SEC Proposes to Codify Certain Consultations and Modernize Auditor Independence Rules

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it is proposing amendments to codify certain staff consultations and modernize certain aspects of its auditor independence framework.  The proposed amendments would update select aspects of the…

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Susan Nash, Associate Director in Division of Investment Management, to Leave SEC After 30 Years of Public Service

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Susan Nash, Associate Director and Senior Policy Advisor to the Director, Division of Investment Management, will retire from the SEC at the end of this month after 30 years of public service.…

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SEC Charges Recidivist Investment Adviser With Defrauding Retirees

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Sacramento, California-based investment adviser firm Springer Investment Management, Inc. dba Springer Financial Advisors (SFA) and owner Keith Springer with defrauding hundreds of retail clients, most…

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SEC Announces Robert A. Marchman as Senior Policy Advisor on Diversity and Inclusion

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the appointment of Robert A. Marchman as Senior Policy Advisor on Diversity and Inclusion. In this newly created role within the SEC's Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI), Mr. Marchman…

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Small Business Advocate Releases First Annual Report

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation today released its inaugural Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2019. The report is available for download here. The office is the SEC’s…

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SEC Files Charges in Ponzi Scheme Targeting Hispanic Community

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Edward Espinal, of Wayne, New Jersey, and his company, Cash Flow Partners LLC, in connection with an alleged $5 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 90 investors, many of…

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SEC Names David Bottom as Chief Information Officer

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today announced that David Bottom has been appointed as the agency’s Chief Information Officer (CIO). In this role, Mr. Bottom will be responsible for overseeing the security and overall functions of the…

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MetLife to Pay $10 Million for Longstanding Internal Control Failures

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged MetLife, Inc. with violating the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the federal securities laws relating to two errors in its accounting for reserves associated with its…

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SEC Charges Broker-Dealers With Illicitly Profiting in Partial Tender Offer

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against two registered broker-dealers, Bluefin Trading LLC and Critical Trading LLC, for violating the so-called “short tender rule” and enriching themselves at the expense of other…

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Issuer Settles Unregistered ICO Charges, Agrees to Return Funds and Register Tokens

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against blockchain technology company Blockchain of Things Inc. (BCOT) for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) of digital tokens.    According to…

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SEC Approves 2020 PCAOB Budget and Accounting Support Fee

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted today to approve the 2020 budget of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the related annual accounting support fee. The 2020 PCAOB budget totals $284.7 million, an increase of…

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SEC Proposes to Update Accredited Investor Definition to Increase Access to Investments

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted to propose amendments to the definition of accredited investor, one of the principal tests for who is eligible to participate in our private capital markets. The proposal seeks to update and improve the…

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SEC Proposes Rules to Implement the Statutory Mandate to Adopt Resource Extraction Disclosure Rules

Following a series of Commission actions, court proceedings and Congressional action, the Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to propose rules that would require resource extraction issuers to disclose payments made to foreign governments or…

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SEC Adopts Actions to Stand Up Security-Based Swap Regulatory Regime

The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted a package of rule amendments, guidance, and a related order to expand and improve the framework for regulating cross-border security-based swaps, including single-name credit default swaps. The…

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SEC Adopts Risk Mitigation Techniques for Uncleared Security-Based Swaps

The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to adopt rules requiring the application of risk mitigation techniques to portfolios of uncleared security-based swaps.  New Rules 15Fi-3, 15Fi-4, and 15Fi-5 establish requirements for registered…

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Silicon Valley IT Administrator and Friends Charged in Multimillion Dollar Insider Trading Ring

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced insider trading charges against five friends who repeatedly traded on confidential earnings information about a Silicon Valley cloud-computing company, reaping millions of dollars in trading…

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SEC Charges Former Goldman Sachs Executive With FCPA Violations

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive Tim Leissner for engaging in a corruption scheme, by which he obtained millions of dollars by paying unlawful bribes to various…

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SEC Charges Founder, Digital-Asset Issuer With Fraudulent ICO

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a digital-asset entrepreneur and his company with defrauding investors in an initial coin offering (ICO) that raised more than $42 million from hundreds of investors. The SEC's complaint alleges…

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SEC Obtains Asset Freeze to Halt Alleged Offering Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has obtained a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against a California solar panel company and three executives who allegedly defrauded more than 100 investors. According to…

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Former Congressman and Two Others Settle Insider Trading Charges

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today settlements with former U.S. Rep. Christopher Collins, his son Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, all of whom were charged with insider trading and pleaded guilty to related criminal charges. The…

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Jefferies to Pay Nearly $4 Million for Improper Handling of ADRs

