Securities Law

Federal Judge Axes Broadcom Case over Prosecutorial Misconduct

Citing prosecutorial misconduct, a federal judge in Southern California has axed a stock options backdating case against two Broadcom Corp. executives. U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney found that the government leaked grand jury information to the media, improperly contacted attorneys for defense witnesses and tried to prevent three key witnesses…

Dec 15, 2009 6:04 PM CST

IRS and Foreign Countries May Jointly Audit Some Corporations

After collecting millions of dollars in unpaid taxes from Americans with secret bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the Internal Revenue Service is expanding its overseas enforcement efforts. The tax agency is working with its counterparts in other countries to develop a plan for conducting joint audits of multinational corporations,…

Dec 11, 2009 5:30 PM CST

Another Former Ropes & Gray Associate Is Charged in Galleon Case

A second attorney who formerly worked at Ropes & Gray has been criminally charged in a federal case related to the alleged Galleon Group insider-trading scheme. And immediately after the announcement of fraud and conspiracy charges against Brien Santarlas, he pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan, Bloomberg reported. Santarlas,…

Dec 10, 2009 6:41 PM CST

Judge Axes Guilty Plea, Says Broadcom Exec Didn’t Lie to SEC, Dismisses Case

Nearly 18 months ago, Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry Samueli pleaded guilty to a felony charge of lying to securities regulators about his role in an alleged company stock options backdating scheme. But in fact Samueli didn’t make any material misstatement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a federal judge…

Dec 10, 2009 6:15 PM CST

Lawyer Foreperson Who Criticized Counsel Is Focus of New Trial Request

Lawyers for former McKesson chairman Charles McCall, convicted last month of securities fraud in a corporate accounting scandal, are seeking a new trial based on an alleged clarification by the jury foreperson—a California lawyer who was critical of their trial techniques. The lawyer foreperson was Christine Griffith, a land use…

Dec 8, 2009 2:40 PM CST

Justices Question President’s Power to Control Board’s $500K Salaries

Members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board make more than $500,000 a year, and the president can do little about it, conservative justices suggested in oral arguments yesterday on the board’s constitutionality. Critics say the watchdog board created by the Sarbanes-Oxley law to oversee accounting firms is doubly insulated…

Dec 8, 2009 1:44 PM CST

Billionaire Gets Discovery in Bid to Force SEC to Pay His Legal Fees

A federal judge has agreed that billionaire Mark Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, can proceed with discovery in his effort to force the feds to pay his defense fees in a failed insider-trading prosecution. A spokesman for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declined to comment on…

Dec 7, 2009 11:25 PM CST

Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Constitutionality of SOX Board

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments today on the constitutionality of a financial watchdog agency created by the Sarbanes-Oxley law. At issue is whether the Securities and Exchange Commission may appoint members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board without violating the Constitution. Challengers to the law contend the…

Dec 7, 2009 5:22 PM CST

Objections to a Prosecutor’s Phone Call Benefit Ex-Broadcom GC

Broadcom’s former general counsel won’t face criminal backdating charges because of a phone call by a federal prosecutor. The government plans to give former general counsel David Dull a nonprosecution agreement after a federal judge criticized the phone call by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Stolper, the Orange County Register reports.…

Dec 4, 2009 1:04 PM CST

The Empty (In-)House

SEC commissioner warns against corporate-law cutbacks

Dec 2, 2009 2:19 AM CST

High Court to Hear ‘Profoundly Important Question’ on Reach of Securities Laws

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide the reach of the nation’s securities laws in a shareholder suit against National Australia Bank Ltd. A federal appeals court based in New York City had ruled U.S. courts had no jurisdiction to hear the suit by Australian shareholders, Bloomberg reports. The…

Dec 1, 2009 6:11 PM CST

A Second Judge Has Questions on an SEC Settlement

A second federal judge is asking questions about a proposed settlement involving the Securities and Exchange Commission. U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. of New York has scheduled a hearing for this afternoon in an insider trading case, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The defendant, Khaled Mohammed Sharif…

Dec 1, 2009 5:22 PM CST

Florida Bar Investigating Four Lawyers from Rothstein Firm

The Florida Bar is investigating four lawyers from the dissolved South Florida firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler amid an investigation into an alleged $1 billion Ponzi scheme by name partner Scott Rothstein. Rothstein has voluntarily surrendered his law license. Now the bar is investigating four other RRA lawyers, according to the…

Nov 25, 2009 2:12 PM CST

Galleon Founder Challenges Wiretaps, Defends Investment Research

Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam is challenging the wiretaps used in the government’s insider trading case against him. In a filing submitted in the civil case against him, Rajaratnam says the government used wiretaps without showing that conventional investigative techniques were inadequate, as required by federal law, the New York…

Nov 25, 2009 1:18 PM CST

FBI Raids Offices of ‘Flashy Financier,’ a Former Ice Miller Lawyer

The FBI has raided the offices of an Indianapolis lawyer-turned-financier who was featured on the CNBC feature “Rise of the Super Rich.” The FBI raided two businesses of “flamboyant lawyer” Timothy Durham: Obsidian Enterprises in Indianapolis and Fair Financial in Akron, Ohio, the Indianapolis Star reports. The article says Durham…

Nov 25, 2009 12:56 PM CST