Three Parmalat Ex-CFOs Are Sentenced

Three former chief financial officers of Parmalat Finanziaria SpA were among 11 people receiving prison sentences ranging from 10 months to two and a half years in a trial stemming from the scandal at the Italian dairy group, according to the Associated Press.The 11 individuals faced charges that...

By Stephen Taub • June 29, 2005

Feds Turn Tables on Milberg, Weiss

Federal prosecutors are probing one of the most powerful and influential class-action law firms, Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, and Schulman, for alleged fraud, conspiracy, and kickbacks in dozens of securities lawsuits, according to The Wall Street Journal.The three-year investigation could lead to cr...

By Stephen Taub • June 28, 2005

Are Private Companies Embracing Sarbox?

Nearly one-third of fast-growing private companies plan to benefit from provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley even though they are not required to comply with the act, according to a new survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers.PwC interviewed the chief executive officers of 341 private companies, ranging in re...

By Stephen Taub • June 23, 2005

GE, CNA Receive Finite-Risk Subpoenas

General Electric Co. and Loews’ CNA are two of the latest companies to receive a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York as part of a growing investigation into finite risk insurance.General Electric, which stated that it intends to cooperate fully, added th...

By Stephen Taub • June 21, 2005

SEC’s Atkins: Back Off Company Fines

While senators gear up for the confirmation hearings of Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) — President Bush’s nominee for chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission — sitting commissioners are publicly staking out their agenda.At a luncheon organized by the Association of Public Corporations...

By Stephen Taub • June 21, 2005

Rigas Pair Receive Stiff Sentences

Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas and his son, former chief financial officer Timothy Rigas, received lengthy prison sentences for their roles in the massive fraud that bankrupted the cable company and became one of the more infamous corporate scandals of recent years.The 15-year s...

By Stephen Taub • June 20, 2005

SEC Probes Citgo on Employee Tip

Officials at Citgo Petroleum Corp. say the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an informal inquiry into the company’s October 2004 buyback of $550 million in senior notes after receiving an anonymous letter containing allegations from an employee.The full nature of the allegations was...

By Stephen Taub • June 20, 2005

SEC’s Goldschmid Might Stay Longer

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Harvey Goldschmid might stay on for a little longer than planned, according to published reports.One of two Democrats among the five commissioners, Goldschmid’s term actually officially ended in June 2004. Under federal law, commissioners can remain at the SEC...

By Stephen Taub • June 17, 2005

Ford Motor Credit Will Amend Disclosures

The credit division of Ford Motor Co. has agreed to pay $700,000 to settle a dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the marketing of its “Ford Money Market Account.”According to the commission, Ford Motor Credit Co. marketed the product as an investment comparable to a traditio...

By Stephen Taub • June 16, 2005

Alabama Fund Cuts Its Own Enron Deal

Nearly overlooked by the recent multibillion-dollar settlements in the Enron bankruptcy was the agreement between Alabama’s state pension fund and five investment banks.According to Reuters, the Retirement Systems of Alabama will receive $49 million, about 86 percent of the $57 million that the f...

By Stephen Taub • June 16, 2005

J.P. Morgan Chase to Pay $2.2B in Enron Settlement

JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay $2.2 billion as part of a broad settlement with investors stemming from its role as an investment banker to Enron Corp. The deal comes less than a week after Citigroup agreed to pay $2 billion to settle Enron shareholder claims.The Board of Regents of Univer...

By Stephen Taub • June 15, 2005

Mylan Doubles Dividend, Plans Repurchase

To fend off a hostile takeover by corporate raider Carl Icahn, pharmaceutical giant Mylan Laboratories Inc. announced that it will double its dividend and repurchase about one-quarter of its shares.The Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based company stated that a $1.25 billion share buyback will consist o...

By Stephen Taub • June 15, 2005

How Might Rulemaking Change under Cox?

