SEC To Curtail Outrageous Practice

[Tx4obama]

More Defendants Would Admit Guilt Under New SEC Policy

In a change of policy that comes after more than two years of public and embarrassing scoldings by a federal judge, the Securities and Exchange Commission will now force some defendants to do something they've never had to do in order to settle their case: confess.

Companies and individuals that settle a civil case with the SEC that also have admitted to or been convicted of criminal violations in a related matter will no longer be allowed to say that they "neither admit nor deny" the agency's charges, according to the agency.

The policy would end a practice that allowed such celebrated villains as Bernard Madoff -- who was sentenced to 150 years in prison for masterminding the biggest financial con job in history -- to settle charges with the SEC without admitting wrongdoing. However, it wouldn't affect most SEC settlements, which come independent of any criminal charges.

Prior to the change, the SEC, which has the power to file civil, but not criminal charges, included the boilerplate disclaimer in every settlement deal reviewed by the Center for Public Integrity in an analysis last year.

SNIP

Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/securities-and-exchange-commission-sec_n_1190596.html

[FreakinDJ]

1. only certain few cases

"But it doesn't signal a fundamental shift in policy that will affect the typical civil enforcement action."

That means that high-profile civil defendants will still be able to settle charges without admitting to any wrongdoing. Some recent examples include: Michael Dell, founder of the giant computer manufacturer, who agreed to pay $4 million to settle accounting fraud charges; Steven Rattner, the Obama administration’s one-time auto czar, who agreed to pay $6.2 million to settle pay-for-play charges involving the New York state pension fund; and Paul George Chironis, a broker-dealer at a now-defunct firm, who paid $350,000 to settle charges that he defrauded a group of elderly Sisters of Charity nuns in the Bronx.

It also probably won't do anything to lower the temperature in a public spat between New York Federal District Judge Jed Rakoff and the SEC over whether agency settlements are fair to the public.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/securities-and-exchange-commission-sec_n_1190596.html

The MAJORITY of cases will still be able to get off scott free