News: Articles

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff’s decision rejecting an “admit no fault” consent judgment between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Citigroup Global Markets. From the outset, this case has provided fodder for the debate over whether the SEC should crack down harder on securities fraudsters by requiring admissions of guilt and other penalties in negotiated settlements.

A billionaire who has been crusading to cut public pensions stands at the center of a controversy that has embarrassed the Public Broadcasting Service and raised questions about the financing of modern news-gathering operations.

It is shaping up to be another banner year for activist hedge funds, investors who acquire big stakes in underperforming companies to pressure for changes in direction, strategy or management. But while activist funds are no longer derided as “corporate raiders” looking for a quick payday, there is plenty of argument about whether their campaigns improve target companies’ profitability and stock performance in the long term.

In some ways, the City of Detroit and the State of Illinois are merely the latest battlegrounds in the legal fight to determine whether state lawmakers can cut public pension benefits to ease fiscal shortfalls. But there is a reason to watch the outcomes especially closely: Michigan and Illinois are among only seven states in the nation where public pension benefits are explicitly protected under the state constitution.

An administrative law judge has recommended disciplinary action against China-based units of the “Big Four” accounting firms, bolstering the SEC’s efforts to get Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges to play by U.S. rules. The judge has recommended that the Chinese firms be suspended from auditing U.S.-listed companies for six months.

The death of former South African President Nelson Mandela brought renewed attention to the divestment movement that Mr. Mandela himself credited with helping speed the end of the apartheid regime in his country.

Departing from U.S. jurisprudence, the Supreme Court of Canada has allowed an antitrust class action to proceed against Microsoft, despite the fact that plaintiffs were “indirect purchasers” who did not buy the software directly from the company itself.

Investors who previously assumed their claims were covered by certain securities class actions must now step forward to preserve their rights, following a recent federal appeals court ruling against pension funds looking to recover their losses in mortgage-backed securities.

Investors looking to link in to the latest company news may now need to turn to LinkedIn–along with Facebook, Twitter and other social media–under guidelines issued in April by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mortgage-backed securities owners looking to recover money under federal securities laws could be covered by class action lawsuits run by lead plaintiffs who bought related but not identical MBS issued by the same bank, under a U.S. Supreme Court decision announced March 18, 2013.