SEC investigating HCA
Posted on October 7, 2009 at 8:55 amThe Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Nashville-based hospital operator HCA Inc. fabricated “tens of thousands of payments for phantom nursing shifts,” the Washington Post reported today. The probe focuses, at least in part, on HCA’s London operations, according to the Post’s report, which cites documents and people close to the investigation, as well as a statement from the company confirming it has been contacted by the SEC.
UPDATE: HCA released the following statement:
“We are aware that a former employee in our London payroll department is seeking money in a civil employment lawsuit, and she has made assertions about the accuracy of our nurse scheduling systems and the related compensation paid in our six UK hospitals. This former employee has made similar allegations to local authorities in London who have declined to investigate. Her allegations have no merit, and we are vigorously defending the employment litigation. We also have received a voluntary request for related information from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. We have provided requested information and look forward to working with them to conclude this inquiry.”
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Morgan Stanley fined over misstating Nashville advisor
Posted on July 20, 2009 at 12:40 pmThe SEC has slapped a $500,000 fine on Morgan Stanley after a Nashville-based top gun steered clients to money managers outside of a sanctioned list. The employee, William Keith Phillips, will get his hearing in the next two months.
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Opening up the proxies
Posted on June 15, 2009 at 5:24 pmCue the fireworks: The rulemakers at the SEC have released a draft set of guidelines that would, in the words of the corporate and securities team at Bass Berry & Sims, “appear to significantly increase the likelihood of companies being involved in an actual or threatened proxy fight with multiple dissidents.”
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Credit card venture wants to raise millions
Posted on at 12:35 pm
The team behind edo Interactive, which last month officially launched its venture marketing prepaid debit and credit cards, is looking to raise $8 million via a private offering.
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Surprise! The SEC examiners are here!
Posted on May 15, 2009 at 12:30 am
In the wake of Madoff & Co., the investment watchdog plans to stop by unannounced at money managers’ offices once a year to make sure the books are in order. Cue the moaning from the industry about added costs…
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Ingram Micro pays up to settle SEC investigation
Posted on May 12, 2009 at 10:35 pmThe California-based company (Ticker: IM) that is 4 percent-owned by Nashville’s Ingram family will forfeit $15 million to end an inquiry into its role in the fraud perpetrated by software marketer McAfee.
The distributor sought to benefit from McAfee’s willingness to make payments for increasing amounts of unneeded products, the SEC said. Ingram Micro employees ignored internal goals of carrying no more than eight weeks of inventory, accruing a 22-month supply. It later reduced the stockpile by engaging in circular transactions with McAfee that lacked “economic substance,” the regulator said.
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FOX Business sues SEC over Stanford
Posted on March 24, 2009 at 8:58 amFrom TVB:
Fox Business Network is suing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to respond to an expedited request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, the news franchise alleged.
The initial request, filed on Feb.26, 2009, sought records of potential securities violations by Stanford Financials Group, its affiliates and its chairman, R. Allen Stanford. The request included the commission’s response to complaints and tips, and any resulting actions.
The SEC charged Stanford last month with running an $8 billion Ponzi scheme.
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SEC files amended complaint against Stanford
Posted on February 27, 2009 at 7:00 pmFrom the Commercial Appeal:
Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission released an amended complaint against Stanford and its top executives, R. Allen Stanford, James M. Davis and Laura Pendergest-Holt.
The complaint alleges that “for at least a decade,” Davis and Allen Stanford, through the companies they control under the Stanford umbrella, “executed a massive Ponzi scheme.”
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Feds raid Memphis financial service firm office
Posted on February 17, 2009 at 11:23 amFrom the Commercial Appeal:
FBI agents began removing boxes of documents from Stanford Financial Group Inc.’s Memphis office at the Crescent Center this morning.
The Houston-based financial services firm is under investigation by several federal agencies who say the company’s certificates of deposits are paying interest rates that are more than twice the national average.
Update: More big-picture info on what is now said to be an $8 billion fraud scheme from Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.
And a link to the last public-company quarterly report filed by local golf equipment maker ForeFront Group, where a Stanford unit is listed as owning 81 percent of the company.
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Securities trouble for largest shareholder of local golf company
Posted on February 12, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Stanford International Bank, which as of last spring owned more than 80 percent of the shares of Brentwood-based ForeFront Holdings, is being investigated by securities regulators over the sale of certificates of deposit with a remarkably consistent performance record.
“That type of return ignores the business cycle,” said L. Burke Files, principal of Financial Examinations & Evaluations Inc., a Tempe, Arizona-based financial investigation firm. “His returns fall outside the bell curve of probability.”
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