Here is the weekly summary for Securities Docket’s Web Watch (”This Week’s Best Blog Posts and Columns”):
- GLOBAL GLIMPSES (May 15, 2009): Europe Rules Out “No Comment” on Leaks
European companies could find it harder to deflect media reports and market rumors with a blanket “no comment” under new guidance from securities regulators. - STEVEN M. PACKER AND STANLEY V. TODD (May 14, 2009): Fair Value Accounting Leads to Volatility; Volatility Leads to Litigation
Did fair value accounting standards, issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and required to be applied for fiscal years ending subsequent to November 2007, hasten the onset of the current economic and financial crisis? - FINANCIAL TIMES (May 14, 2009): The Market Enforcer
Notching up a penalty against Morgan Stanley in the Financial Services Authority’s attempt to get tougher in pursuing high- profile targets, head of the wholesale enforcement division Jamie Symington is making his mark. - CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER (May 12, 2009): Spitzer: If It’s Too Big to Fail, It’s Too Big
“It’s an easy out for a lot of prosecutors and agencies to say – we don’t have the resources to do these cases. The SEC has more money, more people, more bodies, more subpoena power than any agency I know. It’s a lack of creativity and will.” - ARAM ROSTON, GQ (May 12, 2009): “The Accused – Did This Man Pull off the Most Brazen Swindle of All?”
“You and every other son of a bitch asking me these questions,” Stanford said. “You sons of bitches, all you want to talk about is something sexy! I was not defrauding people! There was no hocus-pocus! No damned Ponzi scheme going on!” - THE FILING CABINET (May 11, 2009): Swine Flu and 10-Q Risk Factor Disclosures
With H1N1 (aka Swine influenza A) making headlines, and the filing deadline for Form 10-Q rapidly approaching for most companies, issuers need to quickly consider whether they need to add swine flu as a risk factor in their 10-Q risk factor update. - ALISON FRANKEL, AMLAW LITIG. DAILY (May 11, 2009): Are Plaintiffs Firms Catching Up on a Backlog of Non-Financial Sector Class Actions?
“When a client contacts us and says they have a problem, we act right away. We don’t put the matter in a bin and wait….We’re not like a factory that says one model’s not selling so we’ll crank up another.” - ANDREW G. SIMPSON, INSURANCE JOURNAL (May 11, 2009): An Awakened Washington Promises More Stress for Directors & Officers
D&O clients and their advisors are increasingly asking what risks they face when the federal government starts snooping around business a lot more as it is widely expected to do. - ANDREW LONGSTRETH, AMERICAN LAWYER (May 9, 2009): Securities Case? Bring It On!
Even in a new wave of activist state attorneys general, is Mississippi AG Jim Hood too active? According to his critics, Hood is having a hard time saying no to any of the plaintiffs lawyers seeking to bring securities class actions. - KARINA ROBINSON, NYT (May 9, 2009): A Bank Regulator With the ‘Intensive’ Touch
The British way of overseeing financial markets used to be “light touch” regulation, but now it has turned into an iron fist.
