SEC Charges Bristol-Myers Squibb With FCPA Violations
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that New York-based pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to settle charges that its joint venture in China made cash payments and provided other benefits to health care providers at state-owned and state-controlled hospitals in exchange for prescription sales. Bristol-Myers Squibb will pay more than $14 million to settle the SEC’s finding that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and reaped more than $11 million in profits from its misconduct. According to the SEC’s order instituting settled administrative proceedings, Bristol-Myers Squibb lacked effective internal controls over interactions with health care providers…
Read MoreChyhe Becker Named as Associate Director in the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Chyhe Becker has been named as an Associate Director in the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA). The appointment is effective immediately. Dr. Becker assumes a new position in the division’s Office of Litigation Economics, created to reflect the significance of data-driven economic and statistical analysis in investigations and litigated cases. The office has almost tripled in size in the past three years, growing to a staff of 26 from nine, and has expanded to five regional offices in addition to the SEC’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. “We are very fortunate to…
Read MoreSEC Halts $32 Million Scheme That Promised Riches From Amber Mining
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced it has filed fraud charges and obtained asset freezes against the operator of a worldwide pyramid scheme that falsely promised investors would profit from a venture purportedly backed by the company’s massive amber holdings. California resident Steve Chen and 13 California-based entities, including USFIA Inc., are at the center of the alleged scheme, the SEC said in a complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles. According to the SEC’s complaint, USFIA and Chen’s other entities have raised more than $32 million from investors in and outside the U.S. since at least April…
Read MoreSEC Charges New Jersey Fund Manager With Securities Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a New Jersey fund manager and his firm with defrauding investors by lying about his credentials, concealing trading losses, and using investor funds to make Ponzi-like payments to other investors. The SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan alleges that William J. Wells, of River Vale, New Jersey, falsely told some investors that he was a registered investment adviser and would invest their money in specific stocks. Instead, Wells and his firm, Promitor Capital Management LLC, are alleged to have invested mainly in high-risk options with poor results that Wells concealed with…
Read MoreSEC Charges Two Grant Thornton Firms With Violating Auditor Independence Rules
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Grant Thornton India LLP and Australia-based Grant Thornton Audit Pty Limited with auditor independence violations that occurred when two Grant Thornton Mauritius partners served on the boards of Mauritius-based subsidiaries of companies that were Grant Thornton audit clients and performed non-audit services prohibited under the SEC’s auditor independence rules. According to the SEC’s orders instituting settled administrative proceedings, the two Grant Thornton International LLP member firms represented in audit reports that they were independent of their respective audit clients when the audit clients paid fees to a consulting firm owned by two Grant…
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