Back on Valentine’s Day, rookie U.S. Senator — and longtime consumer advocate — Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts showed little love for the nation’s bank regulators, asking if any of them — the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation — had actually taken a large financial institution to trial instead of settling. None of them could provide a quality answer at the time, but Warren has not let them off the hook. [More]
Sen. Warren: Why Can Banks Commit Crimes But Get Away Without Admitting Guilt?
By May 15, 2013
Report: CEOs Earn 345 Times What The Average Worker Takes Home
By April 16, 2013
While big businesses might be balking at performing all the supposedly complicated math it would require to figure out the ratio between what the CEO makes versus the average employee, the folks at the AFL-CIO just decided to go ahead and figure it out for them. [More]
Sen. Warren Asks Bank Regulators If “Too Big To Fail” Has Become “Too Big For Trial”
By February 14, 2013
In her first hearing as a member of the Senate Banking Committee, Massachusetts Senator and longtime Consumerist favorite Elizabeth Warren grilled a panel of regulators on their tendency to settle with law-breaking banks rather than go to trial. [More]
SEC Warns Netflix CEO: A Facebook Post Does Not A Disclosure To Investors Make
By December 7, 2012
When it comes to running a big company, there are certain things the Securities and Exchange Commission will be a stickler about. Even if you’re the CEO of Netflix like Reed Hastings, the SEC won’t let you off the hook for Facebook and blog posts it says were violations of the Regulation Fair Disclosure rule. Ruh roh. [More]
SEC Investigates Sprint Over Allegations It Failed To Properly Collect Sales Tax
By August 2, 2012
Back in April, the New York Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against Sprint, alleging the wireless provider deliberately under-collected sales tax in an effort to remain competitive. Now, Sprint has revealed that it is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission over these same allegations. [More]
Wells Fargo Prepping For Possible Racial Discrimination Lawsuit
By May 8, 2012
Though it hasn’t been formally accused of anything by the government, Wells Fargo let it be known in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission that the Justice Dept. may soon be alleging the bank was involved in discriminating against minority mortgage applicants. [More]
Lawmakers Push For Companies To Disclose Ratio Of CEO Pay To That Of Employees
By March 8, 2012
Section 953(b) of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires publicly traded companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay as a proportion of the median-paid employee at the firm. And yet, the Securities & Exchange Commission has yet to even propose a regulation for public comment, which would get the ball rolling on enforcing the act. So more than two dozen members of the Congress and Senate have written the SEC asking the agency to act immediately. [More]
How Much Have The Big Banks Been Penalized Over Mortgage Mess And Where Is All That Cash Going?
By March 6, 2012
The last few years have seen numerous settlements between the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders and various federal and state authorities. And while we hear numbers like “a total of $25 billion,” exactly which banks are responsible for the biggest chunks of these settlements? [More]
SEC To Be Slightly Less Wimpy About Letting Violators Get Away Without Admitting Guilt
By January 6, 2012
The Securities and Exchange Commission has been taking a lot of heat recently after a federal judge refused to sign off on its $285 million settlement with Citigroup because, as is usual in these types of deals, the bank would neither admit its guilt nor profess innocence, and no evidence was ever entered into the record. But now the SEC says it won’t be letting rulebreakers get off so easily — well, at least not all the time. [More]
SEC Would Rather Fight Judge Than Try To Win A Real Victory Over Citigroup
By December 15, 2011
Back in November, a U.S. District Court judge in Manhattan rained all over the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Thanksgiving parade when he refused to sign off on the regulator’s $285 million settlement with Citigroup because — as is usual in these sorts of deals — the bank neither admitted guilt nor defended itself. But rather than take the judge’s decision as an impetus to push harder on Citi, the SEC reportedly just wants the court to stop being such a wet blanket and let it have its settlement already. [More]
Judge Blocks $285 Million Settlement Against Citigroup Because The Bank Won't Admit Wrongdoing
By November 28, 2011
Earlier this fall, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a whopping $285 million settlement with Citigroup over allegations that the bank misled investors in a 2007 mortgage derivatives deal. But that triumph was short-lived, as a judge has decided to block the settlement because of a standard settlement condition wherein the bank is allowed to close the case without admitting guilt or denying the allegations. [More]
6 Tips For Avoiding Early Retirement Seminar Scams
By November 28, 2011
The idea of retiring early — putting the workday behind you and living a life of leisure before you’re too old to enjoy it — is incredibly tempting and there is no shortage of not-so-nice people out there willing to stoke that pipe dream at seminars where smooth-talking speakers make it all seem so attainable. Alas, it’s not so simple and a lot of these seminars will do nothing but leave you with less money than you had beforehand. [More]
McRib Pork Supplier Hit With SEC Filed Complaint Over Alleged Pig Abuse
By November 3, 2011
Can you taste the tears in your McRib? The supplier of pork products to McDonald’s, Smithfield Farms, just got hit by a complaint filed with the SEC by animal rights group Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Citing their own shocking undercover investigative video, HSUS allege that Smithfield is making false and misleading claims to shareholders and consumers about how well they treat their pigs and that those claims are in violation of federal securities law. [More]
SEC Warns S&P It May Sue Them
By September 28, 2011
In an unprecedented move, the SEC warned S&P that it might be suing it over its rating of a mortgage-backed bond. It’s the first warning a credit rating firm has gotten over its behavior leading up to the financial crisis. [More]
Senators Ask SEC To Force Companies To Reveal Data Leaks
By May 12, 2011
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller has come up with a new tactic to push companies like Sony to disclose hack attacks and data security breaches more promptly: He’s asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to require companies to treat attacks as time-sensitive information that must be provided to investors. [More]
Johnson & Johnson Settles With SEC & DOJ For $70 Million For Bribing Doctors Overseas, Paying Kickbacks To Iraq
By April 8, 2011
Johnson & Johnson may have been eliminated from the Worst Company In America tournament, but the company’s craptastic year continues, as J&J has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Dept. of Justice over allegations that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by illegally bribing doctors in Europe and paying kickbacks to Iraq… At least it wasn’t another product recall. [More]
Transocean Apologizes For Calling 2010 "Best Year" Ever In Safety
By April 4, 2011
The owner of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf issued an apology after calling 2010 its “best year” ever in safety. Transocean did not comment on the safety bonuses it awarded top execs for meeting and exceeding internal safety goals, even considering the disaster at the rig run by BP resulting in 11 workers dead and 200 million gallons of oil spilled. [More]
IBM Pays $10 Million To Settle Charges It Bribed Asian Governments
By March 21, 2011
After the Securities and Exchange Commission accused IBM of bribing officials in Asian countries to secure government contracts over an 11-year period, the company agreed to pay a $10 million settlement. [More]
