23 november 2008

A Supreme Court bench comprising of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Arun Mishra directed the Bihar and Chhattisgarh Governments to trace the missing children in their States within a month. It said that it would take two states at a time to examine whether they have complied with its directions.The Bench showed satisfaction with the efforts taken by the Bihar Government, which traced 169 missing children within a week of the Court’s orders. The State now has an onus of finding the remaining 464 children within 3 weeks.Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Bihar, submitted that in the last one year, 2,874 cases of missing children were registered and 2,241 children were found and 633 are still missing.The Bench also summoned Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh for the State’s failure in finding the missing children. It took note of the fact that out of the 23,000 children that went missing in Madhya Pradesh since 2011, 7,000 still remained … [Read more...] about SC orders Bihar and Chhattisgarh to trace missing children within a month; directs MP Chief Secretary to appear on November 20

Energy and Climate DebateAfter the House failed to move forward with Speaker of the House John Boehner’s (R-OH) Plan B proposal to avoiding the fiscal cliff, President Obama called on Congress December 21 to pass a basic agreement on the fiscal cliff that would preserve middle class tax cuts and unemployment insurance funding, while laying the groundwork for growth and deficit reduction. However, the Administration has since expressed a willingness to settle for a less comprehensive package after a short Christmas recess, but doing so will still require bipartisan cooperation.An outcome for the tax extenders debate, as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations, remains up in the air. Whether or not $70 billion in tax extenders funding is even included in an final end of the year fiscal cliff avoidance package has yet to be determined, as Congress focuses primarily on blocking the full impact of $607 billion in tax increase and spending cuts scheduled to take effect in January. Though … [Read more...] about Energy & Environmental Law Update – December 23, 2012

Significant Case DevelopmentsData Security Auditor May be Drawn Into Data Breach Class Action for Failing to Identify VulnerabilitiesStorm v. Paytime, Inc., No. 14-cv-01138-JEJ (M.D. Pa.).In August, Paytime, Inc., a payroll services company, moved to dismiss a putative class action filed in the wake of a data breach in which the personal and financial information of more than 230,000 people was compromised. Paytime argued that the plaintiffs lack standing, have failed to plead actual harm, and were not a party to or intended beneficiary of any contract with Paytime.On September 30, while the motion to dismiss was pending, Paytime ran up against the court’s deadline for joining additional parties and filed a motion for leave to file a third party complaint against its data security auditor. Six months prior to the data breach, SotirIS, a provider of integrated business solutions and cloud hosting, performed a “comprehensive breach assessment” for … [Read more...] about Cybersecurity Litigation Monthly Newsletter-November 2014

New Rules, Proposed Rules and GuidanceCFTC Adopts Rule Amendments to Harmonize Compliance Obligations for Commodity Pool Operators of Registered Investment Companies On August 13, 2013, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) adopted final regulations with respect to compliance obligations for commodity pool operators (CPOs) of registered investment companies. The final regulations (the Harmonization Rules) amend Part 4 of the CFTC’s regulations in order to harmonize the disclosure, reporting and recordkeeping compliance obligations of the CFTC and SEC applicable to entities registered with both regulatory agencies. (In February 2012, the CFTC amended CFTC Rule 4.5, which modified the exclusion from the definition of a CPO for funds by imposing limitations on the use of certain commodity interests. For funds no longer able to claim the exclusion from the definition of a CPO, the investment adviser is now required to register with the CFTC, thus becoming subject to … [Read more...] about Investment Services Regulatory Update – November 2013

Two related broker-dealers agreed to pay the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority US $17 million to resolve charges that they did not implement and maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program. More significantly, the AML compliance officer of one of the broker-dealers also paid a fine and agreed to a temporary industry suspension for her alleged role in her firm’s violations. In addition, a famous professional golfer settled charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission for his role in a larger alleged insider-trader scandal but was not charged with insider trading himself. As a result, the following matters are covered in this week’s edition of Bridging the Week:Two Related Broker-Dealers To Pay US $17 Million for Widespread AML Compliance Failures; Former AML Compliance Officer Also Sanctioned (includes Compliance Weeds and My View);Famous Golfer, Professional Sports Gambler and Corporate Tipster All Named in SEC-Insider Trading Action; Criminal Charges … [Read more...] about Bridging the Week: May 16 – 20 and May 23, 2016 (AML; Compliance Officers; Whistleblowers; Golfer)