A division of the U.S. Department of Labor has ordered Wells Fargo to pay $22 million to a former senior manager in its commercial banking segment after finding he was wrongfully terminated in violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s whistleblower protection provisions. After being terminated in 2019, the senior manager, who Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged two insurance executives and their Malta-based registered investment adviser, Standard Advisory Services Limited, for defrauding clients out of more than $75 million through undisclosed transactions that benefited themselves and their companies. In a statement, Osman Nawaz, Chief of the Division of Enforcement’s Complex Read More
Legislation passed by California lawmakers on Aug. 31 would require employers in the state with 15 or more employees to disclose their hourly pay or salary range for all job postings. Governor Gavin Newsom has until Sept. 30 to approve or veto the bill, S.B. 1161, which passed by a Read More
The top U.S. audit regulator has signed an agreement with China that marks the first step toward gaining access to complete inspections and investigations of public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board inspects and investigates public accounting firms in more than Read More
It’s been twelve years in the making, but last week the Securities and Exchange Commission finally adopted a rule mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 that will require companies to disclose the relationship between executive pay and the financial performance of the company. The SEC first proposed amendments to Read More
Granite Construction will pay $12 million in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over financial reporting fraud charges after one of its former executives manipulated the company’s financial performance, the SEC announced. According to the SEC’s complaint, filed Aug. 25 in federal district court in the Northern District Read More
Manufacturers of fossil-fueled heating appliances—such as gas furnaces and water heaters—may be the next industry that will have to commit to reducing its nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. On Aug. 23, more than two dozen environmental, consumer-protection, and public-health organizations formally petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to initiate rulemaking Read More
Sephora, a French multinational retail company, must pay $1.2 million in penalties and implement several compliance measures under a proposed settlement with the Office of the California Attorney General (AG) to resolve alleged violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The California AG’s proposed settlement with Sephora is part Read More
A California county organized health system (COHS) and three California healthcare providers have agreed to pay a total of $70.7 million in three separate settlements over alleged violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) and the California False Claims Act (CFCA) concerning the submission of false claims to California’s Medicaid Read More
Citigroup Global Markets has agreed to pay more than 12.5 million pounds ($15 million) in a settlement with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) resulting from a failure to properly detect market abuse activities. Introduced in 2016, the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) created requirements to monitor for insider dealing, unlawful Read More
