Skilling Ordered to Prison

Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling has been ordered by a federal appellate judge to start his prison sentence immediately, according to the Associated Press. Skilling’s request to remain free during his appeal was turned down on Tuesday by Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court o...

By Marie Leone • Dec. 13, 2006

Former Ahold CFO Avoids Prison

The former chief financial officer of Royal Ahold NV’s U.S. Foodservice Inc. unit will avoid spending time in prison for his role in the Dutch food giant’s massive fraud in 2003. Michael Resnick was sentenced to six months of home detention and three years’ probation, according to the Associated ...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 12, 2006

Shrinking World

Are European shareholders closing the gap in terms of legal redress against wayward management, or is the US firming up its status as a kind of “global court” for class actions? For Ralph Stone, partner in Shalov, Stone & Bonner, the scales are tipping towards Europe. “There is an erosion of ...

By Tony McAuley and Jason Sumner • Dec. 12, 2006

McNulty Revises Thompson Memo

U.S. deputy attorney general Paul McNulty has revised the controversial guidelines that federal prosecutors have been using for more than three years to measure the cooperativeness of companies whose employees are accused of corporate crime. These provisions, collectively called the McNulty Memor...

By Sarah Johnson • Dec. 12, 2006

Skilling’s Prison Term is Delayed

Jeffrey Skilling will remain outside of prison for a little bit longer. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to delay his report to prison so that the court can have more time to consider a request for bail while the former Enron chief executive officer appeals his conviction, according t...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 12, 2006

FASB Seeks New Derivatives Disclosures

The Financial Accounting Standards Board wants companies to disclose more details about the effects of derivatives and hedging on their financial statements.Under a proposal issued Friday, FASB would require companies to discuss their objectives and strategies for using derivatives in terms of un...

By David Katz • Dec. 8, 2006

Down to the Wire: Thompson Memo Revised?

Sen. Arlen Specter has made good on his threat to introduce legislation that aims to protect attorney-client confidentiality in corporate criminal cases. The measure, the Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act, is a last-minute effort by the Republican lawmaker from Pennsylvania to get the issu...

By Sarah Johnson • Dec. 8, 2006

Wal-Mart Settles Life Insurance Lawsuit

Wal-Mart Stores has settled a $5.1 million class-action lawsuit involving the proceeds of corporate-owned life insurance policies that plaintiffs claimed the retailer wrongfully received after the employees died, according to the Associated Press.The estates of 73 former Wal-Mart Stores employees...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 5, 2006

Pequot Case: ‘The Plot Grows Thicker’

“The plot grows thicker,” declared Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter at the conclusion of a Tuesday hearing aimed at finding out if the Securities and Exchange Commission mishandled an investigation into Pequot Capital Management and later violated the rights of a whistleblower.“I...

By Marie Leone • Dec. 5, 2006

Senate Hearing to Probe SEC-Pequot Case

Eric Ribelin, a branch chief in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Market Surveillance, will testify before a Senate Committee today regarding how the regulator handled its investigation of hedge fund Pequot Capital Management. Rebelin is the second SEC official to raise questions...

By Marie Leone • Dec. 5, 2006

Wal-Mart Whistle-blower Drops Lawsuit

A Wal-Mart whistle-blower has abruptly dropped a lawsuit against the world’s largest retailer. Jared Bowen, who claimed he was fired when he called attention to a fraud committed by former number-two Wal-Mart executive Tom Coughlin, decided to drop claims filed in state court that the retailer de...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 1, 2006

HP CFO, Execs Accused of Insider Trading

The chief financial officer of Hewlett-Packard is one of five individuals accused of insider trading in an amended complaint filed earlier this week, according to The Houston Chronicle. The suit accuses CFO Bob Wayman, CEO Mark Hurd, and directors Lucille Salhany and Lawrence Babbio of participat...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 1, 2006

Should You Buy D&O ASAP?

