Securities Law

Disbarred Lawyer Accused in Prior Fraud Cases Is Indicted in Alleged $9.5M Investment Scheme

During the 1980s, a young attorney named Mark Roy Anderson reportedly got some $50 million from around 2,000 investors to fund a business of purchasing, fixing up and selling National Historic Register properties, which often qualify for special federal tax benefits. While he did buy a few buildings, such as…

Mar 11, 2011 6:21 PM CST

Lawyer’s FOIA Request Reveals More Information About SEC’s Porn-Surfing Employees

The Securities and Exchange Commission has responded to a lawyer’s freedom of information request with revelations that it counseled or disciplined porn-surfing employees at seven different locations. The information was disclosed in response to a request by Denver lawyer Kevin Evans, who also sought the names of the disciplined employees,…

Mar 9, 2011 2:23 PM CST

Fired Dewey Associate Is Accused of Using Office Computer for Insider Trading

A fired Dewey & LeBoeuf associate has been charged with insider trading in a civil complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Todd Leslie Treadway is accused of making $27,000 in profits by trading in two stocks based on information he acquired while providing advice on how mergers and acquisitions…

Mar 9, 2011 12:37 PM CST

Ex-Winston & Strawn Partner Expected to Plead Guilty in Celebrity Money Manager Case

A former Winston & Strawn partner has reached an agreement that could pave the way for a guilty plea in connection with his work for a celebrity money manager. Prosecutors told a Manhattan federal judge on Monday that the former partner, Jonathan Bristol, has reached an agreement in principle to…

Mar 8, 2011 2:36 PM CST

Ex-SEC Leader Walks Out on Deposition; Judge Will Consider Requiring Him to Testify

Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt was testifying in a deposition as an expert witness for securities class-action plaintiffs suing Fannie Mae when he apparently decided he had had enough. Pitt walked out of the deposition late last week, spurring a defense motion asking the judge to oust…

Mar 3, 2011 4:41 PM CST

Actor Mickey Rooney Says He Lacked Courage to Stop Financial Abuse

Actor Mickey Rooney told a congressional committee on Wednesday that for years he suffered in silence because he didn’t have the courage to seek legal help to stop a family member who was taking his money. “If elder abuse happened to me, Mickey Rooney, it can happen to anyone,” the…

Mar 3, 2011 3:42 PM CST

Ex-McKinsey Chief and Ex-Goldman Sachs Board Member Is Sued in SEC Insider-Trading Case

A former managing director of global management consultant McKinsey & Company has been accused of providing tips about Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co. to a defendant in a high-profile insider-trading case. Rajat K. Gupta, 62, who was a member of the board of directors of both…

Mar 1, 2011 7:30 PM CST

SEC GC Says He Didn’t Recuse on Madoff Matters on Advice of Ethics Counsel

The outgoing general counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission says he relied on legal advice when he didn’t recuse himself in Bernard Madoff matters, despite his mother’s profitable investment with the now-convicted Ponzi schemer. David Becker, who served two stints as the general counsel of the SEC, explained why…

Mar 1, 2011 2:15 PM CST

SEC General Counsel Is Named in Clawback Suit by Madoff Trustee

The general counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission is facing a clawback lawsuit that claims his late mother earned more than $1.5 million in fictitious profits from convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff. David Becker was initially general counsel of the SEC from 2000 until 2002, the New York Daily…

Feb 23, 2011 1:15 PM CST

Accused Ponzi Schemer Stanford Sues US for $7.2B, Claims ‘Abusive Law Enforcement’

Accused Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford has sued federal lawyers and FBI agents for $7.2 billion, claiming the government improperly used $51 million of his own money to fund its investigation even as it denied him funds for a lawyer. Stanford claims “abusive law enforcement” and seeks compensation for all…

Feb 18, 2011 12:36 PM CST

Report: Madoff Told NY Times He Met with Bankruptcy Trustee When He Didn’t

In what was billed as his first prison interview with the media since being arrested in 2008, convicted super-swindler Bernard Madoff took credit for helping the “team” of the bankruptcy trustee settling his securities business affairs with recently filed litigation. However, trustee Irving Picard has denied ever meeting with Madoff,…

Feb 16, 2011 11:41 PM CST

Del. Chancery Court OKs Airgas Poison Pill, Finds Board’s Actions in Accord with Biz Judgment Rule

In a much-watched corporate case, the Delaware Chancery Court today OK’d the so-called poison pill strategy successfully utilized by Airgas Inc. to fend off a hostile takeover attempt by Air Products & Chemicals Inc. for the past year. At issue in the unusually lengthy corporate battle was whether the decision-making…

Feb 16, 2011 1:15 AM CST

Plaintiffs Lawyers Say Bear Stearns May Have Double-Dipped on Defaulted Mortgages

Plaintiffs lawyers are hoping for what one calls a potential “home run” in litigation against Bear Stearns and, possibly, other banks that packaged mortgages into securitized bundles. In a federal lawsuit that has been dismissed and is now being readied for filing in state court, an insurer of some mortgage…

Feb 10, 2011 7:55 PM CST

Ex-Hedge Fund Manager Accused of Cover-up Involving Computer, Pliers and Garbage Trucks

It’s probably the first time that a portfolio manager used pliers as “a tool of the trade,” according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of Manhattan. At a news conference on Tuesday, Bharara announced charges against three hedge fund managers accused of illegally trading on confidential information passed along by tech…

Feb 9, 2011 4:04 PM CST

SEC Officials During Time of Madoff Swindle Now Have Lucrative BigLaw Jobs

Half a dozen officials who worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission at a time when Bernard Madoff’s multi-billion-dollar swindle of investors was ongoing have moved on to new jobs. Instead of earning approximately $200,000 a year working for the federal watchdog agency they’re now making up to $2 million…

Feb 7, 2011 5:27 PM CST