To some extent, compliance programs are about the opposite of trust. A compliance professional wants to check on the status of a person’s actions to make sure rules are not being broken. Theoretically, you wouldn’t need to check on the status if you trusted that the person would not break the rules. There are two … Read more »
You know you’ve failed as a CCO when you get barred by FINRA
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority permanently barred Tod Bretton, former chief compliance officer and head trader for Prestige Financial Center, Inc. “FINRA found that, from at least September 2006 through June 2009, Bretton, working from the firm’s New York office, engaged in a fraudulent trading scheme in which he took advantage of customers placing large … Read more »
Legal Fallout from the Oil Spill
See Cartoons by Cartoon by J.D. Crowe Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com Email this Cartoon Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces for May 7
Here are some recent compliance related stories that I found interesting: Why Executive Pay Is So High by Neil Weinberg in Forbes.com So [Gary] Wilson can say, with more than a little credibility, that the boards supposedly overseeing management are instead packed with lackeys with appalling frequency. It’s a familiar complaint but one that he … Read more »
Dilbert on Employee Email Privacy
It looks like even Dilbert is keeping an eye on the Quon case at the Supreme Court. Read more »
Social Networking / Web 2.0 Revolution
This morning I presented to the Association of Legal Administrators. They asked me to give the view as a lawyer, law firm client, former legal administrator and blogger on what law firms should know about web 2.0. I also mixed risks, policies and compliance issues. The crowd was a diverse bunch in terms of how … Read more »
Evolving Employee Rights in the Age of Web 2.0
Morgan Lewis presented and informative webcast on Web 2.0 from the viewpoint of the company/employee perspective. These are my notes. Panelists: Renee Lawson Carla Oakley Howard Radzely Melinda Riechert James Walsh Companies cannot limit the personal use of these sites. But the line between personal and professional can be very fuzzy. You limit access over … Read more »
FTC and Bloggers
Back in December, the Federal Trade Commission released new guidelines that specifically required bloggers to disclose any material connections to a product or company they are writing about. The FTC had opened an investigation against Ann Taylor Stores for providing gifts to bloggers who the company expected would post blog content about Ann Taylor’s LOFT … Read more »
SEC is Probing Hedge Funds
They’re looking at you. Rob Kaplan and Bruce Karpati, co-chiefs of the Asset Management Unit of the SEC enforcement division, held their first full staff meeting last week. This new unit will be focusing on misbehavior by private-equity funds, hedge funds, buyout firms, mutual funds and other asset managers. The unit is one of the … Read more »
What About the Rating Agencies?
There has been lots of criticism aimed at Goldman Sachs over the Abacus 2007-AC1 deal. They help set up a CDO so their client, Paulson & Company, could make a bet on a downturn in the residential real estate market. To make that bet, they allowed Paulson to influence the securities that went into the … Read more »