http://gopublicusa.info a blog for the Investment Banking Community Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:15:53 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en FINRA staff discuss examples of registered representatives’ misconduct, as featured in the October issue of FINRA's Quarterly Disciplinary Review.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/January-2012-Quarterly-Disciplinary-Review/ Diamond Foods Acting CEO Rick Wolford has several large mutual funds and other institutional investors betting that he'll be able to turn around the troubled San Francisco company or find a buyer to take it over.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Mutual-funds-pile-into-Diamond-Foods-after-Pringles-breakup/ Topix SEC NewsMembers of Ford's board of directors as well as Edsel B. Ford II received bumps in compensation in 2012 according to a filing today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Ford-directors-get-compensation-boost,-SEC-filing-shows/ Topix SEC NewsBut in order to move forward, the U.S. would still have to "have a strong voice" in the development of international standards, the chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission says.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/SEC-Seen-Mulling-Weaker-Role-for-FASB/ Dutchess County residents sound off on Central Hud...: CH Energy Group has agreed to be acquired by Canadian company Fortis Under a glowing overcast sky Tuesday, Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Impact-of-sale-of-Central-Hudson-parent:-widespread-but-uncertain/ Topix SEC NewsFarhan Fardaus bdnews24.com correspondent Dhaka, Feb 20 - Companies will need to have independent directors comprising at least one-third of their governing bodies if a draft of the amendment to the Corporate Governance Guidelines proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission comes through.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/SEC-roots-for-more-independent-directors/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-21,-2012,-issue/ David Kemper and other named executives at Commerce Bancshares, holding company for Commerce Bank, will get base salary increases of either zero or 2 percent this year.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Commerce-executives-see-bonuses-boosted/ Topix SEC NewsYelp , a site that allows users to rate local businesses, filed paperwork for its initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, according to a BusinessWeek report.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Yelp-Files-for-IPO/ Topix SEC NewsPNC Financial Services Group Inc. announced a management shuffle Friday, stripping the president title from Joseph Guyaux while making him a senior vice chairman and chief risk officer.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/PNC-Moves-President-To-Chief-Risk-Officer-In-Management-Shuffle/ Topix SEC NewsThe Rule adopts the same primary residence exclusion used in the recently amended definition for an "accredited investor" under Regulation D.[6] Although the Dodd-Frank Act did not require the definition of qualified client to exclude investors' primary residences, as it did for the "accredited investor" definition, the SEC ... http://gopublicusa.info/Handler-Thayer-Commercial-Practice-Alert---SEC-Revises-'Qualified-Client'-Definition/ It is safe to assume most investors would like to invest along side the smart money.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/ETFs-For-13F-Filing-Season,-Part-II/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-17,-2012,-issue/ Topix SEC NewsA Shaker Heights investment manager has been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of using $632,000 in client money to settle a government investigation into claims of defrauding clients.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Shaker-Heights-investment-manager-faces-more-SEC-trouble/ Topix SEC NewsVartu LLC bought the undeveloped land for $500,000, according to a filing by YTB with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/YTB-sells-land-near-headquarters-for-$500,000/ Skip ahead to page 310 of the Occupy the SEC comment letter on the Volcker Rule, and there you will find Annexure B: a list of suggested changes to one of the most controversial components of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/'Occupy-the-SEC'-Goes-Big-on-the-Volcker-Rule/ Topix SEC NewsToll Brothers Finance Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toll Brothers, Inc. , announced today that it has extended the early participation date relating to its registered offer to exchange new 5.875% Senior Notes due February 15, 2022 for any and all of its currently outstanding 6.875% Senior Notes ... http://gopublicusa.info/Toll-Brothers-Extends-Early-Participation-Date-in-Exchange-Offer-for.../ In keeping with how these things sort of progress, here is the fairly dry recitation of what was troubling the Securities and Exchange Commission about James Davis Risher.A Apparently, from approximately January 