SEC

Washington, D.C., May 19, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that a federal court has approved the distribution of more than $843 million to harmed investors in the American International Group, Inc. from a Fair Fund that the SEC established after the company’s settlement of an SEC enforcement action for accounting fraud.

The AIG Fair Fund’s court-appointed distribution agent estimates that checks will be mailed to more than 257,000 affected AIG investors within the next few months.    » read more »

2009-05-19 -- DETROIT – General Motors (NYSE: GM) today filed a prospectus supplement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to its exchange offers for $27 billion of its unsecured public notes and the related consent solicitations that were commenced on April 27, 2009.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., May 18, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged employment search provider Monster Worldwide, Inc. for its multi-year scheme to secretly backdate stock options granted to thousands of Monster officers, directors and employees.

Monster agreed to pay a $2.5 million penalty to settle the SEC's charges that the company defrauded investors by granting backdated, undisclosed "in-the-money" stock options while failing to record required non-cash charges for option-related compensation expenses.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., May 15, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the start of a $267 million Fair Fund distribution to mutual funds and mutual fund shareholders who were harmed by late trading and market timing that occurred through Bear Stearns, which was charged by the SEC in a 2006 enforcement action.

Today's disbursement of more than $216 million will go to approximately 761,000 shareholders who were harmed by the wrongdoing, and to the asset bases of more than 1,000 affected mutual funds. The Bear Stearns Fair Fund will ultimately return more than $267 million to harmed mutual funds and shareholders before the end of this year.    » read more »

Scheme Also Put Municipal Employee Paychecks at Risk

Washington, D.C., May 14, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two New Jersey men with orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that sold unregistered securities and commingled investor funds with their payroll service used by New Jersey municipalities and small businesses.

The SEC alleges that Paul G. Bultmeyer and Arthur J. Piacentini carried out the fraud through their firms Sherbourne Capital Management, Ltd. and Sherbourne Financial, Ltd. by offering and selling so-called "Prime Certificates of Participation" they advertised in print publications as well as on Craigslist and other Internet sites.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., May 14, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rule amendments to substantially increase protections for investors who entrust their money to investment advisers.    » read more »

2009-05-14 -- DETROIT - General Motors (NYSE: GM) today filed a prospectus supplement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to its exchange offers for $27 billion of its unsecured public notes and the related consent solicitations that were commenced on April 27, 2009.

The prospectus supplement, which amends the information in GM's Registration Statement on Form S-4 dated April 27, 2009 and GM's Tender Offer Statement on Schedule TO filed on that date, includes:

* GM's unaudited historical and unaudited pro forma financial data for the first quarter of 2009 and GM's pro forma financial data for the year ended December 31, 2008;    » read more »

Washington, D.C., May 8, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged West Palm Beach, Fla.-based INTECH Investment Management LLC and its former chief operating officer David E. Hurley for violating the SEC's proxy voting rule for investment advisers by not sufficiently describing its proxy voting policies and procedures and failing to address a material potential conflict of interest.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., May 8, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that Michael Lauer, the head of two Connecticut-based hedge fund advisors, has been ordered to pay more than $62 million within 15 days as a result of being found liable on SEC fraud charges last fall.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra for the Southern District of Florida found that Lauer, head of Lancer Management Group and Lancer Management Group II, must pay more than $43.6 million to deprive him of his ill-gotten gains, and more than $18.9 million in prejudgment interest.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., May 5, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Renato Negrin, a former portfolio manager at hedge fund investment adviser Millennium Partners L.P., and Jon-Paul Rorech, a salesman at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., with insider trading in credit default swaps of VNU N.V., an international holding company that owns Nielsen Media and other media businesses.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., April 27, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of a Connecticut-based money manager and the hedge funds that he controls, alleging that he forged documents, promised false returns, and misrepresented assets managed by the funds to illicitly raise more than $30 million from investors.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., April 13, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged an El Segundo, Calif.-based promoter and her firm for operating a $23 million Ponzi scheme that purported to use investor funds to invest in risk-free, high-yield investment programs involving bank trading, oil and gold exploration, or real estate.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 26, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained an emergency court order halting a $68 million Ponzi scheme involving the sale of fictitious high-yield certificates of deposit (CDs) by Caribbean-based Millennium Bank.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 25, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained an emergency court order freezing the assets of a Chicago-area investment adviser and two of its principals who are alleged to have misappropriated more than $4 million in client assets by transferring them to third parties, and incorrectly reported the net asset and other investment values to investors.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 24, 2009 — Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary L. Schapiro announced today that Didem A. Nisanci has been named SEC Chief of Staff.

Ms. Nisanci most recently served as Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment chaired by U.S. Senator Jack Reed. As staff director, she developed and implemented the subcommittee's legislative and oversight agenda. She will begin working at the SEC later this week.    » read more »