The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a warning about con-artists who may use the names of actual SEC employees to mislead potential victims. The SEC is already beaten down by the Madoff scandal. Now it has to deal with scam artists further dragging mud across the reputation of the SEC. Investors should be aware that … Read more »
More Guidance on Extended COBRA Coverage under ARRA
As part of the enormous stimulus package in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the federal government included some relief for laid-off employees: COBRA Coverage Under ARRA. Some of the unanswered questions are starting to be answered. The IRS has posted information: COBRA Health Insurance Continuation Premium Subsidy, with COBRA: Answers for Employers. … Read more »
SEC Charges Operators of Multi-Billion Dollar Real Estate Enterprise With Fraud
The SEC charged Oregon-based Sunwest Management Inc. with securities fraud and is seeking an emergency court order freezing its assets. According to the SEC Complaint, the recent collapse of a real estate enterprise once valued at approximately $2 billion in assets, run by Sunwest Management Inc.and its CEO, Jon M. Harder, revealed a massive fraud … Read more »
Corporate Ethics in a Devilish System
There is a mismatch between the law and corporate ethics. According to Boston College Law School’s Kent Greenfield it can only be addressed by changing the law itself, and aligning it better with ethics. In his paper Corporate Ethics in a Devilish System, Journal of Business & Technology Law 3: issue 2 (2008): 427-435, Greenfield … Read more »
Madoff and Markopolos on 60 Minutes
On Sunday night, 60 Minutes aired an interview with Harry Markopolos: The Man Who Figured Out Madoff’s Scheme. Last month, Markopolos supplied similar information to a Congressional panel. By its vary nature, the SEC does not stop a financial crime until happens. As with all prosecutions, the bad act needs to happen before there is … Read more »
Why I Blog
Why does this blog exist? Why do I blog? When do I Blog? If you want answers to these questions, I put together this page on Why I Blog. Read more »
Blogs for Investor Relations
Louis Thompson, Jr. has an article in Compliance Week on using blogs for investor relations. Blogs: If Used Properly, an Investor-Friendly Tool (subscription required). Louis focuses on the Dell Shares blog used as an investor relations tool by Dell, Inc. and the GE Reports blog used by General Electric. Since this is a blog, I … Read more »
Policies for Private Use of Company Computer Systems and Mobile Devices
Mark E. Schreiber and Barbara A. Lee published an article on the New Liabilities and Policies for Incidental Private Use of Company Electronic Systems and PDAs. The discussion in the article comes from the decision in Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Company, Inc., 529 F.3d 892 (9th Cir. 2008). In that case the court found … Read more »
Decision on Whistleblower Provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley
A federal court held that a former employee seeking on acted in good faith, but under an objective analysis, his belief that the company was engaged in fraud was not reasonable and upheld termination. Day v. Staples, Inc., 2009 WL 294804 (1st Cir. February 9, 2009) The employee complained that the company improperly handled regularly … Read more »
The Risk Management Formula That Killed Wall Street
Felix Salmon published a great article in Wired that looks at the Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street. The article looks at the widespread use of the Gaussian copula function. In assessing the risks in mortgage backed securities. The theory behind Gaussian copula function tries to overcome the difficulty in assessing the … Read more »