SEC Uncovers Wide-Reaching Insider Trading Scheme
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced insider trading charges against seven individuals who generated millions in profits by trading on confidential information about dozens of impending mergers and acquisitions. Data analysis allowed the SEC’s enforcement staff to uncover the illicit trading despite the traders’ alleged use of shell companies, code words, and an encrypted, self-destructing messaging application to evade detection. In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York today unsealed criminal charges against the same seven individuals. According to the SEC’s complaint, Daniel Rivas, a former IT employee of a large bank,…
Read MoreSEC Charges KPMG with Audit Failures
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that KPMG has agreed to pay more than $6.2 million to settle charges that it failed to properly audit the financial statements of an oil and gas company, resulting in investors being misinformed about the energy company’s value. KPMG’s engagement partner in charge of the audit also agreed to settle charges against him. According to the SEC’s order, KPMG was hired as the outside auditor for Miller Energy Resources in 2011 and issued an unqualified audit report despite grossly overstated values for key oil and gas assets. KPMG and the engagement partner John…
Read MoreSEC Files Charges in Oil Drilling Investment Scheme
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two Tennessee men and an accomplice in Fort Lauderdale with allegedly defrauding investors they lured by false promises of high returns from an oil drilling investment opportunity. According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Savannah, Georgia, David R. Greenlee and David A. Stewart Jr. orchestrated the $15 million scheme by recruiting and controlling a network of salesmen who offered and sold investors a stake in various companies purportedly using enhanced oil recovery techniques like fracking to extract and sell oil from wells in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Investors were allegedly…
Read MoreSEC Staff Publishes Report on Access to Capital and Market Liquidity
The SEC Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) today published a report describing trends in primary securities issuance and secondary market liquidity, and assessing how those trends relate to post-crisis regulatory reforms. The report was requested by Congress as part of the FY2016 appropriations process. The report includes a survey and analysis of recent academic literature, as well as original analyses drawn from publicly available databases and non-public regulatory filings. The report examines the issuance of debt, equity, and asset-backed securities, as well as activity and liquidity in U.S. Treasuries, corporate bonds, single-name credit default swaps, and bond funds. Specifically,…
Read MoreInvestment Management Director David W. Grim to Leave SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that David W. Grim, Director of the Division of Investment Management, will leave the agency next month after more than 20 years of public service. Mr. Grim, who joined the Division directly from law school and rose to become its leader, has left a legacy of regulatory policy reforms and legal guidance that have shaped the Division and the industry it regulates. He has also dedicated himself to developing the culture of collaboration and professional development that contributed to the Division ranking among the top places to work in the federal government. The…
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