These are some of the compliance related stories that recently caught my attention.
Private Equity’s Unintended Dark Side by Alexander Ljungqvist, Lars Persson and Joacim Tåg in the CLS Blue Sky Law Blog
But what about more long term consequences of buyouts? In a recent paper, we explore whether private equity could, inadvertently, impose a major externality on the economy, by undermining the hard-won consensus in support of shareholder capitalism that has emerged in Anglo-Saxon economies over the past 100 years: in return for participating in the gains from corporate activity, shareholder-voters lend their support to business-friendly policies.
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The Ethics and Compliance Officer’s Many-Colored Hat by Jason L. Lunday in Compliance & Ethics Professional
Below are thirteen key disciplines that have influenced the Ethics and Compliance field and are important competences for an ECO to have or acquire through others to effectively manage an ethics and compliance program. [More…]
Mark Cuban Challenges the Referee: the Constitutionality of SEC In-House Courts in Orrick’s Securities Litigation, Investigations and Enforcement
After the repeated challenges to the SEC’s in-house courts as previously reported, Mark Cuban joined the debate by filing an amicus curiae brief in support of petitioners Raymond J. Lucia Companies, Inc. and Raymond J. Lucia (collectively “Lucia”) in Lucia v. SEC. Cuban, describing himself as a “first-hand witness to and victim of SEC overreach” in a 2013 insider trading case brought against him in an SEC court, argued that the D.C. Circuit should grant the petitioners’ appeal because SEC in-house judges are unconstitutionally appointed. [More…]
Toward More Effective SEC and DOJ Remedies in SEC Actions
The thesis for the Judge Bean approach is simple and straight forward: “If a corporation has violated the law, individuals within the corporation must also have violated the law,” according to the report. Unstated is the thesis that jail for a few executives will cure what ails the world of Wall Street and big corporations as will being forced to make admissions. While these points seem intuitive their premise is at best doubtful. While admissions may satisfy a craving for retribution, the reason such a requirement will change the behavior of a large corporate entity is unclear. [More…]
Ex-Brokers Go on Trial in Test of Revised Insider Law by Patricia Hurtado in Bloomberg Business
Two former stockbrokers accused of insider trading by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission don’t deny making hundreds of thousands of dollars on a tip about a billion-dollar deal. They just deny they broke the law. Insider trading laws are in flux following a 2014 federal appeals court ruling in New York that, in part, says prosecutors must show a source of a leak got some kind of a concrete benefit. The trial of Daryl Payton and Benjamin Durant tests the new requirement in a civil proceeding in New York for the first time.[More…]
I am very happy to announce the public launch of the Center for Compliance and Ethics at the Charlotte School of Law in Charlotte, NC. The Center will be hosting many exciting events including:
- A lunch and learn on February 24th about our compliance certificate program.
- A webinar on March 10th where professors in the compliance certificate program speak about careers in compliance.
- A webinar later in March on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, taught by leading compliance expert Mike Volkov.
- A Symposium on compliance and ethics in June at Charlotte School of Law’s campus that will provide both a forum for discussion and will produce a white paper on important compliance issues.