The SEC reports that BNY Mellon, the investments company founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1784, has “agreed to pay $14.8 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by providing valuable student internships to family members of foreign government officials affiliated with a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund.” Not surprisingly,… Read More >>
SEC Charges Ex-Analyst for JPMorgan with Insider Trading
The SEC is charging a former investment banking analyst, Ashish Aggarwal, who worked in J.P. Morgan’s San Francisco office, with illegally relaying insider information to his friend that was “confidential information about clients involved in impending mergers and acquisitions of technology companies,” officials say. The SEC is also charging Aggarwal’s friend and another individual with… Read More >>
SEC Promotes Within the Corporate Finance Division
The SEC has named Shelly Luisi as an associate director in the Division of Corporation Finance with her new role beginning next month, officials say. Luisi succeeds Kyle Moffatt, who recently moved to a senior leadership post within the Division of Corporation Finance’s disclosure review program. Luisi is already serving as a senior associate chief… Read More >>
Ex-Prosecutor Named as Regional SEC Director for Ft. Worth
The SEC has named Shamoil T. Shipchandler to be regional director of the Fort Worth, Texas regional office. Shipchandler succeeds David Woodcock, who left the SEC in June, officials say. Shipchandler, who will join the agency in October, spent almost a decade in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas, where he… Read More >>
Citi to Pay $15M Penalty for Trade Review Failures
Citigroup Global Markets has agreed to pay a $15 million penalty to settle charges from the SEC that it had “failed to enforce policies and procedures” that would have prevented and detected securities transactions that involve the misuse of material, nonpublic information, according to the U.S. regulator. SEC officials also charge that firm also failed… Read More >>
ITG Slapped with Record $20M Alternative Trading Penalty
The SEC reports that NewYork City-based ITG Inc., an execution broker and research provider, and its AlterNet Securities affiliate have agreed to pay $20.3 million to settle charges that they operated a secret trading desk and misused the confidential trading information of dark pool subscribers. ITG agreed to admit wrongdoing and pay disgorgement of $2,081,034… Read More >>
SEC Uncovers Scheme to Trade on Stolen Earnings Data
In a major antifraud action, the SEC has issued charges against 32 participants — hackers and traders —allegedly scheming to trade on corporate earnings announcements via press releases stolen before they were made public. The individuals charged include two Ukrainian men who allegedly hacked into newswire services to obtain the information “and 30 other defendants… Read More >>
Sen. Warren Urges Regulators to Review Symphony’s Messaging
Wall Street critic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is attempting to focus the attention of six federal regulators on “compliance and enforcement issues related to a new communications tool created by Symphony Communications” and used by financial institutions — many of whom are backing Symphony. Warren sent letters to the regulators about her main concern that… Read More >>
SEC Market Abuse Unit Head Steps Down
Daniel M. Hawke, the longtime chief of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit and former director of the Philadelphia Regional office, is leaving the agency and returning to the private sector after nearly 16 years of service, SEC officials say. Hawke had headed up the Market Abuse Unit since it was created in 2010. The unit… Read More >>
FINRA Fines Barclays Capital $800,000
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined broker-dealer Barclays Capital $800,000 for equity trade reporting violations and related violations of FINRA’s supervisory procedures, according to documentation made public by FINRA. BarCap will pay $650,000 for the equity trade reporting violations and $150,000 for the supervisory violations, according to the letter of acceptance, waiver and… Read More >>
