Seven directors among five companies have resigned from corporate board positions in response to concerns by the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division that their roles potentially violated the Clayton Act, the agency announced. Section 8 of the Clayton Act prohibits directors and officers from serving simultaneously on the boards of Read More
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has imposed the largest civil money penalty in its history when it hit a former audit partner with a $150,000 fine. It says the auditor, Jonathan Taylor, repeatedly misled PCAOB inspectors and investigators during two inspections and a subsequent investigation. It also barred Read More
Lafarge, a French multinational construction conglomerate, and its now-defunct Syrian subsidiary, Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide illicit payments and resources to two U.S.-designated foreign terrorist groups: the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and the al-Nusrah Front (ANF). These companies further admitted to negotiating Read More
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a final rule implementing a beneficial ownership information reporting requirement. The final rule, which implements the registration and reporting requirements of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), will require “tens of millions” of companies doing business in the United States to report information Read More
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has fined London-based Gatehouse Bank 1.58 million pounds ($1.8 million) for “significant weakness” in its financial crime systems and controls. According to the FCA’s Oct. 12 decision notice, between June 2014 and July 2017, Gatehouse “failed to conduct sufficient checks on its customers in countries Read More
A group of banking and business associations have filed a lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over allegations that it exceeded its statutory authority when amending its examination manual to include discriminatory outcomes. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with six co-plaintiff banking associations, filed a lawsuit Sept. Read More
Enforcement against foreign bribery on a global scale has hit an historic low, according to a report by Transparency International. In Transparency International’s report, “Exporting Corruption 2022,” 43 signatories to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention were assessed, along with China, India, Hong Kong SAR, and Singapore. Together, the countries analyzed account Read More
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered Choice Money to pay a $950,000 penalty for failing to accurately disclose key prepayment information to customers sending remittances. Choice Money also had deficient recordkeeping practices that made it difficult for consumers to dispute erroneous transactions and receive a refund of certain fees, Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has reopened the public comment periods for 11 rulemaking releases and one request for comment due to a technological error resulting in numerous public comments submitted through the agency’s online comment form not being received. The SEC advised that all those who Read More
Sigma, a privately owned brokerage firm, has agreed to pay 531,000 pounds ($592,000) in a settlement with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) resulting from a failure to report certain required transactions. According to the FCA’s Oct. 6 final notice, many of Sigma’s failings resulted from inadequate governance and oversight Read More
