Merrill Lynch Fined $12M Over Flash Crashes

Merrill Lynch has agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle charges that it failed to prevent the transmission of erroneous trades, causing mini-flash crashes in the stocks of 13 companies including Google, Diageo, and Anadarko Petroleum.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Merrill’s inte...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 27, 2016

Movie Execs Accused of Studio Complex Fraud

The former CEO of a would-be movie production company and his successor have been charged with falsely claiming they were building the largest film studio in North America and using investor funds to finance a “Hollywood lifestyle.”The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Medient Studios ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 26, 2016

Regulator Launches Samsung Phone Recall

With research data showing initial warnings have not discouraged use of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a formal recall of the fire-prone devices.Samsung itself launched an international recall Sept. 2 of 5 million units of the new high-end Note ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 16, 2016

Court Tosses Suit Over One-Star Rating on Yelp

In a victory for internet service providers, a federal appeals court has ruled that Yelp’s signature star-rating system does not make it liable for a negative review posted by a user.Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) broadly protects ISPs from liability for content “created” by ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 14, 2016

How to Mitigate the Threat of Ransomware

All too often, companies’ focus after being victimized by a ransomware attack is on the ransom paid, which is generally the most trivial outcome of the incident. From the perspective of a CFO, what goes unaccounted for in any meaningful way is the lost productivity, lost profits, harm to business...

By Michael R. Overly and Aaron Tantleff • Aug. 31, 2016

New Rules Open Skies to Commercial Drones

The Federal Aviation Administration’s new rules for the drone industry have gone into effect, with the agency predicting a 30-fold increase in commercial flights within a year.There are 20,000 drones currently registered for commercial use in the U.S. but the new rules, which were finalized in Ju...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 31, 2016

Green Tech Execs Accused of $6 Million Fraud

The two top executives of green technology firm Enviro Board have been charged with defrauding investors of $6 million by making bogus financial projections for a building materials product.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said co-chairmen/CEOs Glenn Camp, 59, and William Peiffer, 62, ...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 29, 2016

How Delaying Payments Can Help Suppliers

Extending payment terms to 120 days or more frees up working capital for big companies. But it can also increase the financial stress on suppliers and ultimately lead to increased product costs. Although the tactic has attracted much criticism, research underway at the Zaragoza Logistics Center, ...

By Spyros Lekkakos • Aug. 12, 2016

Ex-College Football Star Accused of $6M Fraud

Former University of Virginia linebacker Merrill Robertson and his partner in an investment firm have been charged with stealing $6 million in funds from investors, including football coaches at schools he attended, to finance their “luxurious” lifestyles.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissi...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 11, 2016

Drug Investigator Accused of Insider Trading

A Connecticut cardiologist who was helping to conduct a clinical trial of a heart drug for Regado Biosciences has been charged with insider trading in the biotech firm’s shares.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Edward Kosinski, 68, traded on his advance notice of announcements rela...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 5, 2016

Regulator Seeks Tougher Rules on Debt Collectors

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed new rules for the debt collection industry that include limiting collectors’ communications with debtors.While the industry is already regulated by the Federal Trade Commission under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the CFPB has pe...

By Matthew Heller • July 29, 2016

Treasury Chief Lauds Dodd-Frank

In a statement celebrating the six-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew today praised the “resilience” of the reformed financial system in the face of episodes of market volatility triggered by Brexit and other events...

By David Katz • July 21, 2016

Herbalife to Revamp Distributor Compensation

Herbalife has agreed to refund $200 million to consumers and revamp its compensation system as part of a settlement of charges that it made false promises to distributors about how much money they could make.The U.S Federal Trade Commission alleged in a consumer fraud complaint that the multi-lev...

By Matthew Heller • July 15, 2016

‘Frack Master’ Accused of $80M Investment Scam

Texas oilman and TV pundit Chris Faulkner has been charged with orchestrating a “massive” scheme to defraud investors in more than 20 oil and gas prospects and using at least $30 million of the proceeds to finance a “lifestyle of decadence and debauchery.”The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissi...

By Matthew Heller • June 27, 2016

Analogic Accused of Improper Foreign Payments

Medical device manufacturer Analogic Corp. has agreed to pay nearly $15 million to settle charges that its Danish subsidiary engaged in a scheme with distributors in Russia and other countries to make improper payments to third parties.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday said t...

By Matthew Heller • June 22, 2016

Home Depot Joins Battle Over Chip Card Security

Home Depot has opened a new front in an escalating battle between retailers and credit card issuers over chip-based payment cards, accusing Visa and MasterCard of putting profits ahead of consumer security.The credit card giants and their member banks, Home Depot said in an antitrust lawsuit file...

By Matthew Heller • June 16, 2016

Square-Off: Is Your Data More Secure in a Data Center or in the Cloud?

It was the big system break-ins that changed the corporate approach to data security, observes Ashley Vukovits, the CFO of Interactive Intelligence Group and one of the debaters in CFO’s latest edition of Square-Off.Not that long ago, she writes, “most people would have answered the question of w...

By David Katz • June 15, 2016

Physicist Fined for Tech Deal Insider Trading

A Chinese citizen has agreed to pay more than $756,000 to settle charges that he traded on inside information he obtained while acting as a consultant to two Chinese private-equity firms pursuing a takeover of OmniVision Technologies.One of Guolin Ma’s clients was part of a group of Chinese inves...

By Matthew Heller • June 13, 2016

Forex Trader Accused of $23M Investor Fraud

A New York City-based foreign exchange trader has been charged with claiming her investments were profitable when she actually lost more than $16 million since 2012.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Haena Park, 40, misrepresented her investment track record in raising at least $14 ...

By Matthew Heller • June 3, 2016

Ex-Pfizer Employee Accused of Insider Trading

A former Pfizer employee orchestrated an insider trading scheme that netted more than $300,000 in illicit profits for himself and a former Oppenheimer stockbroker who was his childhood friend, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday.In a civil complaint, the SEC alleged Michael Ma...

By Matthew Heller • June 3, 2016

Brokerage Fined for Anti-Money-Laundering Reporting Failures

Wall Street brokerage Albert Fried & Co. has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle charges that it failed to report suspicious trading by institutional customers.For more than five years, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday, the firm filed no Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR...

By Matthew Heller • June 2, 2016

‘Boutique’ Firm Accused of $10M Ponzi Scheme

Two California men have been charged with operating a Ponzi scheme that fraudulently raised about $10 million from retail investors by promising exclusive investment opportunities “previously only available to the one-percenters.”The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday said Jaswant...

By Matthew Heller • June 1, 2016

Pakistani Accused of Manipulating Tech Stock

A Pakistani man has been charged with manipulating the stock price of Integrated Device Technology Inc. by announcing a bogus takeover offer for the chipmaker.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the announcement on its Edgar system instantly sparked a sharp rise in IDT’s stock price,...

By Matthew Heller • May 25, 2016

SEC Going After Corp. Subsidiaries

Riding a spike in Securities and Exchange Commission civil enforcement actions against corporate subsidiaries, the overall number of SEC enforcements against public companies and their units rose more than 50% in fiscal year 2015, according to a new survey.In fiscal 2015, the SEC filed 52 actions...

By David Katz • May 18, 2016

High Court Sides With Businesses in Privacy Case

The U.S. Supreme Court may have made it harder for consumers to sue companies that handle consumer data for publishing inaccurate information about them.The court agreed with web-based data broker Spokeo that a Virginia man had not shown its erroneous description of him violated the Fair Credit R...

By Matthew Heller • May 16, 2016