Halliburton Paying $29.2 Million to Settle FCPA Violations

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Halliburton Company with violating the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) while selecting and making payments to a local company in Angola in the course of winning lucrative oilfield services contracts. read more »

The Strange Case of Martin Shkreli Is Wrapping Up

In February 2013, Martin Shkreli was contemplating a deal that involved acquiring shares of Retrophin, the pharmaceutical company he ran, at below the market price.

His lawyer advised him to be careful, writing: “Not the best course of action - you are the director and ceo of a public company, you now have duty of loyalty and related issues.” 

Mr. Shkreli crudely dismissed the advice.

The email exchange was one of dozens of documents showed to jurors as the prosecution wound up its case against Mr. Shkreli, the pharmaceutical entrepreneur and former hedge fund manager. read more »

Former Petrobras CEO Bendine Arrested in Bribe Probe

On Thursday federal police in Brazil arrested Aldemir Bendine, the former CEO of Petrobras (PBR)  , on suspicion he received bribes from the construction conglomerate Odebrecht.

The prosecutor general's office said police issued three arrest warrants and executed 11 search and seizure warrants as part of what is being known as the "Car Wash investigation," read more »

Libor Brought Scandal, Cost Billions — and May Be Going Away

The benchmark is one of the most important in the world. It underpins trillions of dollars in financial products. It was the center of a huge scandal when banks were accused of rigging it.

Now Libor is going away.

British regulators said on Thursday that they wanted to phase out the scandal-plagued interest rate by 2021, replacing it with new measures that are more closely tied to the lending markets.

Several banks were accused of adjusting their Libor submissions to benefit themselves and their traders’ positions, rather than reflecting the rates at which they were actually making loans. An inquiry into manipulation of the rate led to billions of dollars in fines and shook the reputations of some of the world’s biggest banks, including Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS. read more »

Ex-New York analyst gets 3 years and 9 months for insider trading

A former New York securities analyst who was imprisoned for refusing to come to court to face trial on insider trading charges was sentenced on Wednesday to three years and nine months after being convicted.

John Afriyie, who worked at Dell Inc founder Michael Dell's investment firm MSD Capital, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in a courtroom full of his relatives and friends. The judge also ordered him to pay restitution of nearly $2.8 million. read more »