There are few court cases involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Most of those accused quickly settle and move on. With few court cases that means the appellate decisions helping to interpret the FCPA are rare. Yesterday we had one of those rare sightings. Frederic Bourke was convicted of FCPA violations in 2009. Bourke co-founded … Read more »
Compliance and the South Pole
We reckoned now that we were at the Pole. Of course, every one of us knew that we were not standing on the absolute spot; it would be an impossibility with the time and the instruments at our disposal to ascertain that exact spot. But we were so near it that the few miles which … Read more »
I’m an NFL Owner
Sort of. The Green Bay Packers want to expand Lambeau Field by 6,700 seats, add new gates and new video boards. To finance the improvements, the team ownership decided to sell additional stock in the ownership corporation. Since the Kraft family is unlikely to be selling the Patriots anytime soon, I was willing to part … Read more »
Compliance Bits & Pieces for MF Global Edition
MF Gloabl clearly took a big bet on European sovereign debt. It looks like Jon Corzine, the head of the company, essentially went “all-in” and bet the company on the trades. He lost. His counterparties called collateral and the company quickly lost liquidity and solvency. On Halloween, MF Global filed for bankruptcy, listing $39.7 billion … Read more »
Paperwork Dotted with Legal-Sounding Gibberish
Whenever you hear about a “prime bank” investment opportunity, walk away. A prime bank opportunity generally is described by the sponsor as an international investing program involving complex financial instruments that are too technical and complicated for non-experts to understand. If it’s too technical for you to invest why would you? – Astronomical returns are … Read more »
SEC Targeting Suspicious Investment Returns
Last week, the SEC announced THREE actions against investment advisers for compliance failures. The Securities and Exchange Commission has turned the dial a little higher and announced FOUR enforcement actions against multiple hedge funds by identifying abnormal investment performance. (Does their dial turn all the way up to 11?) The SEC launched an initiative to … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces for December 2
Here are some recent compliance-related stories that caught my attention. The Enron cast: Where are they now? by Richard Partington in Financial News The leading characters in the Enron saga have had varied fortunes since the disgraced trading giant collapsed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy a decade ago this week. A few went to prison, a … Read more »
SEC’s Whistleblower Annual Report
Dodd-Frank added Exchange Act Section 21F(g)(5) and requires that SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower to report to Congress annually on the whistleblower program. It’s due each October 30. I’m sure the SEC wanted to be in compliance, so they released the first annual report on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower program (.pdf). Section 922 of the Dodd-Frank … Read more »
Failure to Adequately Oversee Service Providers
Citing what it called “wholly inadequate” oversight of a faraway subadviser, the Securities and Exchange Commission fined and ordered repayment of advisory fees by Morgan Stanley Investment Management. According to the settlement, Morgan Stanley will repay its client, the Malaysia Fund, $1.8 million for fees it paid from 1996-2007 for “research, intelligence, and advice” that … Read more »
Three Compliance Failures
One for the money, two for the show, three because uh – uh, comes before four, and here we go! – Tigger On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced not one, not two, but three actions against investment advisers for failing to put in place compliance procedures designed to prevent securities law violations. The … Read more »