There have been many stories about the collapse of AIG. There have also been many stories about the internal flaws at AIG. The pitchforks were out when bonuses were announced in March. One of those executives was Jake DeSantis who wrote a New York Times OP-ED about his bonus. (AIG Bonus – My Thoughts) It … Read more »
FCPA Conviction
Gerald Green and Patricia Green, Los Angeles-area film executives, were found guilty of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering laws of the United States, as well as substantive violations of the FCPA and U.S. money laundering laws. The verdict was handed down late on Friday. The Greens were charged by the … Read more »
The Ins and Outs of CFIUS Filing
The Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 applies to takeovers of U.S. businesses by non-U.S. persons. That law formalized the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review foreign investments that could impair national security Back in November, I was looking at how the new CFIUS regulations would affect real estate … Read more »
Piracy or Obscurity
“Of all the people who didn’t buy one of my book’s today, the majority of them didn’t buy it because they never heard of me, not because someone gave them a free copy.” – Cory Doctorow from an interview in a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review Read more »
How NOT to Run a Safety Drill
Running drills is important. Experience with adverse circumstances is important so that you and your co-workers know what to do if there is a problem. Drills are especially important for dangerous circumstances. There is a reason that building managers, schools and other institutions run fire drills. If there is an actual fire, you will know … Read more »
Madoff Hearing at the Senate Banking Committee
I will be covering today’s Senate Hearing (”Oversight of the SEC’s Failure to Identify the Bernard L. Madoff Ponzi Scheme and How to Improve SEC Performance“) along with several guest panelists via the interactive discussion below. Please visit this page today at 2:30 pm to join me, Bruce Carton of Securities Docket, Compliance Week editor … Read more »
The SEC’s Madoff Report
The SEC decided to take a look at how it failed to uncover the Madoff fraud. The SEC’s Inspector General has been running an investigation and compiling information. The SEC Inspector General, H. David Kotz, released a public version of their report on August 31: Investigation of Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff’s … Read more »
KPMG Fraud Survey 2009
KPMG Forensic has released their Fraud Survey 2009. The survey shows that many managers remain concerned about fraud. There are plenty of investigations of fraud that may have helped fuel the financial markets meltdown. Record levels of government spending may usher in record levels of fraud, waste, and abuse. In these difficult economic times, managers … Read more »
Rating Agencies and the First Amendment
Rating agencies have long argued that their ratings of securities are constitutionally protected opinions. Many people have pinned some of the responsibility for the financial markets meltdown on the rating agencies. It sure looks like they gave a fair number of these securities a high rating when they were actually toxic. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank … Read more »
Blink and Compliance
I am a little late to the game when it comes to reading some of Malcolm Gladwell’s books. Last week, while on vacation with the family, I managed to read Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. The book is about rapid cognition, the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. … Read more »