Commission Announcement, January 4, 2005: “Today the Commission announced the filing of two settled actions against corporate issuers, SEC v. McAfee, Inc. (filing, 42 pages, PDF) and In the Matter of Applix, Inc. In one, the company will pay a civil money penalty; in the other, a penalty is not part of the settlement. The… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Securities Law
Stanford Releases 2005 Report on Securities Law Fraud
The Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse issued a press release yesterday on the number of securites fraud class actions filed in 2005. The study identifies a decline in the number of suits and investor losses in 2005, compared to previous years. The full report, Securities Class Action Case Filings, 2005: A Year in… Continue Reading
SEC Issues New Sarbanes Oxley Compliance Guidelines
Division of Corporation Finance, Office of the Chief Accountant, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, May 16, 2005 – Staff Statement on Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting: “The staff is providing this guidance to…addresses the following areas: The purpose of internal control over financial reporting; Reasonable assurance, risk-based approach, and scope of testing… Continue Reading
New on the SEC Website
The SEC launched a new webpage which aggregates all the new content from throughout the site daily. This includes links to News & Public Statements, Litigation, Regulatory Actions, Self-Regulatory Organization Rulemaking and National Market System Plans, and SEC Divisions documents. [thanks d.c.] Continue Reading
NASD Guidelines for Instant Messages
According to this National Association of Securities Dealer’s June 18 press release: “NASD today advised member firms about the use of “instant messaging” by employees, saying firms must ensure the instant messaging is being retained for at least three years and the communication does not violate NASD rules governing sales literature and correspondence.” “The Notice… Continue Reading
New SEC Rule Puts More Corporate Filings Online Faster
Electronic filing of all Section 16 reports will become mandatory on June 30, 2003. See Release No. 33-8230 which states: We are adopting rule and form amendments to mandate the electronic filing, and website posting by issuers with corporate websites, of beneficial ownership reports filed by officers, directors and principal security holders under Section 16(a)… Continue Reading
SEC and Website Disclosure Rules
According to this law.com article, “in the wake of the adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and last year’s corporate scandals (such as Enron), more real- and quasi-real-time information about public companies will be available at the SEC’s Web site or directly through the Web sites of companies themselves than could have been imagined last spring.” Continue Reading
SEC Files Charges Against Web Spammer
This Securities and Exchange Commission press release states that the agency filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Samuel Aaron Meltzer (“Meltzer”), referred to as a “professional Internet spammer,” for committing securities fraud via the Web (SEC v. Meltzer, E.D. N.Y., Action No. CV 03 770, Judge… Continue Reading
SEC Adopts Attorney Conduct Rule Under Sarbanes-Oxley Act
On January 23, the “SEC adopted final rules to implement Section 307 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act by setting standards of professional conduct for attorneys appearing and practicing before the Commission in any way in the representation of issuers.” See the press release here. In addition, see the text of the final rule, Disclosure Required by… Continue Reading
SEC E-Filing of Ownership Reports
On December 18, the SEC proposed: “the mandatory electronic filing of change of beneficial ownership reports required to be filed by officers, directors and principal security holders under Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Web site posting of such reports by issuers with corporate Web sites.” Continue Reading
SEC Institutes Fines Over E-Mail Retention
This SEC press release concerns the agency’s joint action (along with the NYSE and NASD) against 5 high profile broker-dealers for violations of e-mail communications retention requirements. The text of the SEC’s administrative decision is here, and the companies will collectively pay $8.25 million in fines. Continue Reading
Sarbanes-Oxley Act Provisions
Not exactly technology related, but certainly worth noting in light of important SEC related activity overshadowed by the press coverage of the election; SEC Proposes Rules to Implement Sarbanes-Oxley Act Provisions Concerning Standards of Professional Conduct for Attorneys. Continue Reading
