Securities Docket

In a letter Tuesday to the SEC, Senator Bob Bennett of Utah asked the agency to investigate whether there is a practice of law firms making campaign donations to officials who oversee government pension plans so that they can subsequently be selected to represent those funds as plaintiffs in securities class actions.
The Deseret News reports [...]

Yesterday, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, unveiled the subcommittee’s appropriations package for fiscal year 2010. Durbin announced that the bill provides the SEC “with a budget increase of $100 million - an unprecedented increase in resources - so they can hire the [...]

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

In Italy today, lawmakers approved the country’s first law establishing class action lawsuits. Reuters reports that the law, which becomes effective January 2010, has been criticized by consumer groups because it requires consumers “teaming up in class actions … to turn to the judge individually to request compensation, exposing them to possible costs and fines [...]

Alan Linning has joined law firm Sidley Austin LLP as a partner in its Hong Kong office.  The firm announced today that Linning has joined its commercial litigation and regulatory practice.
Prior to joining Sidley, Linning was Managing Director and Head of Asia Regional Compliance at JPMorgan Chase, a position that he held since 2006. Prior [...]

Huntsman Corporation announced today that it has reached an agreement with Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank to settle Huntsman’s claims and end the ongoing trial against them in Texas state court for over $1.7 billion.  Huntsman alleged that the two banks improperly interfered with its terminated merger agreements with Basell and Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc.
Under [...]

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.