Archive

September 29, 2023

SMC Systems Inc., d/b/a Skyetec, has agreed to pay $2.35 million to resolve allegations of violating the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989.  Over a seven year period, Skyetec allegedly made false statements to the EPA regarding the results of inspections for the EPA’s Energy Star Home Certification Program, which verifies the presence and installation quality of a home's insulation.  DOJ

September 29, 2023

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC has been ordered to pay $3 million to settle charges of failing to maintain adequate supervisory systems and controls, in connection with a 2017 malfunction.  Additionally, Goldman allegedly omitted material information regarding the malfunction when responding to a CFTC request for information on how customer orders were executed.  CFTC

September 29, 2023

North Carolina-based global specialty chemical manufacturing company Albemarle Corporation has agreed to pay over $218 million in penalties and forfeiture to the DOJ, $103.6 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest to the SEC, and enter into a three-year non-prosecution agreement to settle charges of violating the anti-bribery, recordkeeping, and internal accounting controls provision of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).  Albemarle admitted to using third-party intermediaries to pay bribes from about 2009 to 2017 in order to obtain and retain business with state-owned oil refineries in Vietnam, Indonesia, and India.  As a result, the company obtained profits of about $98.5 million.  DOJ; SEC

September 29, 2023

Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Bank of America and Merrill Lynch have been ordered to pay $30 million, $15 million, and $8 million respectively in connection with a variety of swap dealer failures.  Goldman Sachs failed to diligently supervise a wide range of its swap dealer activities, some of them since 2013, and failed to accurately or timely report a significant portion of its swap data.  J.P. Morgan underreported or misreported over 40 million swap transactions.  Bank of America and Merrill Lynch underreported or misreported almost 4 million swap transactions.  CFTC

September 29, 2023

Interactive Brokers Corp., an introducing broker, and Interactive Brokers LLC, a futures commission merchant, has been ordered to pay $20 million to the CFTC and $35 million to the SEC to resolve charges of failing to maintain and preserve records.  The records included communications through unapproved channels, such as text and WhatsApp, which employees at all levels used and which the company failed to maintain and preserve.  The SEC also resolved charges against other firms for similar misconduct, including Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. ($15 million); William Blair & Company LLC and William Blair Investment Management LLC ($10 million); Nuveen Securities LLC ($8.5 million); Fifth Third Securities Inc. ($8 million); and Perella Weinberg Partners LP, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities LLC, and Perella Weinberg Partners Capital Management LP ($2.5 million).  CFTC; SEC