Securities

Recent Posts

$157 Million Ponzi Scheme Uncovered in China?
Posted on 7 Jun 2012 by Jordan D. Maglich

Several news outlets are reporting that a Chinese shopping website may have been outed last week as a Ponzi scheme, with the number of victims estimated in the hundreds of thousands and rumors that the founder had skipped town along with senior executives... Read More

Securities Suits Against Chinese Companies Continue to Mount
Posted on 18 Apr 2011 by Kevin M. LaCroix

For several years, Friday has been the day when the latest bank closures are announced (about which see further below). More recently, Friday also seems to be the day when the latest securities class actions involving Chinese companies are announced... Read More

Do Chinese Companies Give the PRC Government Different Financials than to the SEC?
Posted on 28 Feb 2011 by David N. Feldman

Well, kind of, but. The latest Reverse Merger Report talks about the fact that short sellers have been focusing on alleged differences between filings by public Chinese companies with their government as compared to what is filed in the US with the... Read More

SEC’s Action Seeking PRC Audit Papers Moves Forward
Posted on 25 Apr 2013 by Thomas O. Gorman

The SEC's action seeking to compel the production of documents from the Chinese affiliate of Deloitte and Touche is moving toward resolution. The Court rejected a request by the audit firm for a stay pending the resolution of a Commission administrative... Read More

Mickey, Donald and the FCPA
Posted on 14 Jun 2010 by Thomas Fox

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement arena is scattered with US companies which have gone many miles past the extra mile in providing travel and entertainment. Most practitioners will recall the Lucent Technologies 2007 enforcement... Read More

Identifying Chinese Characters: Accounting Fraud Lawsuits Against Chinese Companies Surge
Posted on 4 Apr 2011 by Kevin M. LaCroix

With four more securities suits involving Chinese or China-linked companies this past Friday, the phenomenon of securities class action lawsuits against these firms has emerged as one of the most distinct securities litigation trends so far this year... Read More

A China Fraud Dissected: Part 1 Milton Webster, AgFeed Audit Committee Member and Whistleblower
Posted on 5 Mar 2014 by Francine McKenna

Lawrence Blitz v. AgFeed Industries, Inc., Goldman Kurland & Mohidin LLP, McGladrey & Pullen LLP , et al is a securities fraud class action where investors claim the company’s expansion was “fueled in large part by fraud.” AgFeed... Read More

The Lure of Citizenship is the Key to an Offering Fraud Halted by the SEC
Posted on 13 Feb 2013 by Thomas O. Gorman

A path to U.S. citizenship premised on an immigration program crafted to help create jobs, and surrounded with misrepresentations and false documents was the lure used by Anshoo Seithi and his controlled entities to defraud 250 investors of millions... Read More

All China, All the Time
Posted on 17 Jun 2011 by Kevin M. LaCroix

Even though the story has been brewing for months , the mainstream media and the SEC suddenly seem to have decided that the alleged accounting frauds involving certain U.S.-traded Chinese companies are the central story of the moment. You can hardly... Read More

Real Estate, China and the FCPA
Posted on 7 Oct 2010 by Doug Cornelius

China is hotbed for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The real estate industry is not immune from the dangers. In February of 2009 Morgan Stanley's real estate group reported an employee based in China in an overseas real estate... Read More

Parts III & IV: The SEC and Chinese Issuers: Transparency And Accountability
Posted on 8 Aug 2012 by Thomas O. Gorman

Corporate governance A number of PRC based issuers have been named as defendants in SEC enforcement actions. These cases involve a range of issues including financial fraud, manipulation and misuse of assets. Misrepresentations and financial fraud... Read More

U.S. Listed Chinese Companies Attracting Scrutiny, Securities Suits
Posted on 16 Nov 2010 by Kevin M. LaCroix

For reasons I am sure they find good and sufficient, Chinese companies have been seeking listings on the U.S. securities exchanges. The Chinese companies (or at least some of them) have also been discovering an added side-effect of a U.S. listing ... Read More

This Week in Securities Litigation (July 8, 2011)
Posted on 8 Jul 2011 by Thomas O. Gorman

The SEC and the DOJ resolved another bid-rigging case related to anticompetitive practices in the municipal securities markets. This is one of a series in an ongoing investigation. The SEC also prevailed on a summary judgment motion in an investment fraud... Read More

Top 3 FCPA Cases Of 2010 Part II-(Ding Dong) Avon Calling
Posted on 14 Jul 2010 by Thomas Fox

This is the second installment of our three part series on the Top 3 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) matters of 2010 to date and their significance for the FCPA compliance professional. In Part I we focused on the Gun Sting matter . Now we turn... Read More

SEC, People's Republic of China-Based Audit Firms Reach a Settlement
Posted on 9 Feb 2015 by Thomas O. Gorman

The SEC and the People's Republic of China (PRC)-based affiliates of five major accounting firms entered into a settlement of proceedings initiated over the failure to produce audit work papers for issuers with substantial operations in China. The... Read More