Just three years ago, directors’and officers’ (D&O) insurance rateswere so high that Ron Foster, thenCFO for troubled fiber-optics giant JDSUniphase, threatened to set up a self-insuredfacility with other companies ratherthan pay the prices insurance companieswere demanding.That approach woul...

By Alix Stuart • Dec. 1, 2006

The 5 Cent Empire

The long buses start rolling into the parking lot at the Grand Casino Mille Lacs long before the morning mist has lifted from the marshlands and maple trees. A steady line of white-haired warriors, armed with supersized plastic cups and beaded change purses, pile out of the buses and head straigh...

By John Goff • Dec. 1, 2006

Capital Markets Report Urges 404 Fixes

The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation today officially released its first report, which calls for a fix of section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the internal controls provision, before it is required for smaller companies.That was just one of the recommendations in the 135-page report by t...

By Helen Shaw • Nov. 30, 2006

Wells Fargo, Ameriprise Require Majority Votes

Wells Fargo and Ameriprise Financial are the latest to join the growing roster of companies—including some of the largest in the world—that are requiring their boards of directors to receive a majority of the votes cast by shareholders in uncontested director elections.Both companies said they ex...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 30, 2006

Taub to Leave SEC

In a big blow to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Scott A. Taub, deputy chief accountant in the Office of the Chief Accountant, will leave the regulator later this year.Taub is credited with playing a key role in the Commission’s implementation of the accounting reforms under the Sarbanes-...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 29, 2006

EU Fines Dow, Four Others

The European Commission fined five companies a total of $682 million for fixing the price of synthetic rubber used to make tires, including U.S.-based Dow Chemical, according to the Associated Press. The other four companies were Royal Dutch Shell plc, Eni SpA, Unipetrol AS and Trade-Stomil, acco...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 29, 2006

Ford Sales in Syria, Sudan Are Questioned

The Securities and Exchange Commission has raised disclosure issues with regard to Ford Motor operations in several countries deemed by the U.S. to be state sponsors of terrorism. In a letter fired off on July 5—but released last Friday by the regulator—the Commission asserted that the automaker’...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 27, 2006

How Do We Reduce Misstatements?

While you’re making lists for the holiday season, here’s one more to consider: Suggestions from corporate financial executives about how to cut down on the number of restatements. Earlier in the year, the Securities and Exchange Commission asked executives to submit ideas that would help squelch ...

By Helen Shaw • Nov. 27, 2006

Former EDS CFO Headed to Prison

Another finance executive is headed to prison. Joseph Amato, the former chief financial officer of Electronic Data Systems’ Global Securities Industry Group was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for the role he played in a scheme to defraud EDS out of millions of dollars, according to t...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 22, 2006

Former Capital One CFO to Pay $1.8 Million

A former chief financial officer of Capital One Financial agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle insider trading charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission.The regulator filed its complaint against David M. Willey in July 2004, alleging he traded securities of the bank holding company knowin...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 21, 2006

Prosecutors Drop Fight to Convict Lay

Federal prosecutors have chosen to abandon their appeal of U.S. District Judge Sim Lake’s ruling last month vacating fraud and conspiracy charges against the late Kenneth Lay for his role in Enron’s collapse, according to the Associated Press.The judge said the death of Lay, the founder of the...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 21, 2006

On Message

The scene on July 31st this year was reminiscent of the face-off between Gordon Gekko and Teldar Paper executives at the stockholders meeting in the 1980s film Wall Street, with billionaire investor Nelson Peltz in the Gekko role, and Heinz CEO William Johnson leading the somewhat hapless executi...

By Tony McAuley • Nov. 20, 2006

Two More Enron Officials Sent to Prison

Two more former Enron Corp. executives, including a key assistant to former chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, were sentenced on Friday for their roles in the 2001 collapse of the onetime energy giant. However, they each received much lighter sentences than the maximum allowed.Michael Kopper,...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 17, 2006