2007 through July 2010, Risher was the sole trader for a purported private equity fund operating under various ... http://gopublicusa.info/An-Ex-Con-Con-Artist-Rips-Off-$22-Million-From-Teachers-and-Retirees/ SEC News DigestRead full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-14,-2012,-issue/ SEC News DigestRead full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-15,-2012,-issue/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-16,-2012,-issue/ Former Bear Stearns Cos. hedge-fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, acquitted in 2009 of criminal charges they misled investors, agreed to pay $1.05 million to settle a related civil case brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Cioffi,-Tannin-to-Pay-$1.05-Million-to-Settle-SEC-Lawsuit/ It's a humbling time for Louis Moore Bacon. The 55-year-old founder of the $15 billion Moore Capital Management -- and one of the premier hedge fund investors of the past two decades -- just weathered his second down year in the past four after a particularly ragged run in the ... http://gopublicusa.info/A-secretive-hedge-fund-legend-prepares-to-surface/ Wynn Resorts Inc said the U.S. securities regulators launched an informal inquiry into the casino company's $135 million donation to the University of Macau.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/UPDATE-1-Wynn-Resorts-says-SEC-seeks-varsity-donation-details/ The Empire State Building is seen in this 2010 file photo in New York. Investors will soon be able to own a piece of one of New York's greatest views, as the owners of the Empire State Building filed Monday to list it on the New York Stock Exchange.Read full ... http://gopublicusa.info/Owner-of-Empire-State-Building-plans-$1-billion-IPO/ Nicor Gas has agreed to refund customers $64 million in a decade-old accounting scandal.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Nicor-Gas-agrees-to-$64M-settlement-for-ratepayers/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-9,-2012,-issue/ SEC News DigestRead full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-10,-2012,-issue/ SEC News DigestRead full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-13,-2012,-issue/ Facebook just amended its S-1 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the documents offer deeper insight into Facebook's relationship with Zynga .Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/New-Facebook-Filings-Reveal-Details-of-its-Relationship-With-Zynga/ Topix SEC NewsHouse Majority Leader Eric Cantor faced criticism on Wednesday for introducing a version of the STOCK Act which many said had severely weakened the legislation.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Cantor-slammed-for-'neutering'-the-STOCK-Act/ WASHINGTON: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg , along with his three top leutinants, will get about $2 million in just salaries and bonuses, but cannot work on creating a rival to the social networking giant.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Zuckerberg-cannot-build-'another'-Facebook/ Topix SEC NewsOracle today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Taleo Corporation , a leading provider of cloud-based talent management for $46.00 per share or approximately $1.9 billion, net of Taleo's cash and debt.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Oracle-Buys-Taleo/ After the Securities and Exchange Commission charged a member of the District 225 school board with making $15 million from the illegal short selling of stocks , the Northbrook resident has hired Bernie Madoff's former lawyer.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/School-Board-Member-Charged-With-Making-$15-Million-In-Illegal-Short-Sales/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-7,-2012,-issue/ SEC News DigestRead full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-8,-2012,-issue/ Wall Street's bleak bonus season just got bleaker at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley , where it is becoming clear that traders aren't the only ones at risk of having their pay taken back.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Bosses-in-Cross-Hairs-on-Wall-Street/ Topix SEC NewsFidelity Investments sent a letter and report to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, urging regulators not to adopt new rules for money market mutual funds that the Boston company said would drive away customers.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Fidelity-urges-SEC-not-to-implement-new-fund-rules/ Topix SEC NewsHAWTHORNE, N.Y. February 8, 2012 -- Executive Enterprise Institute , a Division of SmartPros Ltd.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/David-Kotz,-Former-Sec-Inspector-General,-To-Speak-At-Eei's-Public-Filers-Symposium/ U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, said he wouldn't rule out proposing legislation to protect money market mutual funds from new rules being planned at the Securities and Exchange Commission.