Securities Docket

Securities Docket A.M. News Wire for July 11, 2009

Securities Docket — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:55:00 +0000

Web Watch: Best Blog Posts and Columns For the Week Ending July 10. http://bit.ly/OtQcL #
Professor Among Witnesses Invited to Testify at “Preventing Unfair Trading by Government Officials” Hearing. http://bit.ly/3qKCfn #
Stanford Appeals Bond Ruling, Also Seeks Different Detention Center. http://bit.ly/L51v8 #
SEC Freezes Assets of Illinois-Based Hedge Fund Manager Who Was $2 Bn Feeder to Petters Ponzi Scheme. July 10, 2009 http://bit.ly/3EpLWS #
Bloggers Offer “2009 Mid-Year Review.” http://bit.ly/a718f #
Analyst Predicts Chubb May Face Up to $2 Billion in D&O Policy Losses. http://bit.ly/17pDlm #

Web Watch: Best Blog Posts and Columns For the Week Ending July 10

Securities Docket — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:16:34 +0000

Here is the weekly summary for Securities Docket’s Web Watch (”This Week’s Best Blog Posts and Columns”):

HOUSTON’S CLEAR THINKERS (July 10, 2009): Is Allen Stanford being railroaded?
I recognize that he is not the most popular fellow in Houston investment circles these days, but is anyone else but me a tad uncomfotable that the federal government is running roughshod over R. Allen Stanford?

THE FCPA BLOG (July 10, 2009): Spending Siemens’ Money
Siemens has agreed to cooperate to change industry practices, clean up procurement practices and work with the World Bank Group to fight fraud and corruption.” Supporting transparency programs that help people by cutting red tape would be a good start.

GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER (July 10, 2009): 2009 Mid-Year FCPA Update
An overview of the FCPA and a survey of U.S. and foreign anti-corruption enforcement during the first half of 2009, as well as a discussion of trends that we see from that activity and practical guidance to help companies avoid or limit liability.

THE FCPA BLOG (July 8, 2009): Be The One Millionth Caller . . .
China’s new nationwide anti-corruption hotline is off to a good start. Too good, in fact. During the first week more than 11,000 calls jammed the phones, overwhelming operators and crashing the website.

MICHAEL LEWIS, VANITY FAIR (July 8, 2009): The Man Who Crashed the World
The AIG story may have a villain, whose reign of terror over 400 employees brought the company, the U.S. economy, and the global financial system to their knees.

SEC ACTIONS (July 8, 2009): WILL REORGANIZATION REVITALIZE SEC ENFORCEMENT?
The SEC Enforcement Division is about to be reorganized in an effort to revitalize the once highly respected program. The focus of the reorganization is to streamline operations and add efficiency. The question is, will it revitalize the Enforcement Divis

CLAIRE SPENCER, FINANCIER WORLDWIDE (July 6, 2009): Hedge Fund Litigation
Politicians, regulators and the media have charged hedge funds with playing an instrumental role in precipitating the financial crisis. While this role has possibly been overstated, the damage has been done, and hedge fund litigation is on the rise.

EDWARD TEACH, CFO.COM (July 6, 2009): “I Should Have Said No”
Six years ago, Aaron Beam made headlines by admitting that he cooked the books at HealthSouth Corp., the company that he co-founded. Beam now lives modestly and mows lawns for a living. But he is also developing another career: educational speaker.

WILLIAM HANLEY, FINANCIAL POST (July 6, 2009): Post-Madoff Era of Scrutiny Will Last About 15 Minutes
The Madoff case put the spotlight on the how the rich and famous could get taken in, many of them trading the penthouse for the poor house. “In Bernie, we trust” might have been their motto.

SEC ACTIONS (July 6, 2009): THE FCPA: A KEY ENFORCEMENT PRIORITY HERE AND ABROAD
FCPA enforcement is now a priority here and abroad. Two recent examples which illustrate current enforcement efforts and their broad reach are the Siemens and Nguyen cases.

Professor Among Witnesses Invited to Testify at “Preventing Unfair Trading by Government Officials” Hearing

Securities Docket — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:01:26 +0000

Augusta State University professor Brigitte Ziobrowski has been asked to testify before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on Monday as part of a hearing on “Preventing Unfair Trading by Government Officials.” As previously discussed here, the hearing will focus on the issue of insider trading by Congress, which is now the subject of a House bill (the “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act”).

The Augusta Chronicle reports that

Dr. Ziobrowski along with the co-authors of Abnormal Returns from the Common Stock Investments of the United States Senate, an article that was published in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, will discuss their findings on unfair trading activities by government officials before the House Financial Services Committee.

Read the Augusta Chronicle article

Stanford Appeals Bond Ruling, Also Seeks Different Detention Center

Securities Docket — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:41:56 +0000

Yesterday, Allen Stanford filed an appeal of a judge’s order that he must remain in jail pending his trial on conspiracy and fraud charges. The court ruled that Stanford was a flight risk.

