Brokerages Fined Over Cybersecurity Failures

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged three brokerage firms with cybersecurity failures that resulted in customer information being compromised through email account break-ins.According to the SEC, five entities associated with Cetera Financial Group, two associated with Cambrid...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 30, 2021

Apple Settles App Makers’ Suit for $100 Million

Apple has reached a settlement with small app developers, agreeing to pay them $100 million and loosen App Store restrictions that prevented them from billing customers directly.The settlement would resolve a class-action lawsuit in which a group of app makers alleged Apple violated antitrust law...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 30, 2021

Ex-HeadSpin CEO Charged With Lying to Investors

The former CEO of tech startup Headspin has been charged with inflating its financial results to achieve high valuations that would attract investors.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Manish Lachwani, 45, engaged in a fraudulent scheme that helped HeadSpin raise approximately $80 m...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 26, 2021

Ex-Netflix Engineers Charged With Insider Trading

Five people, including three former Netflix software engineers, have been charged with using inside information about Netflix’s key subscriber growth metric to make $3.1 million in illicit trading profits.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Sung Mo “Jay” Jun was at the center of the ...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 19, 2021

FTC Revives Antitrust Suit Against Facebook

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has taken another swing at convincing a federal judge that it has a legal basis to sue Facebook for abusing a monopoly position in social networking.The FTC said an amended antitrust complaint it filed on Thursday addressed the concerns of U.S. District Judge Jam...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 19, 2021

BitMEX Fined $100M in Latest Crypto Crackdown

Cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX has agreed to pay $100 million to settle charges that it traded digital assets without verifying customer identities and implementing an anti-money laundering program.The agreement announced on Tuesday covers a lawsuit that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commiss...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 11, 2021

Gig Companies Push Mass. Ballot Initiative

Massachusetts may become the next battleground over the employee classification of gig workers after a coalition of app-based companies filed papers to qualify a ballot measure that would define their workers as independent contractors.The Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work, which inclu...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 5, 2021

New SEC Chief Aims to Tame Crypto ‘Wild West’

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler has called on Congress to give the agency more power over the cryptocurrency industry, comparing it to a fraud-ridden “Wild West.”At a conference on Tuesday, Gensler amplified the crypto concerns he first expressed at his Senate confirmat...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 4, 2021

Eagle Bancorp CFO Faces SEC Probe

Eagle Bancorp CFO Charles Levingston appears to have the support of the company’s board as he faces a possible enforcement action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.The SEC has indicated its staff made a preliminary determination to recommend charges against Levingston by sending him ...

By Matthew Heller • July 23, 2021

Biden to Name Tech Critic as Top Antitrust Cop

In another victory for progressive Democrats clamoring for aggressive regulation of Big Tech, President Joe Biden said he intends to nominate Jonathan Kanter to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division.If confirmed as assistant attorney general for the division, Kanter would join White Ho...

By Matthew Heller • July 21, 2021

Yellen Urges Swift Action on Stablecoin Rules

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has joined other federal officials in pushing for regulation of the booming market for stablecoin digital currencies.At a meeting on Monday, Yellen and other members of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets discussed the rapid growth of stablecoin...

By Matthew Heller • July 20, 2021

Facebook Wants FTC Chair off Antitrust Case

In what could be a preemptive legal move, Facebook is seeking the recusal of U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan from the agency’s antitrust case against the company.Khan’s recusal is warranted, Facebook said in a court filing, because as a longtime critic of Facebook, she “cannot meet ...

By Matthew Heller • July 15, 2021

Three Sued Over Blockchain Firm Trading

The controlling shareholder of Long Blockchain has been charged with tipping off his broker about the company’s pivot to blockchain technology before it was publicly announced.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Eric Watson, a New Zealand national, engaged in an insider trading schem...

By Matthew Heller • July 12, 2021

Google Hit With Antitrust Suit Over Play Store

A group of 36 states and the District of Columbia has launched a new legal attack on Google, alleging it uses anti-competitive tactics to maintain its “virtually unchallenged power” in the Android app market.As The New York Times reports, a recent slew of antitrust complaints against Google has l...

By Matthew Heller • July 8, 2021

FTC Charges Broadcom With Unfair Competition

Chipmaker Broadcom has been charged with using exclusivity deals with customers to create “insurmountable barriers” for competitors.The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Friday it had voted unanimously to charge Broadcom with engaging in anticompetitive conduct to maintain its monopoly power in ...

By Matthew Heller • July 2, 2021

FTC Moves to Beef up Antitrust Enforcement

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has voted to scrap a 2015 policy statement that limited its ability to bring enforcement actions over anticompetitive conduct.The guidance required the commission to follow the “consumer welfare” standard in deciding whether to sue companies for “unfair methods o...

By Matthew Heller • July 2, 2021

Trump CFO Weisselberg Charged With $1.7M Fraud

Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg has been charged with a $1.7 million “off-the-books” tax fraud in an indictment that could increase the pressure on him to turn on his longtime boss, former President Donald Trump.The much-anticipated grand jury indictment unsealed on Thursday alleges Weis...

By Matthew Heller • July 1, 2021

SEC Taps New Jersey AG as Enforcement Chief

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has turned to a veteran prosecutor to police Wall Street, naming New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal as director of its enforcement unit.The appointment of Grewal —  the nation’s first Sikh state attorney general — follows the brief tenure of Alex...

By Matthew Heller • June 30, 2021

Robinhood to Pay $70M to Settle FINRA Probe

Robinhood, the online brokerage that promised to “demystify finance,” has agreed to pay nearly $70 million to settle allegations that, among other things, it provided customers with false and misleading information.The settlement with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, announced on Wedn...

By Matthew Heller • June 30, 2021

U.K. Cracks Down on Crypto Exchange Binance

In the latest example of the regulatory crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry, the U.K.’s financial watchdog has barred Binance from offering certain services in the country.The Financial Conduct Authority said in a news release that a U.K. affiliate of Binance “is not permitted to undertake a...

By Matthew Heller • June 28, 2021

Mutual Fund Operators Accused of $100M Fraud

The operators of an offshore mutual fund that told investors it would invest their money in Treasury securities have been charged with misappropriating investor funds to buy Treasuries for themselves.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Ofer Abarbanel, 46, and Victor Chilelli, 51, hav...

By Matthew Heller • June 22, 2021

Healthcare Firm Charged With $4 Million Fraud

A healthcare company and its founder have been charged with defrauding investors of nearly $4 million by misrepresenting it had secured funding from a bank and failing to disclose the founder’s criminal history.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Josiah David pitched Premier Healthca...

By Matthew Heller • May 19, 2021

S&P Dow Jones Fined $9M Over Index Glitch

S&P Dow Jones Indices has agreed to pay $9 million to settle charges that it published stale index values during an unprecedented market spike in February, causing huge losses on a futures contract issued by Credit Suisse.According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the S&P 5...

By Matthew Heller • May 17, 2021

Italian Watchdog Fines Google in Antitrust Case

Italy’s competition watchdog has fined Google 102 million euros ($123 million) for excluding a third-party app from its Android Auto in-car assistant. In announcing it had sanctioned Google for abuse of a dominant market position, the Italian Competition Authority (Autorita’ Garante della Concorr...

By Matthew Heller • May 13, 2021

SEC Reviewing Rules for ‘Gamified’ Trading Apps

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is considering updating its rules to protect investors who use “gamified” apps such as Robinhood to make trades.In prepared testimony for a House committee hearing, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler expressed concerns about apps that use features common to vide...

By Matthew Heller • May 6, 2021