The Securities and Exchange Commission has just announced its examination priorities for 2014, which cover a wide range of issues at financial institutions, including investment advisers and investment companies, broker-dealers, clearing agencies, exchanges... Read More

The Securities and Exchange Commission had a very good year targeting financial fraud. Those who commit fraud, not so much. In fiscal year 2013, the SEC’s enforcement actions resulted in a record $3.4 billion in monetary sanctions ordered against... Read More

As the Financial Fraud Law Blog continues its countdown of the Top 10 in Financial Fraud Law for the year, we are going to begin with a clue: Bryan Cave. Give up? The clue is relevant to our Top 10 list because the international law firm has just... Read More

“You know you don’t have to act with me, Steve. You don’t have to say anything, and you don’t have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together... Read More

The Securities and Exchange Commission has brought charges against two Wall Street traders allegedly involved in a fraudulent “parking” scheme in which one temporarily placed securities in the other’s trading book to avoid penalties... Read More

In a microcap fraud-fighting initiative that the Securities and Exchange Commission refers to as Operation Shell-Expel , the SEC has suspended trading in 255 dormant shell companies that it said were “ripe for abuse in the over-the-counter market... Read More

Millions of previously hidden U.S. stock trades will be revealed for the first time on Monday December 9. Previously, odd lots, which are trades of fewer than 100 shares, have not been revealed on the publicly available “consolidated tape,”... Read More

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged public accounting firm KPMG with violating rules that require auditors to remain independent from the public companies they are auditing to ensure they maintain their objectivity and impartiality. ... Read More

Once again, Cornerstone Research and the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse have prepared an annual report on the securities class action filings. And, once again, the report, Securities Class Action Filings—2013 Year in Review... Read More

Michael J. Osnato, Jr., has been named chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division unit that conducts investigations into complex financial instruments. Osnato, who joined the SEC staff in 2008 and who has served as... Read More

For decades, when a company agreed to settle financial fraud-related charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company typically would pay a fine. Sometimes a large one. The company also typically would insist on a provision in the settlement... Read More

Merrill Lynch, charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with making faulty disclosures about collateral selection for two collateralized debt obligations (CDO) that it structured and marketed to investors, and with maintaining inaccurate books... Read More

A former stockbroker who was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with misappropriating material nonpublic information from his customer and using it to trade Burger King Holding, Inc.’s securities and to tip others before the company’s... Read More