SEC

Washington, D.C., Sept. 1, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the distribution of more than $35 million in Fair Funds to more than 98,000 investors in Cardinal Health, Inc. who were harmed by a fraudulent revenue and earnings management scheme.

The SEC's enforcement action against Cardinal Health in July 2007 alleged that the company presented a false picture of its operating results to the financial community and the investing public — one that matched its publicly disseminated earnings guidance and analysts' expectations rather than its true economic performance. Cardinal Health settled the SEC's charges and paid $35 million in penalties and disgorgement that were placed into the Fair Fund being distributed.    » read more »

August 27, 2009 -- WASHINGTON—James M. Davis, 60, the former chief financial officer of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group (SFG), pleaded guilty today to fraud and obstruction charges related to a $7 billion scheme to defraud investors, Lanny A. Breuer, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, and Tim Johnson, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, announced.

Davis was charged in a criminal information, filed on June 18, 2009, with conspiracy to commit mail, wire and securities fraud; mail fraud; and conspiracy to obstruct a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation. The criminal information also seeks forfeiture of up to $1 billion in fraud proceeds.    » read more »

Enhance investor confidence

Washington, D.C., July 1, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted on three measures that are intended to better inform and empower investors to improve corporate governance and help restore investor confidence.

The Commission proposed requiring public companies receiving money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to provide a shareholder vote on executive pay in their proxy solicitations The Commission also voted to propose better disclosure of executive compensation at public companies in their proxy statements, and approved a New York Stock Exchange rule change to prohibit brokers from voting proxies in corporate elections without instructions from their customers.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., June 22, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a New York-based broker-dealer and four individuals with securities fraud, alleging that they collectively raised billions of dollars from investors for Bernard L. Madoff's Ponzi scheme.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., June 19, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two accountants who produced bogus financial statements and an Antiguan regulator who took bribes to look the other way as Robert Allen Stanford conducted an alleged $8 billion Ponzi scheme.

The SEC previously charged Stanford and his companies — Antiguan-based Stanford International Bank (SIB), Houston-based broker-dealer and investment adviser Stanford Group Company (SGC), and investment adviser Stanford Capital Management — as well as SIB chief financial officer James Davis and Stanford Financial Group chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt with securities fraud in an enforcement action filed in federal court in Dallas on February 17.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., June 17, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two Oklahoma City residents with securities fraud and other violations for a scheme in which they misappropriated to themselves millions of dollars from Quest Resource Corporation, Quest Energy Partners, L.P. and their affiliates while they were executives at the company.    » read more »

SEC Charges Operators of $80 Million Ponzi Scheme Targeting Korean-Americans

Washington, D.C., June 9, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two California men and two companies they control for conducting an $80 million Ponzi scheme that targeted Korean-American investors with false promises of extraordinarily high returns from foreign currency (forex) trading.    » read more »

Boston-Based Firm and Affiliate to Pay $40 Million to Settle SEC Charges

Washington, D.C., June 8, 2008 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Boston-based Evergreen Investment Management Company LLC and an affiliate with securities law violations for overstating the value of a mutual fund that invested primarily in mortgage-backed securities, and then only selectively telling shareholders about the fund’s valuation problems.

Evergreen agreed to pay more than $40 million to settle the SEC’s charges without admitting or denying the findings in the SEC’s order. This enforcement action is the result of the joint efforts of the SEC and the Massachusetts Securities Division, which also brought related charges against the Evergreen entities today.    » read more »

Former CEO Angelo Mozilo Additionally Charged With Insider Trading

Washington, D.C., June 4, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged former Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo and two other former executives with securities fraud for deliberately misleading investors about the significant credit risks being taken in efforts to build and maintain the company's market share.

Mozilo was additionally charged with insider trading for selling his Countrywide stock based on non-public information for nearly $140 million in profits.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., June 3, 2009 — Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro today announced the formation of an Investor Advisory Committee to give investors a greater voice in the Commission's work. SEC Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar will serve as the Commission's primary sponsor of the Committee.

"Through this well-respected and diverse group, we are reaching out to investors in a new and significant way," said Chairman Schapiro. "I look forward to hearing their views on new products, trading strategies, fee structures, and the effectiveness of disclosure, among other issues."    » read more »

Washington, D.C., June 3, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced finalized settlements with Bank of America, RBC Capital Markets, and Deutsche Bank to resolve SEC charges that the firms misled investors regarding the liquidity risks associated with auction rate securities (ARS) that they underwrote, marketed, or sold.

The SEC's Division of Enforcement previously announced preliminary settlements with Bank of America and RBC on Oct. 8, 2008. Today's finalized settlements with those two firms as well as Deutsche Bank provide nearly $6.7 billion to approximately 9,600 customers who invested in ARS before the market for those securities froze in February 2008.    » read more »

Levin, Grassley, Specter Release GAO Report on SEC Actions to Curb Stock Failures to Deliver and Manipulative Naked Short Selling

June 3, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations; Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Ranking Member of the Finance Committee; and Senator Arlen Specter, D-Penn., Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report analyzing recent actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to curb failures to deliver securities and manipulative naked short selling.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., June 1, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the Fair Fund distribution of more than $78 million to more than 590,000 investors who were affected by undisclosed market timing in certain AIM mutual funds.

The Fair Fund distribution stems from a prior SEC enforcement action against AIM Advisors, Inc., which advised the funds, and AIM Distributors, Inc. (ADI), which distributed the funds. In addition, this distribution includes money from two other Fair Funds, which are related to separate unlawful market timing enforcement actions that affected AIM investors.    » read more »

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 28 -- Bank of America Corporation today announced that it is commencing an offer to exchange up to 200 million shares of common stock for outstanding depositary shares of certain series of preferred stock.

The exchange offer is subject to the terms and conditions described in the Offer to Exchange dated May 28, 2009, and the related Letter of Transmittal, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.    » read more »

May 19 2009 -- New York -- Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MXB) announced today that Morgan Stanley's previously announced secondary offering of all of its remaining 27,708,653 shares of MSCI Inc. class A common stock, par value $0.01 per share, priced at $21.50 per share. MSCI Inc. will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of the class A common stock.

"We are pleased to complete the separation of MSCI from Morgan Stanley, which we began in 2007," said John J. Mack, Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley. "As we said then, we believe this transaction will unlock value for Morgan Stanley's shareholders as well as release capital to redeploy into our core activities including institutional securities, asset management and global wealth management."    » read more »