Ever since Christopher Cox was nominated to succeed William Donaldson as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, interested parties have been maneuvering to influence his confirmation, or at least his agenda.Donaldson, a Republican who was appointed by George W. Bush, has sid...

By Stephen Taub • June 13, 2005

Out of Business, but Not Off the Hook

Regulators are reminding errant executives that they will be vigorously pursued even if their illegal acts took place many years ago and their companies are currently out of business.Late last week Roys Poyiadjis, a former chief executive officer of defunct software maker AremisSoft Corp., agreed...

By Stephen Taub • June 13, 2005

Citigroup to Pay $2B in Enron Settlement

Citigroup has agreed to pay $2 billion to settle a shareholder lawsuit stemming from its role in the Enron Corp. accounting scandal.The settlement is the largest related to Enron’s bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg. Indeed, it is one of the largest in corporate history, though Reuters noted that...

By Stephen Taub • June 10, 2005

SEC Seeks Info from Calpine

Calpine Corp. announced that the Division of Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission has requested documents related to previous revisions of its reserves and financial statements.In a regulatory filing, Calpine elaborated that the SEC is seeking information related to its downward ...

By Stephen Taub • June 10, 2005

New Problems, New Shakeups at Delphi

Delphi Corp. — whose accounting is being probed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation — announced that it has accepted the resignations of treasurer Pam Geller and former vice president of treasury, mergers and acquisitions John Blahnik.The auto-parts m...

By Stephen Taub • June 10, 2005

Does the Andersen Ruling Open Doors?

It seems that the Supreme Court’s reversal of Arthur Andersen’s obstruction-of-justice conviction has inspired other parties to reexamine their legal fate.The high court ruled that a company may not be convicted where the wrongdoing isn’t intentional and pervasive, and that the acts of a few cann...

By Stephen Taub • June 9, 2005

Where Workers’ Compensation Goes Wrong

On the surface, you might think a company that self-insures its workers’ compensation risks would be providing its executives with an excellent means of managing that liability and controlling the resulting cash flow.After all, an employer that self-funds this insurance also holds on to money it ...

By David Katz • June 9, 2005

Hiring Cuts at the SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission may be embarking on a new, leaner regulatory era in more ways than one.Bloomberg has reported that the commission will cut hiring by 10 percent, citing a memo by SEC Pacific regional director Randall Lee to his staff. “Unfortunately, the budget crisis is rea...

By Stephen Taub • June 7, 2005

Lea Fastow Leaves Prison

Lea Fastow has left prison after serving nearly 11 months for filing a false tax return, according to published reports.Wearing a white polo shirt and jeans, the former Enron Corp. assistant treasurer looked healthy when she emerged at 4 a.m. from the Federal Detention Center in downtown Houston,...

By Stephen Taub and Dave Cook • June 6, 2005

Former Qwest CFO Pleads Guilty

Former Qwest chief financial officer Robin Szeliga has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of insider trading, according to the Department of Justice.Szeliga, who is scheduled to be sentenced on July 14 in U.S. District Court in Denver, faces up to 10 years in prison and up to a $1 million f...

By Stephen Taub and Dave Cook • June 3, 2005

Bush Nominates Cox to Head SEC

President Bush has nominated Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) to succeed William Donaldson as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.Donaldson announced yesterday that he would step down on June 30.Cox is the first chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security as well as a veter...

By Dave Cook and Stephen Taub • June 2, 2005

SEC Chairman Donaldson to Resign

Follow the continuing discussion on the CFO BlogWilliam Donaldson, the 27th chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, will step down from his post on June 30.In a statement, Donaldson said that he took the reins of the SEC at a time when “public confidence was severely undermined, refle...

By Dave Cook • June 2, 2005

Former Charter CFO Gets 14 Months

The former chief financial officer and three other former executives of Charter Communications Inc. have been sentenced for their role in the cable company’s accounting scandal, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.Judge Carol E. Jackson of the U.S. District Court in St. Louis sent...

By Stephen Taub • June 1, 2005