Administrative Law

Why Madoff Warnings Were Ignored: Regulators Had Wrong Incentives

For nine years, Harry Markopolos tried to persuade the SEC that Bernard Madoff must be running an investment scam, contending that the strategy he claimed to be using didn’t match up with known facts such as the volume of trading on the options market. But, despite numerous investigations by the…

Jan 5, 2009 9:53 PM CST

How SEC Probe Missed Alleged $50B Madoff Fraud, Despite 2000 Tip

Pressured by his boss at a Boston investment firm to amp up results, after a colleague came back from a trip to New York with news of Bernard Madoff’s stellar hedge fund returns, Harry Markopolos tried to figure out how Madoff was doing it. Try as he might, Markopolos and…

Dec 18, 2008 10:28 PM CST

FOX Files FOIA Suit to Get Treasury Info About $700B Bailout

FOX Business Network has sued the U.S. Treasury in federal court in New York, saying that the agency has stonewalled Freedom of Information Act requests for information concerning its expenditures under the $700 billion federal bailout bill. “The television network, a unit of News Corp., said in a release that…

Dec 18, 2008 8:54 PM CST

New Rules Limit Surprise Interest Hikes on Credit Cards

New credit card rules that will make it harder for banks to surprise consumers with sudden annual interest rate increases are being approved today by several federal agencies. The rules, which apparently specify that such increases constitute prohibited “unfair or deceptive” practices, also will require lenders to give consumers a…

Dec 18, 2008 6:13 PM CST

FDIC to Pay Texas Financier $10M to Settle Legal Defense Claim

Ending a legal battle that began after the 1988 collapse of a Texas savings and loan indirectly controlled by financier Charles Hurwitz, the FDIC has agreed to pay him $10 million. The award is intended to cover his defense costs in earlier litigation involving both the thrift’s failure and, a…

Dec 17, 2008 9:40 PM CST

3rd Parties Will Pay for Alleged $50B Madoff Fraud, Experts Predict

For those who invested in the claimed $50 billion Ponzi scheme allegedly run by Bernard Madoff under the guise of a hedge fund, exactly how they invested in the hedge fund could be crucial in determining whether they get their money back. Those who put their money directly into the…

Dec 17, 2008 8:32 PM CST

Federal Courts Want $14 Fee, But Delay Swearing In New Citizens

Federal courts in a number of major cities apparently are happy to get a $14.09 fee for each immigrant to whom a judge administers a citizenship oath. But several are not conducting citizenship ceremonies in a timely manner, according to a report by a government ombudsman. “In one of the…

Dec 17, 2008 6:29 PM CST

Cox: SEC Lax on Madoff Oversight, Seeks Probe of His Own Agency’s Work

In a situation he describes as “deeply troubling,” the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission says the federal securities watchdog failed to pursue aggressively “credible and specific allegations” going back at least as far as 1999 that the now-notorious hedge fund run by Bernard Madoff was not what it…

Dec 17, 2008 12:53 AM CST

Stricter Fla. Mortgage Regulation Still is Lacking, Newspaper Says

Despite a crackdown on individuals in Florida who had a significant role in writing millions of dollars worth of troubled mortgages, some of their colleagues who have been involved in the problem deals continue to ply their trade. Even though a new law bars criminals from being licensed as mortgage…

Dec 10, 2008 6:53 PM CST

Dubious Pilot’s License No Problem in Emergency Landing

A stewardess on an Air Canada flight apparently may have technically violated her commercial pilot’s license by helping with an emergency landing in January. But no one is complaining about the unidentified flight attendant’s expired instrument reading certificate. A report released today by the Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit praises…

Nov 19, 2008 9:25 PM CST

FDIC Breaks With Bush Administration on Foreclosure Policy

In a highly unusual move, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has gone public with a proposed mortgage foreclosure rescue plan that conflicts with the position taken by the U.S. Treasury Department and the White House. The president and the treasury department say a $700 billion financial rescue…

Nov 14, 2008 11:22 PM CST

Fed Could Be Sole Regulator for Financial Institutions, Says Sullivan Chair

Speaking at a conference today in New York on the outlook for mergers and acquisitions, a famed attorney dealmaker predicted that one result of the current economic crisis will be streamlined regulation for financial institutions. H. Rodgin Cohen, the chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell, “said the crisis was likely to…

Nov 13, 2008 12:03 AM CST

EU to Lighten Up, Allow Crooked Veggies

In a regulatory move that is likely help to reduce the price of vegetables at supermarkets, the European Union is expected to relax rules that ban blemished and unusual-appearing fruits and vegetables from being sold to consumers. EU agriculture officials are expected to act today to eliminate regulations concerning the…

Nov 12, 2008 5:20 PM CST

Obama Mulls 200 Changes He Could Make Using Executive Authority

Barack Obama’s lawyer-laden transition team has prepared a list of 200 possible regulatory and policy changes he could quickly adopt using his executive authority. They include hot-button issues such as funding for stem cell research and abortion counseling. Obama has already indicated he plans to reverse a Bush administration limit…

Nov 10, 2008 12:34 PM CST

No Fleeting Expletives Uttered in Supreme Court Oral Arguments

Broadcast lawyer Carter Phillips reportedly used two four-letter words in oral arguments before a federal appeals court in the so-called fleeting expletives case, but he didn’t offer a repeat performance today before the U.S. Supreme Court. SCOTUSblog and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog report that neither Phillips nor Solicitor…

Nov 4, 2008 7:33 PM CST