(Editor’s note: As many firms have found out, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was serious when it announced a crackdown on the recordkeeping culture of the U.S. securities industry. Nearly 30 of the industry’s top financial services firms have been accused of violating recordkeeping rules. In fact, during the SEC’s 2023 fiscal year, 25… Read More >>
S&P Settles Conflict of Interest Case for $2.5M
While gnawing on that leftover drumstick, you might want to consider whether or not your holiday turkey was glazed with a “calculation error.” The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged S&P Global Ratings (SPGR), a “nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO) registered with the Commission, with violating conflict of interest rules designed to prevent… Read More >>
Deloitte-China & SEC Settle Auditing Woes Case for $20M
Who audits the auditors? The clients being audited? That doesn’t seem quite right, does it? In any case, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Certified Public Accountants LLP, better known as Deloitte-China, the Chinese affiliate of Deloitte’s network of accounting firms, with “failing to comply with fundamental U.S…. Read More >>
Weiss Asset Management Penalized $6.9M via SEC Case
The Securities and Exchange Commission reports that Weiss Asset Management LP, an investment advisory firm known by its acronym WAM, has agreed to pay approximately $6.9 million to settle charges that “it violated the federal securities laws when it unlawfully purchased stock in seven public offerings after selling short those same stocks.” Specifically, the WAM… Read More >>
Wedbush Settles Charges of Unregistered Sales & Activity
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports that Wedbush Securities Inc. will pay more than $1.2 million to “settle charges arising from the unlawful unregistered distribution of nearly 100 million shares of more than 50 different low-priced microcap companies, and from Wedbush’s failure to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) pertaining to those transactions.” Wedbush,… Read More >>
New SEC Enforcement Director Abruptly Resigns
Just one week after she was appointed, Alex Oh has resigned her position as the director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement. Oh cited ”personal reasons,” according to a commission statement. However, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other media report that the abrupt resignation was prompted by the… Read More >>
Deutsche Bank Resolves Bribery & Fraud Probes
Deutsche Bank has signed a coordinated resolution with the SEC and the U.S. Department of Justice that for $130 million resolves investigations of a commodities fraud scheme and a conspiracy to cover payments to people who facilitated bribes of foreign officials. The agreement specifies that Deutsche Bank will pay more than $120 million in fines… Read More >>
ICE Unit Settles Charges of Failed Pricing Compliance
A securities pricing subsidiary of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has settled with the SEC over charges that it should have done a better job of vetting certain prices that were based on data from single broker market participants. The wholly-owned subsidiary, ICE Data Pricing and Reference Data (PRD), which is also a registered investment adviser,… Read More >>
SEC Enforcement Actions Jump 7 Percent in 2015
The SEC’s Enforcement Division reports that it had a seven percent increase in cases for fiscal year 2015 over the previous year and is breaking ground in several facets of the securities industry because of data and quantitative analytics and the help of the regulator’s other divisions. “The Enforcement Division’s leveraging of data, quantitative analytics… Read More >>
Goldman Sachs Hit with $7M Penalty for Software Glitch
U.S. regulator, the SEC has hit investment banking giant Goldman Sachs with a $7 million penalty for allegedly violating the market access rule, “in connection with a trading incident that resulted in erroneous executions of options contracts,” officials say. An SEC investigation found that Goldman sent out roughly 16,000 mispriced options to various exchanges in… Read More >>
