Salesforce Accused of Aiding Sex Trafficking

Fifty women who claim to be sex trafficking survivors are seeking to hold Salesforce liable for their injuries, alleging the software giant helped the now-shuttered Backpage website to facilitate prostitution and sexual exploitation.The “Jane Doe” plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco sa...

By Matthew Heller • March 27, 2019

Merrill Lynch Fined $8M Over ADR Trades

Merrill Lynch has become the latest bank to be reprimanded by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for improper handling of American Depositary Receipts.The SEC said Merrill had agreed to pay $8 million to settle allegations that it improperly borrowed “pre-released” ADRs from other broker...

By Matthew Heller • March 25, 2019

Vendor Risk: The Second-Class Citizen of Cybersecurity

Other than in the heavily regulated banking and health care industries, vendor risk management remains cybersecurity’s second-class citizen, getting far less attention than it deserves.Attacks originating from insecure vendors and other third parties generate more than half of reported breaches, ...

By Craig Callé • March 20, 2019

SEC Charges VW With $13B ‘Dieselgate’ Fraud

Volkswagen’s legal headaches from its “Dieselgate” scandal intensified as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused the automaker and its former CEO of defrauding U.S. investors by failing to disclose that it was cheating on vehicle emissions tests.In a civil complaint filed on Thursday...

By Matthew Heller • March 15, 2019

Lumber Liquidators Settles Fraud Case for $33M

Lumber Liquidators Holdings has agreed to pay a $33 million criminal penalty to settle allegations it made fraudulent statements to investors that Chinese-made laminate flooring it sold in the U.S. complied with safety standards.The settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice is the latest leg...

By Matthew Heller • March 13, 2019

Warren Pledges Breakup of Big Tech Companies

Taking a page out of the book of Progressive Era reformers, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is going after what she sees as the 21st century version of “trusts” — tech giants such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook.The Democratic presidential candidate pledged in a Medium post that a Warren administ...

By Matthew Heller • March 11, 2019

Huawei CFO Alleges Illegal Detention in Canada

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou has sued Canada over her arrest in December, alleging police illegally searched and questioned her for three hours at Vancouver International Airport before they executed an arrest warrant.Wanzhou’s claim for violations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, filed...

By Matthew Heller • March 4, 2019

FTC Unveils Antitrust Task Force Targeting Tech

The Federal Trade Commission is beefing up its scrutiny of the technology industry through a new task force tasked with a broad mission to investigate anticompetitive behavior.The FTC said the Technology Task Force, consisting of about 17 staff attorneys, will enhance its focus on technology-rela...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 27, 2019

Confronting the Harsh Realities of ‘Cross-Industry’ Fraud

New research from LexisNexis Risk Solutions confirms that the pace of so-called “cross-industry fraud” is accelerating and becoming costlier for organizations of all kinds.This momentum is a growing concern for finance professionals — or at least it should be — because such crimes are increasingl...

By David McCann • Feb. 22, 2019

Two Firms Charged in Shell Factory Fraud

A broker-dealer, a transfer agent, and three individuals have been charged with failing to disclose at least 19 companies were shells so they could be publicly traded.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said broker-dealer Spartan Securities Group and transfer agent Island Capital Manageme...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 21, 2019

Exchanges Sue to Block SEC Trading Fee Plan

The three largest U.S. stock exchange operators have sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to stop a regulatory initiative that would limit fees they can charge for trading.Over the objections of the exchanges, the SEC in December approved a transaction fee pilot program in December as...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 18, 2019

Gaming Startup Founder Charged With $9M Fraud

A gaming entrepreneur has been charged with defrauding investors in his Kizzang digital sweepstakes startup of about $9 million, some of which he allegedly spent on his own gambling sprees.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Robert Alexander enticed more than 50 people to invest in K...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 8, 2019

Trading Firm Fined $1.3M Over VIX Misconduct

Options trading firm Akuna Securities has been fined nearly $1.3 million for submitting improper trades to an auction that is used to calculate the final settlement value of a popular gauge of stock market volatility.CBOE Global Markets’ Volatility Index, known as VIX, measures 30-day volatility ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 4, 2019

