BNY Mellon Investment Adviser agreed to a cease-and-desist order, a censure, and a $1.5 million penalty to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission for misstatements and omissions about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in making investment decisions for certain mutual funds it managed. According to the SEC’s Read More
Wells Fargo Advisors will pay a $7 million penalty and has agreed to a censure and a cease-and-desist order to resolve charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC charged the broker-dealer with failure to file at least 34 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in a timely manner, the Read More
Seven South Korea-based companies must pay a total of $3.1 million for allegedly violating the False Claims Act by engaging in a bid-rigging conspiracy that targeted U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) contracts for construction and engineering work on U.S. military bases in South Korea. The seven companies are Korea Read More
Kraft Foods Group and Mondelēz Global, a Chicago-based snack food and beverage company, are finally paying the price for accusations of trying to manipulate the price of wheat in December 2011. An enforcement action brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission nearly seven years ago against the food companies has Read More
During a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, Kevin Greenfield, deputy comptroller for operational risk policy at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, stressed the need for stepped up risk management when banks use AI. He also said the OCC will be Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules and required disclosures for initial public offerings through special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). If adopted, the new rules would require additional reporting about SPAC sponsors, conflicts of interest, and sources of dilution. They also would require additional disclosures regarding business combinations Read More
Two banking regulators have together assessed a $140 million civil money penalty against USAA Federal Savings Bank for what they called “willful violations” of the Bank Secrecy Act. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) levied enforcement actions against USAA including Read More
A new report gives some companies a failing grade for racial and gender pay equity and their efforts to disclose and act on such pay disparity. Goldman Sachs, Facebook, Disney, Oracle, and Walmart were among the companies that received an “F” for their public pay equity disclosures and practices. Of Read More
The Justice Department obtained more than $5.6 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving the False Claims Act during the 2021 fiscal year. It was the second largest annual total in the history of cases of fraud and false claims against the U.S. government under the law, and Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission is revisiting Dodd-Frank Act era rules that require companies to disclose more information about how their executive pay lines up with the company’s financial performance. This week the agency proposed new rules that is said would better reflect Congress’ intent to shed light on corporate Read More