In addition, the Houston Business Journal reports, Stanford filed a separate motion requesting that he be transferred from the Joe Corley Dentention Center in Conroe to a federal detention center in Houston.

Why the requested change? HIs attorney argues that besides the Corley facility being 43 miles from his office, it

does not allow proper attorney-client visitation considering “there is a Plexiglas window and small steel mesh hole through which an inmate and lawyer must speak and be heard,” and also limits attorney-inmate phone calls and does not allow Sunday visitation.

By contrast, according to the filing, the Houston jail provides a secure room “with the ability to have a meaningful review of documents and papers.”

Read the Houston Business Journal article (via Dealbreaker)

Webcast: 2009 Mid-Year Review (CliffsNotes Version)

Securities Docket — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:46:22 +0000

Yesterday, Securities Docket hosted a webcast entitled, “2009 Mid-Year Review: Securities Litigation and Enforcement” (click here to watch it). Four of the leading bloggers in the field (Kevin LaCroix (The D&O Diary); Tom Gorman (SEC Actions) Francine McKenna (re: the Auditors); and Lyle Roberts (The 10b-5 Daily)) joined me for a look at the events and developments of the first six months of 2009, and provided some very interesting insights. The CliffsNotes version is available in this post on my Enforcement Action blog over at Compliance Week.

Analyst Predicts Chubb May Face Up to $2 Billion in D&O Policy Losses

Securities Docket — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:36:56 +0000

Barclays Capital analyst Jay Gelb predicts that Chubb Corp. may face as much as $2 billion in D&O policy losses because of a surge in lawsuits brought on by the U.S. economic crisis, and he adds that “Chubb does not appear appropriately reserved in this line.”

BestWire Services reports that Barclays believes industry D&O losses could be significant given the state of the financial market and the recession, and Chubb holds a 15% share of that market.

Read the BestWire Services article

Securities Docket A.M. News Wire for July 10, 2009

Securities Docket — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:55:00 +0000

Judge Declines to Grant Mistrial Over Jury Unrest in Refco Fraud Case. http://bit.ly/Yo75S #
Lawsuit claims Parlux board hobbled auditors. http://bit.ly/3907jL #
Archived Version/Presentation Materials Available for July 9 Webcast — 2009 Mid-Year Review: Securities Litig. and Enf. http://bit.ly/2vwj6 #
Madoff Trustee Says 15,400 Claims Were Filed. http://bit.ly/mOT6B #
Madoff Will Not Appeal 150-Year Sentence. http://bit.ly/tQrJE #
SEC’s Lori Richards says decision to leave Director of OCIE post wasn’t tied to the Madoff case. http://bit.ly/qi9Ik #
Lehman Brothers Legal Bills Crack $100 Million. http://bit.ly/SA9RG #
Jefferson “Cash in the Freezer” Photos Emerge From FCPA Trial. http://bit.ly/eal8l #
“Heated” Deliberations in Refco Lawyer Trial; Finger-Cutting Threat. http://bit.ly/z7ed6 #
Italy: Legislature Passes Law Establishing Class Actions, Effective January 2010. http://bit.ly/59ydZ #
Senate Subcommittee Proposes to Further Increase SEC Budget for 2010 to $1.13 Billion. http://bit.ly/DUSIp #
Today’s Webcast (July 9): Materials Available Here for “2009 Mid-Year Review - Securities Litigation and Enforcement.” http://bit.ly/Ypsqc #
Report: Madoff won’t appeal 150 year prison sentence. http://bit.ly/QxbwU #
U.K. CEOs Rush to Shield Home, Spouse as Regulator Gets Tough. http://bit.ly/Yg1wN #
British company to plead guilty in first corruption prosecution. http://bit.ly/11fwaL #

Thank You to Our Sponsors: Alvarez & Marsal, BDO Consulting and FAILSAFE CPA

Securities Docket — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:20:21 +0000

Thank you to Securities Docket website sponsors Alvarez & Marsal, BDO Consulting, and FAILSAFE CPA. Interested in becoming a Securities Docket sponsor? Click here.

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Archived Version and Presentation Materials Available Here for July 9 Webcast — “2009 Mid-Year Review: Securities Litigation and Enforcement”

Securities Docket — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:42:54 +0000

The archived version of today’s webcast (”2009 Mid-Year Review: Securities Litigation and Enforcement”) can be viewed below. In addition, the presentation materials from today’s webcast are now available here. Please visit the link below to download the presentation.

Materials: “2009 Mid-Year Review - Securities Litigation and Enforcement

Madoff Will Not Appeal 150-Year Sentence

Securities Docket — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:19:58 +0000

Bernard Madoff will not appeal the 150-year prison sentence imposed upon him June 29 by U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin.

Reuters reports that Madoff’s attorney, Ira Sorkin, stated today that “[w]e are not going to be appealing. That’s our decision and we have no further comment.”

Read the Reuters article