Bank of America has been ordered to pay $225 million in civil penalties and redress to harmed consumers for engaging in abusive practices when it denied consumers access to unemployment benefits on prepaid debit cards at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a separate case, Bank of America is Read More
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued two separate orders on July 5, simultaneously filing and settling charges against two separate swap dealers for failing to comply with their reporting obligations in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations. In the first action, the CFTC ordered BNP Paribas, Read More
A lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission alleges Walmart turned a blind eye to fraudsters who used its money transfer services in its stores to scam consumers out of hundreds of millions of dollars, so that the retail giant could pocket the fees. Calling the allegations “factually flawed,” Walmart Read More
In a precedent-setting and highly controversial ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. In a 6-3 decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, the Court ruled that Congress—not the EPA—has authority to devise emissions limits for power plants. The Read More
The multinational Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs Task Force (REPO) announced it has blocked or froze more than $30 billion worth of sanctioned Russians’ assets in its first 100 days of operation and immobilized about $300 billion worth of Russian Central Bank assets. In a joint statement released on June Read More
In the largest penalty ever imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against an audit firm, Ernst & Young must pay $100 million and undertake “extensive remedial measures to fix the firm’s ethical issues” to resolve charges that its audit professionals cheated on exams required to obtain and maintain Certified Read More
CafePress must enhance its data security practices, and its former owner, Residual Pumpkin, must pay $500,000 to provide redress to data breach victims, to resolve allegations the online retailer failed to secure consumers’ sensitive personal data and covered up a major data breach, the Federal Trade Commission announced on June Read More
The banking sector is experiencing a “growing challenge” recruiting, retaining, and replacing compliance staff with the desired level of knowledge and experience, according to the Office of Comptroller of the Currency’s “Semiannual Risk Perspective” report, released June 23. Staffing struggles in the banking industry come at a time when compliance Read More
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) adopted amendments to its auditing standards on June 21 to improve lead auditors’ supervision of other auditor’s work. As companies increase their global presence, the use of additional audit firms has become more prevalent in the conduct of external audits. In 2021, 26 percent Read More
In a unanimous vote, the Senate confirmed Democrat Jaime Lizárraga and Republican Mark Uyeda this week to serve as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s newest Commissioners. President Joe Biden nominated the two as Commissioners in April. Lizárraga served most recently as a senior advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (D-Calif.). Uyeda is Read More
