MA Bill Leaves Committee as Climate Court Hearings Continue via It's Getting Hot In Here
A
Denmark Passes “Anti-Riot” Law 12 days before UN Climate Negotiations. via It's Getting Hot In Here
A
Slit-leggings at American Apparel and Current Climate Policy in Canada via It's Getting Hot In Here
A
Caught in Forged Letter Fraud, Dirty Coal Front Group ACCCE Throws their Astroturf Contractor Under the Bus via It's Getting Hot In Here
A
How to stop the drug wars via Governance Focus
The Economist, the appropriate legalization of the drugs trade is the only way to resolve its growth and the criminality associated with it.Onésimo Alvarez-MoroSee article:Prohibition has failed; legalisation is the least bad solutionA HUNDRED years ago a group of foreign diplomats gathered in Shanghai for the first-ever international effort to ban trade in a narcotic drug. On February 26th 1909 they agreed to set up the International Opium Commission—just a few decades after Britain had fought a war with China to assert its right to peddle the stuff. Many other bans of mood-altering drugs have followed. In 1998 the UN General Assembly committed member countries to achieving a “drug-free world” and to “eliminating or significantly reducing” the production of opium, cocaine and...
Two are guilty of insider dealing via Governance Focus
Good news! It is difficult to catch insider trading. It is important that these things are taken seriously.Onésimo Alvarez-MoroSee article:The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has secured its first criminal convictions for insider dealing since its foundation in 1997.Christopher McQuoid, a solicitor, and his father-in-law, James William Melbourne were today both found guilty.They had been charged with illegally passing and receiving sensitive financial information. See full...
Time Magazine celebrates monkewrenching; plugs Capitol Climate Action via It's Getting Hot In Here
A
Shareholder lawsuits on the increase via Governance Focus
PwC released a report showing an increase in federal class-action shareholder lawsuits in 2007 compared to a decline in the two previous years.Shareholder lawsuits are on the increase, PwC has said.In 2007 163 cases were filed in the US, compared with 109 in 2006.That followed two years of decline, with 169 suits filed in 2005 and 206 in 2004.Of those filed in 2007 37 were subprime related, evidence of the court room impact of the credit crunch.PwC suggested such claims will surge this year: 'We will see the full fallout in 2008,' said PwC partner Grace Lamont.See full...
Law can’t stop failure via Governance Focus
The implosion of Bear Stearns has left the investing public feeling as if it returned from a bad trip to the Laundromat. It seems to be missing some SOX.The Sarbanes-Oxley law, spawned by colossal corporate frauds such as Enron and WorldCom, was supposed to protect investors from similar scandal. Yet last week, as clients and lenders began yanking money out of the firm, Bear Stearns' liquidity evaporated faster than civility in Paul McCartney's divorce.Shareholder interest got torched in the fire sale to JPMorgan Chase orchestrated by the Federal Reserve. In the smoldering hole where once stood a venerable Wall Street establishment echoed the hollow phrase "run on the bank."Bear's rapid demise and the Depression-era cliché prompted immediate Enron comparisons. The Economist, an otherwise...
An Advocate for a Culture of Integrity In and Out of the Boardroom via Governance Focus
The peripateic Kenneth Starr today teaches constitutional law, argues cases, and has taken on the constitutionality of the PCAOB.Kenneth Starr was thrust into the limelight when he was appointed Independent Counsel investigating first Whitewater and its successor, the Monica Lewinsky affair, which led to the unsuccessful impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Starr, never comfortable in the spotlight, now lives a quieter life as dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law and of counsel to Kirkland & Ellis. Still, he can’t seem to stay away from the D.C. courts. The jurist joined the Free Enterprise Fund, a conservative think tank that filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), a mandate of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act....
Delaware’s corporate dominance threatened via Governance Focus
Federal intervention could put at risk a third of state's budget -- 'Overnight we would go broke.'When it comes to selling Delaware as the pre-eminent legal home for Corporate America, Supreme Court Chief Justice Myron Steele knows how to seal the deal.Last summer, the justice hosted an elegant dinner at his Kent County farm for two Australian lawyers here to learn about the latest developments in Delaware law. From the dining room in the antebellum-style home, the guests could watch horses grazing in the pasture. Two justices and a senior state leader were on hand to schmooze and extol Delaware as the Tiffany & Co. of the incorporations business.See full...
Poor CEO Comp Practices a Possible Indicator of Ligitagion, Study Finds via Governance Focus
CEO compensation practices that are poorly aligned with shareholder interests remain a powerful indicator of potential securities litigation, according to a study of securities class-action litigation conducted by The Corporate Library as part of a year-end report.The report, like others conducted recently by NERA and Stanford Law School’s Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, points to another year of increased litigation in 2008 and the growing involvement of institutional investors.The study examines the second-year effectiveness of The Corporate Library's SCA Risk Ratings to identify and predict the probability of companies being hit with securities class- action suits.See full...
Shareholder Lawsuit For China’s Focus Media via Governance Focus
Corporate Governance Alert: Shareholder Lawsuit For China's Focus MediaA class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of all purchasers of securities of Focus Media (FMCN) between September 27, 2007 and November 19, 2007.The complaint charges Focus Media and some of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint alleges that the company failed to disclose and misrepresented material adverse facts which were known to defendants or recklessly disregarded by them. Those include that the company had made numerous acquisitions in its Internet advertising business segment; that these acquisitions had significantly reduced gross margins in the...