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that broker-dealer Jefferies LLC will pay nearly $4 million to settle charges of improper handling of “pre-released” American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).   ADRs are U.S. securities that…

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SEC Obtains Touting and Fraud Judgment Against Colorado Cannabis Stock

A Colorado stock promoter and two of his companies agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's charges for fraudulently promoting and trading a cannabis stock. On Dec. 5, 2019, the U.S. District…

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SEC Charges Multinational Telecommunications Company With FCPA Violations

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Sweden-based Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson was charged with engaging in a large-scale bribery scheme involving the use of sham consultants to secretly funnel money to government officials in…

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SEC Charges Trucking Executives With Accounting Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two former top executives of Indiana-based trucking company Celadon Group Inc. for their participation in an accounting fraud that inflated the company's income and earnings per share.…

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SEC Releases Report on 38th Annual Small Business Forum

The Securities and Exchange Commission today released a report on the 38th Annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation.  The Forum is a unique event attended by SEC Commissioners and staff in which members of the public and…

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SEC Charges Iconix Brand Group and Former Top Executives With Accounting Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged brand-management company Iconix Brand Group Inc. and three of its former top executives with fraud. Iconix and two of its former executives have agreed to settle. The SEC’s litigation is…

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SEC Issues Agenda for Dec. 11 Meeting of Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee

The Securities and Exchange Commission today released the agenda for a Dec. 11 telephonic meeting of its Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee. The committee provides the Commission with advice and recommendations on Commission rules,…

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SEC Names Paul Munter as Deputy Chief Accountant

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the appointment of Paul Munter as a Deputy Chief Accountant (International) in the agency's Office of the Chief Accountant. As Deputy Chief Accountant, Mr. Munter will lead the office's…

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SEC Names John Vanosdall as Deputy Chief Accountant

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the appointment of John Vanosdall as a Deputy Chief Accountant (Accounting Group) in the agency's Office of the Chief Accountant. As Deputy Chief Accountant, Mr. Vanosdall will lead the…

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Kristina Littman Named Chief of the Cyber Unit

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Kristina Littman has been named Chief of the Division of Enforcement’s Cyber Unit, a national, specialized unit that focuses on protecting investors and markets from cyber-related misconduct.…

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Chief Administrative Law Judge Brenda Murray to Retire

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Chief Administrative Law Judge Brenda Murray is retiring after 50 years of federal service, including 25 years as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the SEC.

The SEC's press release claims that she presided with impartiality and expertise over Commission cases against those charged with fraud and other violations of securities laws. During her tenure, the Commission came to rely on her clarity of opinions and thoughtful approach to this important role. Others found her to be extremely biased in favor of the Commission, ruling in the Commission's favor in the overwhelming number of cases.

Judge Murray joined the SEC as Administrative Law Judge in January 1988. She was promoted to Chief Administrative Law Judge on March 20, 1994. Judge Murray earned her juris doctor from Boston University Law School and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Maryland.

The Commission has appointed the remaining three Administrative Law Judges to each serve successive 120-day details as Acting Chief Administrative Law Judge commencing Dec. 1, 2019, beginning with Judge Carol Fox Foelak followed by Judge James Grimes and then Judge Jason Patil.
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Credit Suisse Loses Another Broker Case - $11 Million and Counting

Credit Suisse has been ordered to pay two advisers $1.6 million finding that the firm wrongfully withheld deferred compensation owed to them. Five other cases went to awards this year, and arbitrators have awarded advisers more than $11 million in damages from Credit Suisse.

The claims stem from a ploy which Credit Suisse employed, in part, to keep the deferred compensation of brokers who it was effectively firing. Back in 2015 Credit Suisse decided to shut down its private banking operations, and announced a a transition agreement that lets Credit Suisse brokers move to Wells Fargo. Many brokers did not want to go to Wells, and given the fact that CS admitted that it was no longer going to run a retail business, brokers went to other firms.

Then CS turned around and claimed that the brokers who did not go to Wells broke their agreements with CS, and CS withheld their deferred compensation, which for many brokers was millions of dollars.

Not surprisingly, the brokers sued. And Credit Suisse is losing the arbitrations.

The problem is that brokers are only getting their own money back, and CS is not losing a dime, since it is being ordered to return the broker's own money. Plus, CS is keeping the deferred comp of every broker who did not sue.

But maybe that will change. Arbitrators can award interest at the New York pre-judgment interest rate of 9% per year. They can also award punitive damages for the outrageous abuse of its employees and the legal process, and depending on the details, they may be able to award attorneys fees.

If you have been denied compensation by Credit Suisse, give Mark Astarita a call at 212-509-6544