The pandemic could expose more Wirecards

CNN

The coronavirus pandemic has already seen one major accounting fraud. There could be more to come.
 

The implosion of digital payments company Wirecard has set off a huge scandal in Germany, where financial regulators, auditors and the firm's supervisory board are being asked how they missed a $2 billion fraud.

Journalists, whistleblowers and skeptical investors had all questioned Wirecard's accounting for years, but executives were able to brush aside their allegations. read more »

Big Four Face Big Split as Watchdog Sets Separation Deadline

BLOOMBERG

The U.K.’s dominant accounting firms must separate their audit units from other operations by June 2024 as the country’s industry watchdog reacts to shortcomings that led to the collapse of several companies.

The Financial Reporting Council is asking the so-called Big Four -- KPMG, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC and Ernst & Young -- to agree to operational separation to ensure audit practices don’t rely on “persistent cross-subsidy from the rest of the firm,” it said Monday. read more »

Entrepreneur And Pharmaceutical Company Executive Sentenced For Role In International Insider Trading Scheme

DOJ

Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Telemaque Lavidas, an entrepreneur and pharmaceutical company executive, was sentenced on July 2 to one year and one day in prison for his role in an international insider trading scheme.  Lavidas was convicted after trial in January 2020 of insider trading offenses for stealing inside information that he obtained from his father, a member of the board of directors of a pharmaceutical company, and illegally tipping his close friend and co-defendant Georgios Nikas with that inside information.  The sentence was imposed by United States District Judge Denise Cote. read more »