Annual Staff Reports on Credit Rating Agencies Show Improvements

Credit rating agencies under Securities and Exchange Commission oversight show improved compliance, increased information technology resources, and continued competition, according to two SEC staff reports released today on nationally recognized statis…

Commission Staff Provides Regulatory Guidance for Accounting Impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced publication of staff guidance for publicly traded companies, auditors, and others to help ensure timely public disclosures of the accounting impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Act).  Specifi…

Commission Staff Provides Regulatory Guidance for Accounting Impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced publication of staff guidance for publicly traded companies, auditors, and others to help ensure timely public disclosures of the accounting impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Act).  Specifi…

Gerald Hodgkins, Associate Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, to Leave the Agency After 20 Years of Service

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Gerald W. Hodgkins, an Associate Director of the Division of Enforcement, will leave the agency at the end of this year for private practice.

During his tenure of two decades at the SEC, Mr. …

SEC Charges Operators of $1.2 Billion Ponzi Scheme Targeting Main Street Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges and an asset freeze against a group of unregistered funds and their owner who allegedly bilked thousands of retail investors, many of them seniors, in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.

SEC inve…

Broker Charged With Giving Special Access to IPOs for Cash Kickbacks

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Wall Street stockbroker with illegally accepting more than $1 million in undisclosed kickbacks for giving certain customers preferential access to lucrative IPOs, enabling them to reap major tradin…

Marc P. Berger Named Director of New York Regional Office

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Marc P. Berger has been named Director of the New York Regional Office.  He will join the agency in January 2018.

Mr. Berger is presently global co-head of Ropes & Gray LLP’s Securities and F…

SEC Names Kenneth A. Johnson as Chief Operating Officer

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Kenneth A. Johnson has been named the agency’s Chief Operating Officer (COO). Mr. Johnson has served as Acting COO since February 2017.

In his role as COO, Mr. Johnson oversees the SEC’s oper…

Division of Trading and Markets Deputy Director Gary Barnett to Retire

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Gary Barnett, Deputy Director in the Division of Trading and Markets, will retire from the agency at the end of the year.

Since January 2015, Mr. Barnett has overseen the division’s Office of…

SEC Appoints New Chairman and Board Members to PCAOB

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the appointment of William D. Duhnke III as Chairman and J. Robert Brown, Kathleen M. Hamm, James G. Kaiser, and Duane M. DesParte as Board members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board …

SEC Charges Biopharmaceutical Company With Failing to Properly Disclose Perks for Executives

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a biopharmaceutical company with committing a series of accounting controls and disclosure violations, including the failure to properly report as compensation millions of dollars in perks provided t…

Stock Trader Charged in Insider Trading Ring

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a former day trader with making more than $1 million in illegal insider trading profits as part of a ring that allegedly stole confidential information from investment banks and clients so they could…