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Senator-Toomey-Warns-SEC-He-Will-Fight-Rules-for-Money-Funds/ We've been demanding for years now answers to a core question coming from the financial collapse of 2008.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/SEC-Plays-'Patty-Cake'-with-Big-Banks/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-6,-2012,-issue/ Topix SEC NewsVeriSign dropped a lollapalooza last October in a Security and Exchange Commission filing: the company, which operates the registry for the .com and .net domains, was repeatedly hacked in 2010.A Nothing serious occurred, the company soothed in a press release this week.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Hack-Attack-Nation/ Carlyle Group LP abandoned a plan to ban shareholders from filing class-action lawsuits after regulators threatened to block a stock sale the private-equity firm is seeking to complete as soon as April.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Carlyle-drops-class-action-lawsuit-ban-as-opposition-mounts/ Topix SEC NewsDear John: I had placed an order to sell 50 shares of Apple stock on the day the company was recently reporting quarterly earnings.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Apple-stock-sale-is-rotten/ The Association of Securities Companies wants the government and relevant agencies to come up with development guidelines for the Thai capital markets and to amend laws to support self-regulatory organisations for higher competitiveness.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Securities-firms-seek-development-guidelines/ Topix SEC NewsThe Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission delivered to Congress a report on international swap regulation, as required by Section 719 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Joint-Report-on-International-Swap-Regulation/ Topix SEC NewsThe Tennessee Valley Authority said a mild winter so far has reduced electricity sales by 5% in the first quarter of the fiscal year and will cause the utility to reconsider expenditures for the rest of the year.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Mild-temperatures-reduce-electricity-sales-for-TVA/ A lawyer for Kareem Serageldin, the ex-global head of Credit Suisse Group AG 's CDO business charged in a bonus-boosting fraud tied to a $5.35 billion trading book, said his client was surprised by the U.S. indictment since he has been cooperating with investigators for four years.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Ex-Credit-Suisse-CDO-Head-Charged-in-Bonus-Scam-Says-He-Helped-Prosecutors/ Topix SEC NewsToll Brothers Finance Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toll Brothers, Inc. , announced today that it has commenced a registered exchange offer to exchange new 5.875% Senior Notes due February 15, 2022 for any and all of its currently outstanding 6.875% Senior Notes due 2012 and 5.95% Senior ... http://gopublicusa.info/Toll-Brothers,-Inc.-Announces-Exchange-Offer-for-Certain-Outstanding-Debt-Securities/ Topix SEC NewsDespite being one of the Silicon Valley tech chief executive officers getting $1 a year in salary, Meg Whitman got stock options when she took over at Hewlett-Packard Co The Palo Alto computer and services giant reported the pay package in a proxy filing with the Securities and ... http://gopublicusa.info/CEO-Meg-Whitman-got-$16.5M-HP-pay-package/ Behringer Harvard Opportunity REIT I Inc. defaulted on the balance of $44.1 million in loans it took out for its investment in Frisco Square.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Behringer-Harvard:-'Technical-default'-will-have-little-impact-on-Frisco-Square/ SEC News DigestRead full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-1,-2012,-issue/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-2,-2012,-issue/ SEC News DigestRead full story http://gopublicusa.info/February-3,-2012,-issue/ Revisit the latest FINRA Notices, compliance resources and news from January 2012.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/January-2012-Monthly-Recap/ Topix SEC NewsAn advisory committee urged U.S. securities regulators on Wednesday to relax outdated rules that trigger public financial reporting for companies, but it stopped short of backing a new capital-raising strategy known as "crowdfunding." In a public meeting, members of the Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies voted ... http://gopublicusa.info/SEC-advisory-panel-concerned-about-crowdfunding/ Facebook, in one of the world's most widely anticipated IPOs, or initial public offerings of stock, filed papers Wednesday afternoon to raise at least $5 billion and begin to sell stock this spring.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Facebook-IPO:-$5-Billion-Filing-to-Sell-Stock-in-May/ It's official: Facebook , the world's most famous internet company, is about to go public.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/The-9-most-surprising-facts-about-the-Facebook-IPO/ Two classes of shares are proposed, Class A and Class B, with different voting powers.