‘Enforcement 40’ for 2020
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Join the Securities Litigation and Enforcement Group on LinkedInWirecard Red Flags Should Have Prompted Earlier Response, Former Executive Says – WSJ
Mr. Freis was due to join the German payments company’s management board on July 1, but he was called in early, on June 18, when Wirecard said it couldn’t verify $2 billion in assets. With Wirecard’s auditors refusing to sign off on the company’s financials, Mr. Freis was asked to assess the situation. He reached […]
German regulator reports Wirecard insider trading in own ranks | Reuters
Germany’s financial watchdog has reported one of its employees to state prosecutors on suspicion of insider trading linked to Wirecard, shortly before the payment firm’s spectacular collapse. Source: German regulator reports Wirecard insider trading in own ranks | Reuters
Pair convicted of insider trading lose appeal – FTAdviser.com
A former UBS compliance officer and her family friend have had their appeals against insider trading convictions quashed by the court. In June last year Fabiana Abdel-Malek and Walid Choucair were each convicted of five offences of insider dealing and sentenced to three years in prison at Southwark Crown Court. The case was brought by the Financial Conduct Authority […]
Libor Trader Tom Hayes to Be Released From Jail in January – SWI swissinfo.ch
Tom Hayes, the former UBS Group AG and Citigroup Inc. trader convicted of rigging Libor, will be released from prison in January after more than five years. Hayes was the highest-profile conviction in the Libor-fixing scandal. He was found guilty by a London jury in 2015, and is being released after serving about half of […]
Banker Deletes WhatsApp From iPhone and Skirts Insider Trading Charge in London – Bloomberg
“It’s a difficult offense to prosecute, and more difficult these days because of the way people communicate with each other,” said Tim Thomas, who formerly worked at the FCA on enforcement cases. “If individuals are smart enough to use Whatsapp or Signal and then delete communications, it becomes very difficult to prosecute.” via Banker Deletes […]
The Impact of the Morrison Decision After Ten Years | The D&O Diary
The Morrison decision overturned decades of case law in which the lower courts struggled to apply the then-applicable “conduct and effects” test to determine whether or not the U.S. securities were applicable in any given circumstance. In a decision written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court said in Morrison that the U.S. securities […]
Head of German financial watchdog resists calls to resign over Wirecard | Financial Times
The head of Germany’s financial watchdog has rejected calls to resign over the scandal at Wirecard, while saying that with hindsight he should have called for prosecutors to open an investigation sooner. Felix Hufeld said at a conference on Wednesday that he would not resign “as long as my country and Europe have trust in […]
German parliament to open full inquiry into Wirecard collapse | Financial Times
The German parliament is to hold a full inquiry into the collapse of Wirecard amid mounting questions as to why the government failed to prevent the biggest corporate fraud in the country’s postwar history. The decision ensures that the Wirecard affair will dominate German politics in the lead-up to next year’s Bundestag elections and could […]
German Market Watchdog Let Staff Trade in Wirecard Shares – WSJ
While BaFin staff was buying and selling Wirecard shares, BaFin was investigating the company based on media reports about suspected accounting manipulation at its unit in Singapore and an anonymous complaint it received in early 2019. BaFin, as a financial supervisor, also directly oversees Wirecard Bank, which is part of Wirecard. “It certainly does not […]
A “Snapshot” of the Global Rise of Collective Investor Actions | The D&O Diary
As I have noted in prior posts (most recently here), one of the more interesting and noteworthy developments in recent years has been the rise of collective investor actions outside the United States. A recent white paper published by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE in collaboration with the Clyde & Co law firm entitled […]