The Securities and Exchange Commission has published a 121-page proposal for dropping the requirement that non-U.S. companies reconcile to the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as required by U.S. firms in financial reports. The proposal would apply to foreign private issuers that file financial statements to comply with the English…
The SEC has stirred controversy with its new online tool that allows investors to search for companies with ties to countries the State Department has designated as “state sponsors of terrorism.” The official list includes Sudan, Syria, North Korea, Iran and Cuba. The SEC initiated the online search site on…
Hallmark Capital Corporation sought a “No Action” letter from the SEC’s Division of Market Regulation seeking it be given an exemption from registration as a broker-dealer (securities firm). Hallmark states that it serves small businesses as a financial consultant, to assist such business with capital raising and other matters. It…
According to reports, the SEC asked the Justice Department’s Office of the Solicitor General to file an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief to U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Enron investors’ position in a seminal case involving “scheme liability” under a key provision of the federal securities…
As discussed in earlier stories on this blog, the SEC was challanged by an investment advisors association in court for exempting Wall Street brokerage firms from liability under laws governing investment advisors, despite the fact that the brokerage firms were performing identical services. The investment advisors won their suit a…
Last year, money managers directed a billion in dollars of their clients’ funds in hidden commissions to Wall Street investment firms, says SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. These “soft”dollars” are purportedly for research and other services. Instead, the funds are made available to the money managers who often use these for…
Few stockholders realize that when their shares of stock are held at a brokerage firm that firm can vote their shares without a “proxy”. Thus, if an investor owns 100 shares of XYZ stock held at ABC brokerage firm, without the investors permission, ABC firm can cast the investors vote…
The Securities and Exchange Commission says that it will not grant Sky Capital LLC’s request that the agency review the NASD’s action against the firm. The commission says it lacks the proper jurisdiction. Sky Capital became an NASD member in 2002 following initial denials by the NASD and appeals made…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission granted Tenet Healthcare Corp. an unusual break: The company will be given protection against shareholder lawsuits even though it is being punished for fraud. The SEC accused the largest publicly traded hospital chain of deceiving investors by failing to disclose a scheme to boost…
The Securities and Exchange Commission for the first time proved a company used insurance to hide its losses. The agency accused an executive of cellphone distributor Brightpoint Inc. of overstating the company’s earnings through improper use of an insurance policy. A New York jury found the company’s director liable for…