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Who-owns-Facebook's-biggest-stakes---'Zuck's'-No.-1/ Topix SEC NewsGreenwood, who had been with Geron in various jobs since 1995, left the Menlo Park-based drug development company at the end of last year.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Former-Geron-CFO-gets-$750K-severance,-$400-an-hour-consulting-gig/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/January-31,-2012,-issue/ Topix SEC NewsConsider the curious case of Jay Lapine. Between 2003 and 2009, the onetime general counsel of McKesson HBOC Inc.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/The-Upsides-of-the-SEC's-No-Guilt-Deals-for-In-House-Lawyers/ Topix SEC NewsA federal judge in Burlington dismissed a class action lawsuit filed against Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Federal-judge-dismisses-lawsuit-against-Green-Mountain-Coffee-Roasters/ Topix SEC NewsWayne -based retailer Toys "R" Us has made a number of management changes following a lackluster holiday season.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Toys-'R'-Us-reshapes-top-executive-staff/ Dale Shafer of Mason, who was later a senior vice president of WesBanco Inc. in Cincinnati, has consented to the entry of a judgment in the case, filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Former-Oak-Hill-exec-charged-with-insider-trading/ Topix SEC NewsDhaka stocks plunged again on Tuesday hitting fresh 26-month low as a meeting convened by the capital market regulator with the stakeholders failed to bring any remedy to halt the collapse of the market.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Stocks-plunge-again-as-another-SEC-stakeholder-meeting-fails/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/January-30,-2012,-issue/ In his final act before departing the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, the agency's inspector general, David Kotz, criticized how the agency analyzes the economic impact of some of its Dodd-Frank rules.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Exiting-watchdog-sees-flaws-in-SEC's-rulewriting/ Topix SEC NewsSecurities and Exchange Commission filing late Friday, Blankfein received 45,497 shares and sold 21,248 of them at $107.44 to satisfy tax withholding obligations.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Goldman's-Blankfein-Receives-24,249-Shares-Vested-From-Prior-Awards--Filing/ Topix SEC NewsMore than 50 mutual funds say they own shares of the closely held social-media giant Facebook, according to investment-research firm Morningstar.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/How-Much-Is-Facebook-Worth?/ Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, who have reportedly given a combined $10 million to Winning Our Future, the super PAC that supports and is run by former staffers of Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, were reportedly drawn to him by a shared view of the importance ... http://gopublicusa.info/The-Sunlight-Foundation:-Gingrich-Super-PAC-Super-Donor-Sheldon.../ Topix SEC NewsSAP has extended yet again the deadline for its offer to buy outstanding shares of cloud software developer SuccessFactors while a U.S. government organization investigates the proposed $3.4 billion acquisition.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/SAP-Extends-Offer-For-SuccessFactors-While-Government-Entity-Investigates/ SEC News DigestRead full story http://gopublicusa.info/January-27,-2012,-issue/ The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission logo adorns an office door at the SEC headquarters in Washington, June 24, 2011.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/SEC-charges-trader-with-hijacking-accounts/ Topix SEC NewsBased on TransCanada claims, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce declares that the Keystone XL pipeline "will create 20,000 well-paying jobs." ThinkProgress Green has learned that TransCanada, the foreign tar sands company behind the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, is facing a potential inquiry into whether it deliberately deceived investors ... http://gopublicusa.info/TransCanada's-Dirty-Keystone-XL-Jobs-Claims-Draw-Complaint-To-SEC/ Get Green Savvygirl Living Dave Ramsey Mid-Columbia Sports Behind the Fold Red Light District Inside Opinion Business Beat Light Notes Rock Doc column Rub of the Green Mr.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/SEC-charges-trader-with-hacking-into-accounts/ Staffers inside the Securities and Exchange Commission have a nickname for the massive Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law, which imposes hundreds of new federal rules on business: They call it the "Eugene Scalia Full Employment Act." Funny, right? Maybe the joke works better if you know who Eugene Scalia is.Read full ... http://gopublicusa.info/Suing-the-Government?-Call-Scalia/ President Barack Obama's State of the Union pledge to create a special unit to punish fraud in mortgage finance met with skepticism Wednesday for coming so late in his term and amid signs that his administration is close to settling with large banks accused of shoddy mortgage-lending practices.