The executive at the center of the fraud at Carter's, Inc., Joseph Elles, was named as a defendant in a 32 count indictment. The charges include securities fraud and wire fraud. U.S. v. Elles, 11 CR 445 (N.D. Ga.). The company entered into the... Read More
CHICAGO — (Mealey’s) A federal judge in Illinois on Oct. 17 entered a $2.46 billion judgment — the largest judgment following a securities class action trial, according to the lead plaintiff’s counsel — against Household... Read More
The SEC has brought a series of investment fund fraud and Ponzi schemes. Indeed, the Commission has brought so many of these cases in recent years they have become a staple. None of those cases, however, involved securities fraud tied to an investment... Read More
About a year ago, Lloyd Blankfein tried to burnish Goldman Sachs' post-financial crisis image by arguing in an interview with the Times of London that Goldman was performing God's work by bringing buyers and sellers together to do deals and... Read More
Saturday, December 11, 2010 was the two-year anniversary of the day when Bernie Madoff's sons, Mark and Andrew, contacted law enforcement officials to notify them that their father was running the largest Ponzi scheme in history. On this same day... Read More
WASHINGTON, D.C. — (Mealey’s) TD Bank NA on Sept. 23 agreed to pay $52.5 million to settle federal regulators’ allegations that the bank helped attorney Scott Rothstein run a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme out of his law firm. The Securities... Read More
The Commission directed the institution of an administrative proceeding charging recidivist Stanley Jonathan Fortenberry, an unregistered fund adviser, with fraud in connection with the operation of a fund supposedly tied to a country music talent. In... Read More
Former SEC Enforcement Director Steve Cutler once told a meeting of the DC Bar Association that "no matter how bad the underlying conduct, you can always make things worse." At the time Mr. Cutler was talking about failing to produce documents... Read More
The line between civil and criminal violations of the securities laws is, at best, difficult to discern. That difficulty is compounded by the increasing criminalization of the federal securities laws. In some instances, this had led to overreaching... Read More
The CEO and CFO of a successful senior living firm sought to expand the business by acquiring the operations of another firm and leasing its facilities. Despite warnings that the lease terms were far to onerous, the deal was concluded. The result was... Read More
WASHINGTON, D.C. - (Mealey's) The U.S. investment banking subsidiary of Japan-based Mizuho Financial Group will pay $127.5 million to settle claims that it provided "dummy assets" to a ratings agency "that inaccurately reflected the... Read More
Cooperation was a key factor in the resolution of an action involving a minority owner of a broker-dealer that is alleged to have facilitated a fraudulent scheme to conceal losses at a major Japanese company. In the Matter of Hajime Sagawa, Adm. Proc... Read More
The Supreme Court granted certiorari on Monday in a securities fraud class action, agreeing to hear a question regarding pleading standards. The question presented is: "Whether a plaintiff can state a claim under Section 10(b) of the Securities... Read More
Note: The enhanced versions of the opinions cited below may be accessed by lexis.com subscribers. Except where noted, non-subscribers may access the unenhanced version on lexisONE's Free Case Law. The dividing line between primary and secondary... Read More
SEC enforcement this week brought another SOX claw back case, as well as actions alleging financial fraud and another investment fund case. DOJ dropped their appeals in the two Broadcom criminal option backdating cases which were dismissed for prosecutorial... Read More