Samsung leader named as suspect in South Korea political probe

A South Korean special prosecutor's office will question Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee as a suspect in a widening influence-peddling scandal that may force President Park Geun-hye from office.

Prosecutors have been looking into whether Samsung payments of about 30 billion won ($25 million) for a business and foundations backed by Park's friend, Choi Soon-sil, were connected to a 2015 decision by the national pension fund to back a controversial merger of two group affiliates. read more »

Ex-Visium hedge fund manager cheated investors, U.S. jury hears

An ex-portfolio manager at Visium Asset Management LP corruptly sought to boost the value of one of its hedge fund's holdings, defrauding investors while enabling the investment firm to earn millions of dollars, a U.S. prosecutor told jurors on Wednesday.

Stefan Lumiere, the former brother-in-law of Visium founder Jacob Gottlieb, violated the trust of investors through "fraud and lies," Assistant U.S. Attorney Damian Williams told jurors at the start of a trial in federal court in Manhattan. read more »

Exxon Mobil Told To Hand Over Decades Of Climate Documents In Major Legal Blow

Exxon Mobil Corp. encountered a major setback on Wednesday when a Massachusetts judge ordered the oil company to turn over 40 years of documents related to climate change.

The ruling represents a huge win for the state’s attorney general Maura Healey, who is investigating how much Exxon Mobil knew about the link between fossil fuels and climate change and if it intentionally hid such information from the public.

“Exxon must now end its obstructive tactics and come clean about whether it misled Massachusetts consumers and investors about what it knew about climate change, its causes and effects,” Healey said in a statement provided to The Boston Globe. read more »

FX ‘Cartel’ Traders Face Tough Fight on U.S. Extradition

Three British traders charged in New York with rigging foreign-exchange rates may struggle to avoid being sent to the U.S., as America’s appetite for extraditing U.K. targets shows no sign of waning, according to lawyers.

Richard Usher, formerly of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Rohan Ramchandani, who used to work for Citigroup Inc., and ex-Barclays Plc trader Chris Ashton were indicted Tuesday, accused of conspiring to manipulate the foreign-exchange market. They are likely to be extradited unless they surrender voluntarily, a stark contrast to other European nations, including Germany. read more »

Citigroup Returns $22.5M to Overcharged Customers: NY AG

A Westchester County resident's complaint started the investigation that also led to Citi paying a $1 million fine to the state. read more »

Arizona AG plans to sue Theranos over blood-testing devices

The Arizona Attorney General plans to file a lawsuit against Theranos Inc over a "long-running scheme of deceptive acts and misrepresentations" related to the company's blood-testing equipment, according to a state bidding document.

The Attorney General's office is seeking outside counsel in commencing legal action against Theranos and its closely related units for violations of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, according to the document. read more »

Biomet Charged With Repeating FCPA Violations

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that a Warsaw, Ind.-based medical device manufacturer has agreed to pay more than $30 million to resolve parallel SEC and Department of Justice investigations into the company’s repeat violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Biomet first faced FCPA charges from the SEC and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice in March 2012, agreeing to pay more than $22 million to settle both cases.  As part of the SEC settlement, Biomet agreed to retain an independent compliance consultant to review its FCPA compliance program.  After the settlement as Biomet was implementing recommendations from the independent monitor, the company learned about potential anti-bribery violations in Brazil and Mexico and notified the monitor and the SEC in 2013. read more »

BNY Mellon Settles Charges Stemming From Miscalculations of Regulatory Capital Figures

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that BNY Mellon has agreed to pay a $6.6 million penalty to settle charges stemming from miscalculations of its risk-based capital ratios and risk-weighted assets reported to investors.

An SEC investigation found that BNY Mellon deviated from regulatory capital rules by excluding from its calculations approximately $14 billion in collateralized loan obligation assets that the firm consolidated onto its balance sheet in 2010.  BNY Mellon never obtained Federal Reserve Board approval as required under regulatory capital rules to exclude the assets from its calculations.  Due to the miscalculations and the firm’s lack of internal accounting controls to ensure its financial statements were being prepared properly, BNY Mellon understated its risk-weighted assets and overstated certain risk-based capital ratios in quarterly and annual reports from the third quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2014. read more »

ITG Paying $24 Million for Improper Handling of ADRs

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that broker ITG agreed to pay more than $24.4 million to settle charges that it violated federal securities laws when it prompted the issuance of American Depository Receipts (ADRs) without possessing the underlying foreign shares.

ADRs are U.S. securities that represent shares of a foreign company, and for all issued ADRs there must be a corresponding number of foreign shares in custody.  On behalf of counterparties, ITG obtained ADRs from depositary banks that administer ADR programs. read more »

Global Anti-Bribery Efforts Have Grown Since Clayton Paper

Previous comments on anti-bribery enforcement endorsed by Jay Clayton, chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, have stirred up speculation about whether he might change the U.S. approach once in office.

But greater worldwide anti-bribery enforcement in the years since the comments endorsed by Mr. Clayton put those questions in a different perspective. Mr. Clayton was the lead signatory to a 2011 research paper that criticized what it said was the unreasonable cost of anti-bribery efforts on U.S. companies and called for stronger international efforts. Experts had already expressed some concern upon Mr. Trump’s election about the future of U.S. enforcement of its foreign-bribery law.

There has been stronger international action against bribery in the years since the paper’s release, though the U.S. continues to lead the way. read more »

Ex-Barclays employee gets prison term for insider trading scheme

A former director at Barclays Plc was sentenced on Wednesday to five months in a U.S. prison for repeatedly passing tips about mergers under way at the bank to a plumber, who made thousands of dollars trading ahead of the deals' announcements. read more »