KPMG Tax-Shelter Case Is Mixed Win for U.S.

The long, circuitous prosecution of KPMG LLP executives over the selling of illegal personal tax shelters concluded with a handful of convictions Wednesday afternoon. But some observers saw the mixed-bag result, which included acquittals along with the jury’s guilty verdicts, as a sign that the d...

By Roy Harris • Dec. 18, 2008

Obama Picks FINRA Head Mary Schapiro to Lead SEC

President-elect Barack Obama nominated Mary Schapiro as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, calling on her to help overhaul the troubled U.S. regulatory system. Obama said Schapiro, a one-time acting SEC chairman and a political independent, who currently heads the Financ...

By Sarah Johnson • Dec. 18, 2008

Conservatives Oppose Bush Plan to Help Auto Industry

House conservatives, in a letter to President George W. Bush, objected Wednesday to a White House plan to transfer a portion of the $700 billion financial rescue plan to save the Big Three U.S. automakers.The letter, signed by 22 GOP Members including Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensa...

By Roll Call Staff • Dec. 16, 2008

FTC Alleges Ovation Has Baby-drug Monopoly

The Federal Trade Commission sued Ovation Pharmaceuticals Inc. for antitrust violations over its 2006 acquisition of the drug NeoProfen — which the FTC said sealed a monopoly in the market for products that treat a life-threatening heart defect in premature babies.The complaint, filed in U.S. Dis...

By Kate Plourd • Dec. 16, 2008

Judge: Ex-Broadcom CFO, CEO Must Face Charges

A judge ruled that Broadcom’s former chief financial officer and chief executive officer both must face charges in the company’s stock option backdating scandal.Ex-CEO Henry Nicholas and ex-CFO William Ruehle were accused of illegally backdating stock options, causing the chipmaker to restate $2....

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 16, 2008

What Does Madoff’s Auditor Say? No Answer

The tiny auditor of Bernard Madoff’s Wall Street firm, at the center of an alleged $50-billion Ponzi scheme, is being investigated by the district attorney in a New York City suburb. Friehling & Horowitz had signed off on the annual financial statement for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securit...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 15, 2008

Pelosi Demands Mortgage Aid

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday demanded that the Bush administration spell out a plan to help distressed homeowners before releasing the remaining $350 billion in the $700 billion financial rescue fund.Pelosi said the law’s written intent of providing mortgage relief “has been totally ...

By Roll Call Staff • Dec. 15, 2008

New Siemens Fines Bring the Total to $1.6B

Siemens AG’s agreement to pay $800 million to settle civil and criminal bribery charges leveled by U.S. authorities, after a long-running probe, brings the global total of fines paid by the company and its subsidiaries to a staggering $1.6 billion.The latest amount is the largest penalty collecte...

By Sarah Johnson • Dec. 15, 2008

The Auto Bailout Is Official — in Sweden

Two business units of America’s Ford Motor and General Motors are getting government cash infusions already. The money comes from the Swedish government, which is providing $3.4 billion to Volvo and Saab.Volvo is Ford’s Swedish-based product, while GM is the owner of Saab. The deal includes credi...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 11, 2008

SEC Completes ARS Pacts with Citi, UBS

The Securities and Exchange Commission completed its settlements with Citigroup Global Markets Inc., and UBS Securities LLC and UBS Financial Services Inc., which all told will provide nearly $30 billion to tens of thousands of customers who invested in auction rate securities before the market f...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 11, 2008

Reid Offers Bailout Ultimatum to GOP

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) presented Republicans with a take-it-or-leave proposal Thursday morning for voting on the auto industry bailout bill, saying he would not entertain amendments but would allow a vote on an alternative GOP measure. He said that if Republicans refuse his of...

By Roll Call Staff • Dec. 11, 2008

GOP Offers Own Bailout Bill

House Republicans on Wednesday announced plans to offer an alternative to the $15 billion Democratic-backed auto bailout bill.The American Automotive Reorganization and Recovery Plan will establish “firm benchmarks” and a “tight timeline” for restructuring of the Big Three automakers, according t...

