 2011, a Florida jury convicted Joel Esquenazi and Carlos Rodriguez, former executives of Terra Telecommunications Corporation, for their roles in a conspiracy to violate the FCPA and commit money laundering. U.S. v. Esquenazi, Case No. 09-cr-21010 (S.D. Fla. Filed Dec. 4, 2009), The convictions were the latest event in Government’s aggressive … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Thursday, July 7, 2011, D.C. Federal Judge Richard Leon declared a mistrial in a criminal case against four defendants who were accused of conspiracy and FCPA violations when the jury was unable to reach an unanimous verdict on all charges. The case represented a setback for the Government, who had brought charges against 22 … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On June 30, 2011, Lee Farkas, the former Chairman of Taylor Bean & Whitaker ("TBW"), was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role the failure of his company and of Colonial Bank. While the sentence fell short of the Government’s request for a sentence of 385 years, it is likely that the 58-year old … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Monday, a federal jury convicted a consultant at an expert networking firm, Winifred Jiau, of one count of conspiracy and one count of securities fraud for selling inside information she obtained through social relationships with sources from the finance departments at publicly traded companies. According to the U.S. Attorney, "Wini Jiau gave new meaning … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Less than five weeks after the insider trading conviction of Raj Rajaratnam, prosecutors in New York, again using wiretapped telephone conversations, obtained a second significant conviction for insider trading, this time against Zvi Goffer and two other Wall Street professionals, who were found guilty on Monday of conspiracy and securities fraud charges.… Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Wednesday, May 18, Judge James Selna in California became the latest Judge to rule on the issue of whether the FCPA extended to payments made to employees of foreign state-owned companies. Judge Selna denied defendants’ motion to dismiss in U.S. v. Carson, holding that "the question of whether state-owned companies qualify as instrumentalities under … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on UPDATED on May 16, 2011 — As mentioned previously, Lindsey Manufacturing Company (a privately-held company) was the first corporate defendant to be convicted after trial of FCPA charges (for conspiracy to violate the FCPA and five counts of FCPA violations based on payments to employees of the Comisión Federal de Electricidad ("CFE"), an electric utility company … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Today, in a case closely watched on Wall Street, a federal Jury in New York convicted Raj Rajaratnam, the Managing Member of Galleon Management, LLC, of five counts of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and nine counts of securities fraud, stemming from what prosecutors called "his involvement in the largest hedge fund insider trading scheme … Continue Reading
