via SEC to Require Admissions of Wrongdoing in Settlements of Most Egregious Cases – Compliance Week

The Securities and Exchange Commission intends to make companies and individuals admit wrongdoing as a condition of settling civil charges in certain cases, or be forced to fight the charges in court, the agency’s Chairman Mary Jo White said Tuesday.

The move marks a watershed change to the SEC’s decades-old policy of allowing companies and individuals to settle charges without admitting or denying liability…. Decisions will be made on a “case-by-case” basis, Ms. White said. But she added the agency intends to target cases of egregious intentional conduct or widespread harm to investors.

via SEC to Seek More Admissions of Fault – WSJ

via Video: Former KPMG Partner’s Frank Interview on Courthouse Steps Should Be Wake Up Call – Compliance Week

via Amelia Cottrell Promoted to Associate Regional Director for Enforcement in NY – Compliance Week

Canada’s stock market watchdog has created a new unit with the power to use wiretaps and surveillance to tackle fraud and white-collar crime in the criminal court system.

The Ontario Securities Commission said Friday that its new joint serious offences team will focus on the “street crime” of the financial world — ponzi schemes and offers involving fake stock that typically ensnare ordinary investors, Tom Atkinson, the OSC’s director of enforcement, said in an interview.

via New Ontario Securities Commission unit will target fraud — Toronto Star.

The Securities and Exchange Commission gave out its second-ever award under the whistleblower program established under the Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law.

The agency Wednesday issued an order awarding three unnamed whistleblowers 5% each of the funds that it ultimately collects from its enforcement action against what it called “sham hedge fund” Locust Offshore Management LLC and Andrey C. Hicks, its chief executive. Hicks has pled guilty to criminal fraud charges and was sentenced to 40 months in prison.

via SEC Makes Second-Ever Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Award – WSJ Risk & Compliance

An estate that paid taxes based on a Bernard Madoff investment account later found to be worthless is not eligible for a refund, a state appeals court held on Monday.

Post-death circumstances bear on fair market value of an estate only when reasonably foreseeable at the time of death, and in 2006, no one suspected that Madoff was running the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history, the court said in Estate of Theodore Warshawv. Director, Division of Taxation, A-884-12.

via Madoff Victim’s Estate Not Entitled To Tax Refund on Worthless Asset – New Jersey Law Journal

Yesterday, I moderated a very interesting webcast that examined the internal audit function in the context of anti-corruption compliance. A panel consisting of leading FCPA and SEC enforcement attorneys from law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher (F. Joseph Warin, John Sturc and John Chesley) and an expert in internal audit from KPMG (Peter Bradford) analyzed internal audit’s current place at the “hot corner” of FCPA enforcement. Topics of discussion included issues such as anti-corruption compliance risk assessments, internal investigations, and post-enforcement remediation. The webcast was capped off with a lively Q&A session.

via The Internal Audit Function and Anti-Corruption Compliance – Compliance Week