You can’t put your hands in the area and say you do not know anything about computers. The Oklahoma Supreme Court recently issued an opinion that a litigant was subject to sanctions: Barnett v. Simmons, 2008 OK 100, 11/10/2008). The court looked to the standard for sanction in Oklahoma and found no requirement of willfullness. … Read more »
Open Letter to CEOs of SEC-Registered Firms
The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations has published an letter to CEOs of SEC Registered Firms about the importance of compliance programs during this time of “financial and market turmoil.” December 2, 2008 Dear CEO of SEC-Registered Firm: During this time of financial and market turmoil, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations … Read more »
Core Initial Request for Information from Investment Advisers
The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations has published its Core Initial Request for Information for Investment Adviser Examinations. The initial phase of an examination includes a review of the firm’s business and investment activities, its organizational affiliations and its corresponding compliance policies and procedures. The staff will request information and documents and speak … Read more »
Public Hearing on Massachusetts Data Privacy Regulations
The Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business has published a Notice of Public Hearing on 201 CMR 17.00, Standards for the Protection of Personal Information of Residents of the Commonwealth. (.pdf) The hearing is on Friday, January 16, 2009 at 2:00 pm in Room No. 5-6, Second Floor of the Transportation Building, 10 Park … Read more »
LegallyMinded – The ABA Tries To Get Social
The American Bar Association launched LegallyMinded, a social networking site targeted at lawyers, paralegals, law librarians, law students and anyone else in the legal market. Being a student of social networks for lawyers, I thought I would sign up. I encountered my first problem when they asked me to have a username rather than my … Read more »
Is CalPERS a Sovereign Wealth Fund?
Ashby H. B. Monk wrote Is CalPERS a Sovereign Wealth Fund? (He ends up saying no.) Sovereign Wealth Funds have come under increased scrutiny with countries concerned that an investment by a SWF could be used as a political tool and not a mere investment. The underlying concern is that many of the SWFs come … Read more »
Securities Litigation and the FCPA
last week the Ninth Circuit handed down a decision in a securities litigation case related to FCPA violations in Glazer Capital Management LP v. Magistri. Glazer’s claims arose after InVision Technologies, Inc. (InVision) announced, in March 2004, that it had entered into a merger agreement with General Electric (GE). Several months later, in July 2004, … Read more »
Know Your Customer Podcasts
You can find a seried of FINRA Compliance Podcasts on their Compliance Podcast webpage and from iTunes. Last summer they have a few on Customer Identification Programs and Anti-Money Laundering programs: Anti-Money Laundering for Operations Staff (July 7, 2008) AML – Customer Identification Program (Part 1) (June 16, 2008) AML – Customer Identification Program (Part … Read more »
Kozeny Decision Limits Defense to FCPA
Melissa Klein Aguilar wrote a peice on Compliance Week about the decision in U.S. v. Kozeny decision that limits the local law defense under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: FCPA Decision Narrows Local-Law Defense. The Kozeny decision makes clear that if the payment itself is illegal, the local-law defense can’t be used even if the … Read more »
Code of Business Ethics for Jones Lang LaSalle
Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated was named to The Ethisphere Institute’s 2008 World’s Most Ethical Companies list. The World’s Most Ethical Companies are the ones that go above and beyond legal minimums, bring about innovative new ideas to expand the public well being, work on reducing their carbon footprint rather than contributing to green washing and … Read more »