La corrupción judicial es un problema via Governance Focus
La corrupción erosiona los sistemas judiciales, negando a los ciudadanos el acceso a la justicia y el derecho humano básico a un juicio imparcial y justo, o a veces, simplemente a tener un juicio, según el Informe Global de la Corrupción 2007: Corrupción en Sistemas Judiciales, cuya edición en español fue lanzada hoy por Transparency International (TI), la organización global de la sociedad civil que lidera la lucha contra la corrupción. “A fines de garantizar los derechos de todos y no sólo de los privilegiados por dinero o conexiones, la reforma judicial debería ser prioridad para los gobernantes que verdaderamente buscan disminuir la desigualdad y pobreza que azota a casi el 40 por ciento de la población en América Latina”, dijo Silke Pfeiffer, Directora para las...
El Madrid tendrá que pagar una multa por lucir ‘bwin.com’ - Marca.com via Governance Focus
En Alemania, está en contra de la ley anunciar casas de juegos. A pesar de eso, el Real Madrid piensa jugar con su camiseta normal, la que tiene su patrocinador bwin.com.Esto le traerá una multa pero, como lo pagará la patrocinadora, no hay problema.Esto es un escándalo ético y una falta de respeto a las leyes de un país. Sólo porque tiene el dinero para pagar la multa, o quién se la pague, piensa que puede ignora las leyes vigentes.El Real Madrid anda por ahí alardeando de que es más que un equipo y que es especial, etc. etc. etc. Pues parece que no. Parece que es como cualquiera que piensa porque tiene dinero puede hacer lo que quiera.¡Muy mal Real Madrid!Onésimo Alvarez-MoroVer artículo:Al Real Madrid le han prohibido jugar en Bremen con su habitual camiseta blanca,...
Proposed New Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Regulations via Governance Focus
“A man must live like a great brilliant flame and burn as brightly as he can. In the end he burns out but this is far better than a mean little flame”. Boris YeltsinWhat do you know about money laundering and terrorist financing regulations compliance that realtors must adhere to?CREA set out a Call to Action Campaign regarding the new proposed regulations that apply only to REALTORS and not to other professionals who can sell real estate, such as lawyers. The new regulations are slated to become law in June 2008.See full...
Rohm and Haas plans price hike via Governance Focus
Is there any reason why Rohm and Haas sees a need to announce that it plans price hikes? Would it not be enough to speak with their clients and let them know that this is their plan?I wonder if their clients appreciate being told of price increases through the press.There is, of course, another reason why this sort of announcement is useful, to inform competitors that this is your intention. Why would they want to do that........surely not to have them do the same?They wouldn´t do that, would they.........given that it would be very close to price fixing and against the law?Onésimo Alvarez-MoroSee...
Harassment case reflects ‘climate’ change via Governance Focus
Changes in attitudes toward sexual harassment in the workplace in the past 15 years might easily boil down to a tale of two Thomases: Clarence and Isiah.The crude insults and unwanted advances outlined in the case against New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas must have sounded familiar to anyone who watched law professor Anita Hill accuse then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment 16 years ago.And while the outcomes of the two cases couldn't be more different, that early accusation helped lead to a sea change that paved the way for Tuesday's eye-popping $11.6 million verdict for the Knicks' accuser, according to Columbia University law professor Suzanne Goldberg.See full...
E&Y escapes liability for audit via Governance Focus
Ernst & Young, the big accountancy firm, escaped potentially expensive legal liability for negligent audit work done at ERF, the British truckmaker, when appeal judges upheld an earlier high court decision.But, while the ruling came as a relief for the "Big Four" accountancy firms, lawyers said its broader implications for accountants were less favourable.In particular, comments by one of the appeal court judges - and endorsed by the other two - could mean they will face greater legal risks when auditing a subsidiary business that they know is probably going to be sold by its parent company."Auditors will have to take particular care with regard to their liability position when auditing a subsidiary which they know is likely to be sold," said Richard Swallow of the Slaughter & May law...
Whistleblowers - 2007 via Governance Focus
With one telephone call to the media, one video on YouTube, one letter to the right public official, a corrupt company can be brought to its knees by a whistleblower.In the post-Enron era, whistle blowing – the act of exposing fraud, waste, abuse or other misbehaviour in a company or organisation – is on the rise. In the United States, for example, more than US $8 billion has been recovered as a direct result of whistleblowers’ actions. Whistle blowing can be an effective way to deter and detect corruption both in the private and public sectors and it provides better information flows, which increase the chances of successful prosecutions in corruption cases. But in order for whistle blowing to be an effective tool to fight corruption, legislation and clear processes are...
Accountability called into question via Governance Focus
The independent expert’s report on Wednesday that Refco’s creditors have viable legal claims against the bankrupt brokers’ lawyers and accountants shines a spotlight on efforts to hold professional firms accountable when public companies are accused of fraud.Joshua Hochberg, an independent expert appointed by the New York bankruptcy court, spent 11 months investigating the events leading up to Refco’s collapse in October 2005.The company, which had gone public five months earlier, was valued at $4bn before it revealed that its former chief executive Phillip Bennett had failed to disclose a $430m debt he owed the company.The debt allegedly stemmed from client losses and was concealed using a roundtrip loan scheme.See full Article (paid subscription...