By Ryan Steele on New rates will take effect at the beginning of the next fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2017, for public companies and other issuers to register their securities with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC announced on Aug. 24, 2017, that the fiscal year 2018 fees to register securities will be set at $124.50 … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on A Chicago jury took one hour to find a trader guilty of “spoofing” some of the world’s largest commodities futures markets by deceptive electronic trading. On Tuesday, Michael Coscia was found guilty of 12 counts of fraud and “spoofing” by attempting to flood the gold, corn, soybean and crude oil futures markets with small orders, … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on We reported previously in April 2014 on the ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit striking down the part of the SEC’s conflict minerals rules that requires a registrant to describe its products as not “DRC conflict free” and upholding the remainder of the conflict minerals rules. Upon … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The SEC has proposed rules that require the securities exchanges to adopt rules that in turn require listed companies to adopt, disclose and comply with a clawback policy for executive compensation based on erroneous financial statements. The new rules would apply to almost all companies listed on a securities exchange (such as NASDAQ and NYSE), … Continue Reading
By Bob Tannous on On April 29, 2015, pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3 to 2 to approve a proposed amendment to executive compensation rules in Item 402 of Regulation S-K. The proposed amendment directs the SEC to adopt rules requiring registrants to disclose in … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on High ranking officials in the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on March 12 that companies that fail to self-report overseas bribes will face tougher Foreign Criminal Practices Act (FCPA) fines. While speaking at the Georgetown Law Center Corporate Counsel Institute in Washington, Patrick Stokes, deputy chief of the DOJ’s FCPA … Continue Reading
By Bob Tannous on According to a Wall Street Journal article reported by Emily Chasen, Senior Editor at The Wall Street Journal‘s CFO Journal, on Sept. 5, 2014, the U.S. Commerce Department acknowledged “it cannot determine which refiners and smelters around the world are financially fueling violence in the war-torn Congo region.” The WSJ article noted that companies including … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on We reported previously on the ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit striking down the part of the SEC’s conflict minerals rules that requires a registrant to describe its products as not “DRC conflict free” and upholding the remainder of the conflict minerals rules. Many observers have been … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On July 23, 2013, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the challenge to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) conflict minerals rules (the Rules) brought by a group of trade associations. The Rules were issued under Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) and … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On July 2, 2013, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (the “Court”) vacated Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Rule 13q-1 (the “Rule”), which required certain companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments in connection with the commercial development of oil, natural gas or minerals. The Court found that (i) the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The SEC has approved the listing standard changes relating to compensation committee independence and consultants for both Nasdaq and the NYSE. The proposed listing standards implement Rule 10C-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which was added by the Dodd-Frank Act. With respect to the Nasdaq listing standard changes, most listed companies will be required … Continue Reading
By Bob Tannous on On October 22, 2012, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Manufacturers Association, and the Business Roundtable filed a lawsuit in the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit seeking to modify or eliminate the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ("SEC") final rules governing conflict minerals. The SEC adopted the final rules on conflict minerals … Continue Reading
By Bob Tannous on On October 17, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") issued its Third Report on the Implementation of SEC Organizational Reform Recommendations. Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 ("Dodd-Frank Act"), the SEC was directed to engage an independent consultant to conduct a review of the SEC’s operations, structure, funding, … Continue Reading
By Bob Tannous on On August 30, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") released its findings of a staff study (the "Study"), as mandated by Section 917 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 ("Dodd-Frank Act"), identifying the existing level of financial literacy among retail investors as well as the methods and efforts to increase … Continue Reading
By Bob Tannous on On August 22, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") adopted a final rule pursuant to Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank") requiring resource extraction issuers (companies engaged in the development of oil, natural gas, or minerals) to disclose in an annual report information relating to any payment … Continue Reading
By Bob Tannous on On August 22, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted a new form and final rule pursuant to Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) requiring companies to publicly disclose their use of conflict minerals that originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (“DRC”) or an adjoining … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In an Opinion and Order dated February 23, 2012, Judge Michael Mosman adopted the January 11, 2012 Findings and Recommendations of Magistrate Judge John Acosta to dismiss the derivative lawsuit against the Board of Directors of Umpqua Holdings Corporation ("Umpqua") for breach of fiduciary duty. Magistrate Judge Acosta recommendation to dismiss the say-on-pay" lawsuit was … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On January 11, 2012, Magistrate Judge John Acosta recommended the dismissal of the derivative lawsuit against the Board of Directors of Umpqua Holdings Corporation ("Umpqua") for breach of fiduciary duty. The lawsuit was filed after the shareholders, in an advisory vote, rejected the Board-approved executive compensation program. The Magistrate Judge found that the plaintiffs failed … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Yesterday the SEC released its final rule regarding the exclusion of the value of a person’s primary residence when determining whether the person qualifies as an “accredited investor” on the basis of having a net worth in excess of $1 million. The accredited investor standards are used to determine certain exemptions from Securities Act registration … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In a September 20, 2011 Opinion, Judge Timothy Black of the Southern District of Ohio ruled that a lawsuit brought against senior executives and directors of Cincinnati Bell, Inc. alleging a breach of fiduciary duty regarding compensation would be allowed to proceed. The lawsuit focuses on the "say-on-pay" provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act: specifically, attacking … 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 Office of the Chief Operating Officer of the SEC issued its Report on the Implementation of SEC Organizational Reform Recommendations, which was mandated by Section 967 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The 25-page report was prepared to address the recommendations made in March 2011 by the Boston Consulting Group ("BCG"), who … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On August 30, 2011, the SEC announced it had settled a case with James O’Leary, the former CFO of Beazer Homes USA under Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 304’s "clawback" provision requires the reimbursement of compensation from executives under certain circumstances when their companies were in material non-compliance of financial reporting requirements due … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Two recent posting in the blogosphere discuss the long-threatened Congressional efforts to roll back the impact of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. First, a post from Jim Hamilton’s World of Securities Litigation discusses Congressional efforts to repeal specific regulations and pass fundamental and structural reform of the federal rulemaking system. Second, … Continue Reading
