Agencies Issue Final Standards for Assessing Diversity Policies and Practices of Regulated Entities
Federal agencies today issued a final interagency policy statement establishing joint standards for assessing the diversity policies and practices of the entities they regulate. Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 required the Federal Reserve Board, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) at each agency to be responsible for all matters relating to diversity in management, employment, and business activities. …
Read MoreSEC Names Richard R. Best as Regional Director of Salt Lake Office
The Securities and Exchange Commission today named Richard R. Best as Regional Director of its Salt Lake office. He will succeed Karen Martinez, who is retiring from public service and leaving the agency at the end of this month. Mr. Best joins the SEC from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in New York, where he is a senior director and chief counsel in its Department of Enforcement. He supervises a team handling investigations and disciplinary hearings involving regulated entities and associated persons. Mr. Best previously held other supervisory and investigative positions within FINRA’s Enforcement function. Before joining FINRA,…
Read MoreDaniel Gregus Named Associate Director for Broker-Dealer Exam Program in Chicago
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has named Daniel R. Gregus as the Associate Director for the broker-dealer examination program in its Chicago Regional Office. Mr. Gregus joined the SEC’s broker-dealer examination program in Chicago in February 2007 and has been its acting Associate Director since February 2014. He began his SEC career in the Enforcement Division in Chicago in 1993 and was later named Assistant Regional Director for enforcement. While in the Enforcement Division, Mr. Gregus conducted and supervised more than 100 investigations into accounting fraud, insider trading, compliance violations, and other matters. More…
Read MoreSEC Charges CSC and Former Executives With Accounting Fraud
The SEC filed complaints in federal court in Manhattan against former CSC finance executives Robert Sutcliffe, Edward Parker, and Chris Edwards, who are contesting the charges against them. Sutcliffe was CSC’s finance director for its multi-billion dollar contract with the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS). Make Sure Your Firm is SEC Compliant The SEC alleges that CSC’s accounting and disclosure fraud began after the company learned it would lose money on the NHS contract because it was unable to meet certain deadlines. To avoid the large hit to its earnings that CSC was required to record, Sutcliffe…
Read MoreSEC Freezes Profits From Scheme to Manipulate Avon Stock
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an emergency asset freeze of two U.S. brokerage accounts connected to schemes to manipulate Avon and other stocks, thwarting any ability to cash in on ill-gotten proceeds. According to an SEC complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, the agency has tracked a filing on its EDGAR system last month about a false Avon tender offer to a foreign entity using an IP address located in Sofia, Bulgaria. A Bulgarian trader named Nedko Nedev controlled at least one of the two now-frozen brokerage accounts, and his account held a substantial position in Avon…
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