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Our experts frequently write blog posts about the findings of the research we are conducting.

Displaying 91-100 out of 689 results

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - March 27th, 2015

(Mar 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Proposes Rule to Require Broker-Dealers Active in Off-Exchange Market to Become Members of National Securities Association
March 25, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 48)
The SEC has proposed a rule amendment to increase oversight of proprietary trading firms, some of which engage in high-frequency trading. The rule would require that broker-dealers not trading on exchanges must become members of a national securities association. Currently, membership is not...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - March 20th, 2015

(Mar 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

Corporate Insiders Charged for Failing to Update Disclosures Involving "Going Private" Transactions
March 13, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 47)
Major shareholders of three different companies have been charged by the SEC for failing to disclose their intentions to privatize. "Beneficial owners" that acquire over 5% voting power are required to file a Schedule 13D with the SEC. This form contains information about the beneficial owners including the intentions behind...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - March 6th, 2015

(Mar 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Suspends Trading in 128 Dormant Shell Companies to Put Them Out of Reach of Microcap Fraudsters
March 2, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 44)
The SEC has announced the suspension of trading in 128 inactive penny stock companies in order to avoid pump-and-dump schemes from microcap fraudsters. The SEC uses Operation Shell-Expel, a microcap fraud-fighting initiative which began in 2012, to search the over-the-counter marketplace in order to prevent microcap fraudsters...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - March 2nd, 2015

(Mar 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Charges Goodyear with FCPA Violations
February 24, 2015(Litigation Release No. 38)
The SEC found Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to be in violation with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) due to bribes paid by subsidiaries in Kenya and Angola to land tire sales. According to the SEC, Goodyear failed to prevent or detect over $3.2 million in bribes over a four-year period. Bribes were paid to employees of private companies and government-owned entities and...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - February 23rd, 2015

(Feb 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Halts Colorado-Based Pyramid Scheme
February 18, 2015(Litigation Release No. 35)
The SEC has announced fraud charges against and emergency asset freezes on Kristine L. Johnson and Troy A. Barnes for their involvement in an alleged Ponzi/pyramid scheme. The SEC alleges that Johnson and Barnes' company, Work With Troy Barnes Inc., raised over $3.8 million since April of last year by luring investors in with promises of 700% returns. These returns were claimed to...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - February 13th, 2015

(Feb 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Proposes Rules for Hedging Disclosure
February 9, 2015(Litigation Release No. 26)
The SEC has announced the approval of the issuance of proposed rules. The proposed rules require a company to disclose whether its directors, officers, and other employees are permitted to hedge the company's equity securities. The proposed rules are mandated by Section 955 of the Dodd-Frank Act, and the rules are intended to better inform shareholders by increasing the...

Oil and Gas DPPs From Just Two Sponsors Have Caused $3.7 Billion in Losses

(Feb 2015)

We have written extensively about direct participation programs, or DPPs. See our blog posts on non-traded REITs and our discussion about equipment leasing DPPs. Oil and gas DPPs are another strain of the DPP epidemic: illiquid exposure to an existing underlying asset, loaded with confiscatory fees, conflicts of interest and unnecessary risk.

Oil and gas DPPs use some of investors' money to drill and operate oil and gas wells. Oil and gas DPPs are sponsored and managed either by investment...

UBS Puerto Rico's Bond Fund Debacle: What We Know so Far

(Feb 2015)

Over the past year, we've posted a dozen short commentaries to our blog post here. We thought it would be helpful to summarize what we know so far. This summary and our prior UBS Puerto Rico blog posts are available in Spanish. You can find all the Spanish-language blog posts by clicking here.

We discussed the national exposure of the UBS Puerto Rico losses in October 2013 in Trouble in Paradise: UBS Puerto Rico Bond Fund Investors Hit Hard. The losses only got worse thereafter. In calendar...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - February 6th, 2015

(Feb 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Alerts Investors, Industry on Cybersecurity
February 3, 2015(Litigation Release No. 20)
The SEC released a couple of publications regarding cybersecurity threats at brokerage and advisory firms. One publication focused on how firms should identify risks, establish policies, procedures, and oversight processes, protect networks and information, identify risks associated with remote access to client information and transfer requests, and detect unauthorized...

UBS Puerto Rican Funds Did Not Belong in Puerto Rican Investors' Portfolios

(Feb 2015)

Over the past year, we've posted a dozen commentaries about the UBS Puerto Rican closed end bond funds to our blog.

In Taxes, Puerto Rico Municipal Bonds and the UBS Funds we show that preferential tax treatment for Puerto Rican investments cannot justify what would otherwise be unsuitable concentrations of investors' portfolios in Puerto Rico municipal bonds. We focused our attention in that post on mainland municipal bond alternatives to Puerto Rican municipal bonds and showed that even...

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