SEC News

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Vanessa Countryman has been appointed as the agency’s Secretary. The Secretary is responsible for overseeing the administrative aspects of Commission meetings, rulemakings, and procedures.  Ms. Countryman has served as Acting Secretary since March 2019.  Within the SEC, the Office of the Secretary plays a central role in ensuring […]

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, and U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Chief Executive Andrew Bailey issued the following joint statement regarding the credit derivatives markets: “The continued pursuit of various opportunistic strategies in the credit derivatives markets, including but not limited […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission took another significant step toward establishing the regulatory regime for security-based swap dealers today by adopting a package of rules and rule amendments under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act.  These and other rules previously adopted by the Commission are designed to enhance the risk mitigation practices of firms that […]

Broker’s Partner Settled on the Eve of Trial to a Final Judgment With Admissions Jurors in Manhattan federal court today returned a verdict in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s favor against a broker who was charged in January 2017 with fraud for excessively trading customer accounts using a trading scheme that generated hefty commissions for the broker […]

The SEC has charged Ability Inc., an Israel-based intelligence communications company, its wholly-owned subsidiary, and two of its top executives with defrauding shareholders of a Florida-based special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a company formed to raise capital for a merger or acquisition within a set timeframe. The SEC’s complaint, filed June 18 in federal district […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Walmart with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by failing to operate a sufficient anti-corruption compliance program for more than a decade as the retailer experienced rapid international growth. Walmart agreed to pay more than $144 million to settle the SEC’s charges and approximately $138 million to […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against five foreign traders for executing illegal matched trades in the stock of Medico International, Inc. (MDDT).  The SEC also obtained an emergency court order freezing assets held in brokerage accounts of the defendants, including approximately $144,000 that otherwise could have been wired offshore, and hundreds of […]

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton announced today two events for Main Street investors to be held in Boston on Monday, July 8. First, Chairman Clayton will host a roundtable with Main Street investors as part of the SEC’s ongoing investor education efforts. The roundtable will focus on issues relevant to Main Street investors, […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Wedbush Securities Inc. will pay more than $8.1 million to settle charges for improper handling of “pre-released” American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). This is the SEC’s 11th action against a bank or broker resulting from the SEC’s ongoing investigation into abusive ADR pre-release practices, which, thus far, has resulted in monetary […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted amendments to the auditor independence rules relating to the analysis that must be conducted to determine whether an auditor is independent when the auditor has a lending relationship with certain shareholders of an audit client.  The Commission has become aware of circumstances where the existing rules capture relationships that […]