U.S. Charges Huawei CFO With Iran Fraud

The U.S. government charged the CFO of Chinese telecom giant Huawei with deceiving banks as part of a scheme to hide its ownership of a company that did business in Iran.The charges of bank and wire fraud against Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, are included in a grand j...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 29, 2019

Seven People Charged in Hack of SEC Database

A suspected Ukrainian computer hacker and several traders have been charged in a scheme that made more than $1.4 million in illicit profits by trading on nonpublic information stolen from a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission database.The charges resulted from a breach of the EDGAR database t...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 16, 2019

Judge Blocks NYC Crackdown on Airbnb Rentals

A federal judge sided with Airbnb in a legal battle with New York City over a law that would force online home-sharing sites to disclose renter data to city officials.U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayr on Thursday granted Airbnb’s request for an injunction barring the city from enforcing the l...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 4, 2019

Currency Risk Mounts as U.S. Dollar Rises

The dollar appreciated over 2018, and the trend will likely continue as the Federal Reserve maintains its rate hike strategy. While that sounds positive, it brings strain on exporters, particularly those trading with foreign companies with debt denominated in U.S. dollars.The math is simple: When...

By Atradius Trade Credit Insurance and Bob Merino • Dec. 17, 2018

GoPro Shifting Manufacturing Out of China Amid Trade War Concerns

GoPro will pull production of some of its cameras out of China by summer 2019 in response to escalating trade tensions. The company said the move would affect most of its cameras intended for sale in the United States. Cameras bound for the inte jirnational market would still be produced in China...

By William Sprouse • Dec. 10, 2018

IT Consultant Accused of Insider Trading

An Indian IT contractor has been charged in the U.S. with using nonpublic information about clients of the investment bank he was working for in Singapore to make $600,000 in illicit stock trading profits for himself, his wife, and his father.The Securities and Exchange Commission said Rajeshwar ...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 7, 2018

Midland Funding Settles Collections Abuse Probe

Midland Funding, one of the nation’s largest debt buyers, has agreed to a $6 million settlement of allegations of improper collection and litigation practices brought by dozens of states.The agreement ends a six-year investigation of Midland, a subsidiary of Encore Capital Group, and requires the...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 5, 2018

DJ Khaled, Floyd Mayweather Settle Cryptocurrency Charges

The Securities and Exchange Commission settled with boxer Floyd Mayweather and music producer Khaled Khaled,whose stage name is DJ Khaled,over allegations of failing to disclose payments they received for promoting investments in initial coin offerings.The settlements are the SEC’s first cases re...

By William Sprouse • Nov. 30, 2018

CFOs Find a New Role as Legal Strategists

When company leadership views legal claims as assets, conversations change. General counsels become part of business development and CFOs become part of the legal discussion, creating a powerful alliance that benefits the business on both fronts.Some have already adjusted their leadership teams t...

By Reed Oslan • Nov. 7, 2018

SEC Fines, Disgorgement Hit $3.9B in 2018

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed 9% more enforcement actions in fiscal 2018 despite budgetary constraints, obtaining more than $3.9 billion in disgorgement and penalties.The commission said in its annual report that enforcement actions totaled 821, up from 754 in fiscal 2017. Dis...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 5, 2018

Hack to the Future: Cybersecurity in the Age of AI

“My first reaction,” says Cooper Quinton, senior staff technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “was surprise that it took so long.”He’s talking about the moment he heard of last month’s huge Facebook hack. “It wasn’t a shock,” he continues. “Every organization of any significant siz...

By Miguel Sancho • Nov. 1, 2018

‘Frack Master’ Settles Charges Over $80M Fraud

A Dallas businessman who called himself the “Frack Master” has agreed to pay $23.8 million to settle charges that he bilked investors in oil and gas companies of more than $80 million, diverting some of the money to maintain a lifestyle of “decadence and debauchery.”Christopher A. Faulkner allege...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 24, 2018