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Obama's-new-mortgage-fraud-unit-has-skeptics/ SEC News DigestRead full story http://gopublicusa.info/January-25,-2012,-issue/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/January-26,-2012,-issue/ Topix SEC NewsThey invest in short-term, highly rated debt issued by banks, governments and corporations worldwide.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Could-money-market-funds-break-the-buck-again?/ Topix SEC NewsGuidewire Software on Tuesday priced its initial public offering at $13 a share, highlighting one of two tech IPOs based on the trend of cloud computing.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/IPO-Report:-Guidewire-prices-IPO-above-range-at-$13/ Topix SEC NewsPresident Obama announced a new unit devoted to major financial crimes as he offered tough words for Wall Street during his State of the Union address.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Obama-announces-financial-crimes-unit/ Topix SEC NewsMANILA, Philippines - The prosecution has requested the impeachment court to subpoena the bank accounts of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona and his wife, Cristina.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Prosecution-wants-subpoena-for-Corona-bank-accounts/ In an interview last Monday with veteran investigative reporter and best-selling author Gary Weiss, I described how executives at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters apparently received higher bonuses in 2011.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Green-Mountain-Coffee-Roasters-Management:-Shareholders-Beware/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/January-23,-2012,-issue/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/January-24,-2012,-issue/ Topix SEC NewsMANILA, Philippines - Chief Justice Renato Corona's P11-million cash advance in 2003, which he supposedly used to pay for some of his condominium acquisitions, came from his wife's family corporation that had "ceased to operate legally by 2007," according to journalist and blogger Raissa Robles.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/'Corona's-P11M-cash-advance-came-from-unlicensed-firm'/ The market capitalisation to GDP ratio on the Dhaka Stock Exchange fell by 17.44 percent last year due to a series of abnormal downswings.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Market-cap-GDP-ratio-slips/ Topix SEC NewsSocial media is also changing the way some of us invest - and that's where you need to be careful.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Investors-warn-that-social-media-is-fertile-ground-for-fraud/ If the Managed Funds Association has its way, hedge fund managers will be free to advertise and market their funds.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/MFA-seeks-end-to-ban-on-hedge-fund-advertising/ Topix SEC NewsAccording to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing , William Rainville of Technology Park Drive's Kadant Inc.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Nearly-$4.5-Million-of-Stock-in-Westford-Company-Sold-in-January/ Topix SEC NewsAs president of the Pacific Exchange in the late-1990s, Warren Langley oversaw the West Coast's biggest financial center, a trading floor where some 17 million shares of stock changed hands daily.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/How-an-Ex-Wall-Street-Power-Player-Embraced-the-Occupy-Movement/ Topix SEC NewsAs president of the Pacific Exchange in the late-1990s, Warren Langley oversaw the West Coast's biggest financial center, a trading floor where some 17 million shares of stock changed hands daily.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Warren-Langley-ran-the-Pacific-Exchange-through-1999.-On-Friday,-he'll-be-marching-on-the-banks./ A Belvedere investment adviser has pleaded guilty to committing mail fraud while defrauding clients and submitting phony documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission to conceal his crime.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Belvedere-investment-adviser-pleads-guilty-to-misusing-clients'.../ Over the holiday, the Securities and Exchange Commission revised one of the wealth requirements for people seeking to invest in private offerings that hold the allure of big returns.Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/Deciding-whoa-s-rich-enough-for-risky-investments/ SEC News DigestRead full story http://gopublicusa.info/January-19,-2012,-issue/ Read full story http://gopublicusa.info/January-20,-2012,-issue/ Topix SEC NewsThe SEC has charged an investment advisory arm of UBS with overstating the prices of securities in three mutual funds, some times by more than 100%. The federal regulator that that the failure "to properly price securities" in three mutual funds that it managed resulted in the mismarking ... http://gopublicusa.info/SEC-Charges-UBS-with-Mispricing-Assets-in-Mutual-Funds/