By Roll Call Staff • Dec. 10, 2008

Wal-Mart Rolls Back Its Share Repurchase

Talk about a rollback. Wal-Mart Stores said that it has temporarily suspended its stock repurchase program, citing the “current economic environment and instability in the credit market.” The world’s largest retailer is the latest among a growing number of cash-conscious companies to stop buying ...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 10, 2008

Pelosi Wants Volker as Auto Bailout Watchdog

It’s President George W. Bush’s decision to make, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday morning she thinks economist Paul Volcker should be the “car czar” appointed to supervise the auto industry bailout.Volcker, the former Federal Reserve Chairman under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ron...

By Roll Call Staff • Dec. 9, 2008

Frank Says Auto Deal on Course

Emerging from a meeting in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office Monday afternoon, House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) signaled that a near-finished auto industry bailout bill is on track for passage.“I don’t see anything that’s going to stop an agreement,” Frank said. “It...

By Roll Call Staff • Dec. 8, 2008

The Bright Side

For Bogi Nils Bogason, the timing wasn’t ideal. On October 9th, the day before he took over as CFO of Reykjavik-based airline, Icelandair, the country nationalised Kaupthing, the last of the island’s three largest banks to fall victim to the financial meltdown.Yet, despite the upheaval, Icelandai...

By John Zhu • Dec. 8, 2008

Companies Line Up for Expanded FDIC Coverage

The Bank of New York Mellon said Friday that it will continue to participate in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP), joining other companies that announced the same Thursday. The program provides 100 percent insurance coverage for domestic noninteres...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 5, 2008

U.S. Programs Pour Out Aid to Financial Cos.

The government is pouring out aid this week to a number of additional financial companies under several of its recently instituted support programs.Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo, and GE Capital are now in various stages of selling bonds backed by the govern...

By Stephen Taub and Roy Harris • Dec. 3, 2008

Pelosi Vows Auto Fix

Congress and the White House don’t appear any closer to an agreement on how to aid the ailing auto industry, but some kind of action on the issue is certain, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday.“I believe that an intervention will happen, either legislatively or from the administration,”...

By Roll Call Staff • Dec. 3, 2008

From 30 Rock to Breaking Rocks

Editor’s Update: On December 11, Victor Jung was sentenced to one year and one day for his role in the embezzlement.The former treasury manager of General Electric’s NBC Universal unit was sentenced to 21 months in prison for his role in a scheme to steal over $800,000 from the entertainment comp...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 3, 2008

BofA, Morgan Pull Off First U.S.-backed Deals

In deals backed by the U.S. government’s guarantee programs, Bank of America raised $9 billion and Morgan Stanley sold $350 million in notes.BofA sold $6.75 billion of 3.5-year fixed-rate notes, $1 billion of 2-year floating-rate notes, $750 million of 3-year quarterly floating-rate notes and $50...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 2, 2008

Which Changes Will Business Believe In?

As President-Elect Barack Obama prepares to take office next month, many are wondering what a Democratic Administration and Congress will mean for the business climate in the United States. “Everyone knows the pendulum is swinging, but many CFOs are concerned it might swing too far,” says John Gr...

By Alix Stuart • Dec. 1, 2008

Subprime Suspects

In past financial blowups, auditors have paid a heavy price. After the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s, for example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. collected more than $1 billion in settlements from four of the then–Big Six for their alleged complicity. Eight years ago, Arthur Ande...

By Alix Stuart • Dec. 1, 2008

Beyond the Bailout

The juggernaut that is executive pay seemingly hit a roadblock when Congress wrote compensation limits into the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. As regulators wrangle over how to enforce these boundaries at banks, a bigger question looms: What do they mean for everyone else?Not much, say som...

By Alix Stuart • Dec. 1, 2008

Trials and Tabulations

Finance executives have struggled against a tide of rising costs in the past year, paying more for everything from the commodities embedded in their products to the milk that swirls in their morning coffee. Service costs have also skyrocketed, perhaps nowhere more than in the legal arena.With fee...

By Kate O'Sullivan • Dec. 1, 2008