The United States (US) Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that it has obtained a federal court Consent Order (12 January 2013) against J. Hansen Investments (JHI) and its owner and sole employee Jonathan Hansen, which requires them to settle fraud and misappropriation charges in connection with their operation of a commodity pool scheme.

A pivotal figure in the conviction of disgraced hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, Roomy Khan, was sentenced to one year in prison last week after previously pleading guilty to both illegally passing inside information and obstruction of justice. According to Judge Rakoff, despite the assistance Khan provided prosecutors in the case against Rajaratnam, her exploits were serious enough to necessitate a prison term. Rakoff also said the sentence would send a “very important message” about the consequences of obstructing a federal investigation. In a separate action, Jason Pflaum was sentenced to two years of probation for securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

Barclays Bank (Barclays) chief executive Antony Jenkins has waived his bonus for 2012 in view of public interest and the "multiple issues ... making besetting the bank", concluding that "it would be wrong ... to receive a bonus". Reportedly, in addition to the £290 million fine to settle Libor rigging, Barclays has been accused of mis-selling interest rate swaps and payment protection insurance (PPI) and manipulating energy prices.

The United States (US) Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced that it is seeking more than US$5 billion in a lawsuit against rating agency Standard & Poor's Rating Service (S&P) and its parent company The McGraw-Hill Companies for losses that resulted from the agency's mortgage bond ratings. The suit accuses S&P of deliberately inflating its ratings on collateralised debt obligations and residential mortgage-backed securities in 2007 in order to win revenue from issuers and build its market share, with charges including wire fraud, mail fraud and financial institution fraud.

The United Kingdom Financial Service Authority (FSA) has released Four building blocks of efficient capital markets (1 February 2013), a speech delivered by FSA markets director David Lawton at the Practising Law Institute Conference. Mr Lawton's discussion focussed on ethical market behaviour and effective corporate governance.
(Source: FSA)

The United States (US) Department of Labor (DoL) has announced that ING Life Insurance and Annuity Co (ILAC) has agreed to provide a US$5.2 million payment to certain retirement plan clients "adversely affected by its undisclosed practice of keeping investment gains achieved when the company failed to process requested transactions in a timely manner". According to the DoL, the failure was a breach of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

The United States (US) Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced that the Federal Court in Kansas has permanently barred Instant Tax Service franchisee A&S Tax Services (ASTS), a tax-preparation service, from further operating or preparing federal tax returns for others. According to the DoJ, ASTS and its owner Semere Tsehaye allegedly instructed ASTS employees "to engage in systemic and pervasive tax fraud, including routinely preparing tax forms falsely claiming education and dependent-care credits, reporting items pertaining to phony companies, and reporting fictitious income and expenses in order to fraudulently inflate the Earned Income Tax Credit". A&S Tax Services has also been ordered to pay US$100,000 in civil penalties, according to the DoJ.

Presented by Valerie Barckhoff

Vice President, North Highland

The United States (US) Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced that former Stanford International Bank (SIB) and Stanford Financial Group chief financial officer James Davis has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in helping Allen Stanford carry out a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of US$7 billion, and conspiring to obstruct an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition to the prison term, Mr Davis was sentenced to three years of supervised release and subjected to a personal money judgment of US$1 billion.

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has made available a letter (14 January 2013) announcing the release of Corporate Governance - Private Sector Consultation (undated), which sets out CIMA's proposals for enhancing the corporate governance regulatory framework.