On Monday, April 18, 2022, the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced charges against Fernando Passos, the former executive Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations of a Brazilian reinsurance company, IRB Brazil Resseguros S. A., for planting a story with the media claiming that Warren Buffett (the “Oracle of Omaha”)’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.» Read More
On Monday, April 18, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that Rollins Inc., an Atlanta-based provider of termite and pest control services (under such brands as Orkin and Critter Control) to both residential and customers, had settled charges that it “engaged in improper accounting practices in order to boost its quarterly earnings per share… to meet research analysts’ consensus estimates.” » Read More
The Crosby Independent School District, located in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, about 35 miles north of downtown Houston, dates to the late 19th century. According to the Texas Education Agency, as of 2016 the District served 5,666 students in seven schools (including a high school). » Read More
“There is something perverse in the very nature of mankind,” as Lucretius wrote in his great didactic poem “De rerum natura” [On the Nature of Things] in the first century B.C.
And greed, again, and the blind lust of honours,
Which force poor wretches past the bounds of law…
So, the following three tales capture the weakness of the human soul, which would rather celebrate financial gain at the expense of reputation, money, and position. » Read More
On Thursday, March 3, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that City National Rochdale, LLC (“CNR”), a Delaware statutory trust sponsoring proprietary mutual funds and serving as their investment adviser, agreed to pay $30,361,803 to settle charges brought by the SEC that the trust had failed to disclose conflicts of interest that defrauded current and prospective clients.» Read More
On Jan. 1, 2021, Congress enacted, over President Trump’s veto, the National Defense Authorization Act, a 4500-page behemoth that in its midst contained the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA”). I attempted to give some overview of this legislation in my Jan.» Read More
Every lender who provides funds for commercial real estate development expects to be repaid. That expectation, a fundamental part of our capitalist system, is the basis for a continuing willingness to advance capital to others. The lender looks first to the borrower, assessing competence, experience, and honesty, as well as the details of any particular development.» Read More
On Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), by a 3 – 2 vote, proposed amendments to the rules governing Money Market Funds (“MMF”) intended, in the words of the SEC’s 325-page Proposal, to “improve the resilience and transparency of money market funds.” » Read More
On Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, issued its opinion in Colonial Records Storage, LLC v. Nancy S. Simpson, Esq., d/b/a Stein, Simpson & Rosen, P.A., reversing the March 12, 2021 decision of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Bergen County.» Read More
On Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued four releases reporting orders against individuals “Instituting Public Administrative and Cease-And-Desist Proceedings” and “Imposing Remedial Sanctions.” The four individuals are the Vice President of Cintas Corporate Taxation and a CPA; and three professionals from Ernst & Young, LLP (“EY”), a partner and CPA, the Cintas Engagement Partner and attorney, and a Senior Manager, then Principal, also an attorney.» Read More
