By Porter Wright on In a scathing Opinion and Order issued on Monday, November 28, 2011, Judge Jed Rakoff rejected the SEC proposed settlement with Citigroup Global Markets for $285 million, suggesting the SEC was hoping for "a quick headline" and finding "that the proposed Consent Judgment is neither fair, nor reasonable, nor adequate, nor in the public interest." … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on A Thursday, November 24, 2011 article from Bob Van Voris on Bloomerg.com states that Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. may have to pay more than the proposed $285 million settlement with the SEC to satisfy Judge Jed Rakoff that the accord is fair. The article hints that Judge Rakoff may be displeased with the settlement because … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Tuesday, November 22, 2011, the SEC struck the latest blow in its long-standing dispute with Mark Cuban by filing a Motion to Compel, asking the Court to order Mr. Cuban to produce a privilege log of documents (from the period the SEC was investigating him) which were withheld on privilege grounds. According to the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Tuesday, November 16, 2011, six SEC Directors appeared before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment to provide a progress report on Management and Structural Reforms at each of their respective divisions at the SEC (their testimony is available here). The witnesses acknowledged the comments made … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Tuesday, November 15, 2011, the SEC announced that it had reached a settlement with Maynard L. Jenkins, the former chief executive officer of CSK Auto Corporation, who agreed to re-pay approximately $2.8 million of the over $4 million in bonus compensation and stock profits that he received while the company was committing accounting fraud. … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Wednesday, November 9, 2011, the SEC issued a Press Release announcing that it had filed 735 enforcement actions in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, touting it as the "most enforcement actions filed in a single year." The Commission also highlighted the fact that "more than $2.8 billion in penalties and disgorgement [was] … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Tuesday, November 8, 2011, Judge Jed Rakoff issued an Opinion and Order and entered a final Judgment against Raj Rajaratnam, bringing a close to the SEC’s first civil case against the former head of Galleon Management. Mr. Rajaratnam, who was previously convicted of insider trading charges (as discussed here) and sentenced to twelve years … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Monday, November 7, 2011, the SEC filed its Brief in response to questions posed by the Court regarding the proposed settlement in SEC v. Citigroup, No. 11-cv-7387 (S.D.N.Y.). In answering the Court’s questions, the Commission emphasized that "[t]he proposed consent judgment embodying this settlement is fair, adequate, and reasonable, and should be entered by … 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 Friday, October 28, 2011, Chief Administrative Law Judge Brenda Murray dismissed the administrative proceeding against John Flannery and James Hopkins of State Street Bank and Trust. The SEC had alleged that Messrs. Flannery and Hopkins "engaged in a course of business and made material misrepresentations and omissions that misled investors about the extent of … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Thursday, October 27, 2011, the SEC entered a Cease-and-Desist Order against FINRA, which, according to the SEC’s Press Release, included a finding that "certain documents requested by the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office during an inspection were altered just hours before FINRA’s Kansas City District Office provided them." FINRA consented to hire an independent consultant … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Thursday, October 27, 2011, New York federal Judge Jed Rakoff issued an Order in the SEC’s case against Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. (previously discussed here), scheduling a hearing for November 9, 2011. In the Order, Judge Rakoff said "[t]he Court is required to ascertain whether the proposed judgment is fair, reasonable, adequate, and in … 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 In an October 13, 2011 Opinion that carefully considers the language of two insurance policies, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Office Depot, Inc. was not entitled to coverage for most of the legal fees incurred by the company while responding to inquiries from the SEC. In-house counsel would be wise to review their … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Wednesday, October 19, 2011, the SEC announced a settlement with Citigroup’s principal U.S. broker-dealer, Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., who had been charged with misleading investors about a $1 billion collateralized debt obligation ("CDO") tied to the housing market. The Commission’s charges stem from failure to advise investors that at the same time it was … 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 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 An article in Friday’s Wall Street Journal discussed a "major shift" in the SEC strategy, claiming the Commission "could file more civil cases in which defendants are accused of negligence only, rather than harder-to-prove charges of intentional wrongdoing or recklessness." The article, by Jean Eaglesham, entitled "At SEC, Strategy Changes Course," is available here, registration … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The SEC announced on Tuesday, September 27 that it had filed a settled administrative proceeding against RBC Capital Markets LLC for misconduct relating to the sale of unsuitable investments (credit-linked notes that were tied to the performance of synthetic collateralized debt obligations or "CDOs") to five Wisconsin school districts. The action is the latest in … 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 According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, "SEC General Counsel Mark Cahn issued a memo to Division of Enforcement staff telling them to stop existing record-destruction procedures for closed cases, until further notice." This issue originally arose in mid-August (as discussed here) when Senator Chuck Grassley (R. Iowa) asked SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro … 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 On Wednesday, August 24, the SEC announced its latest result in its case relating to Galleon Management, this time obtaining a default judgment against Deep Shah, a former lodging industry analyst at Moody’s. The Court entered a permanent injunction from future violations of Section 10(b) and Rules 10b-5, and disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalty … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In a letter dated August 17, 2011, Senator Chuck Grassley (R. Iowa) of the Senate’s Committee on the Judiciary, asked SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro whether the Commission has destroyed files relating to some of its more high-profile and controversial matters, such as its investigations of Bernie Madoff, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers and … Continue Reading
