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Goldman Receives Subpoena Over Financial Crisis
Court News |
2011/06/02 09:05
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Goldman Sachs has received a subpoena from the office of the Manhattan District Attorney, which is investigating the investment bank's role in the financial crisis.
The inquiry stems from a 650-page Senate report from the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that found Goldman had "misled" its clients about mortgage-linked securities. Senator Carl Levin, the Democrat of Michigan, who headed up the Congressional inquiry, had sent his findings to the Justice Department to figure out whether executives broke the law.
The subpoena come two weeks after lawyers for Goldman met with the Manhattan District Attorney's office for an "exploratory" meeting about the Senate, the people said.
"We don't comment on specific regulatory or legal issues, but subpoenas are a normal part of the information request process and, of course, when we receive them we cooperate fully," said a Goldman spokesperson.
Shares of Goldman Sachs were down more than 2 percent on Thursday. |
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Mixed economic data leave stocks wavering
Stock Market News |
2011/06/02 09:04
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Mixed economic data left the stock market wavering between small gains and losses Thursday, one day after the Dow Jones industrial average had its biggest drop since last June.
Wednesday's losses were triggered by reports that suggested that the U.S. economy is slowing. Economic news set the tone again on Thursday.
Before the market opened, the government said first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell to 422,000, a slight dip from the previous week, but still above what economists expected. Applications need to fall below 375,000 in order to signal that the economy is adding jobs.
The Dow rose 6 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,295 in early trading. The S&P 500 rose 1 point to 1,315. The Nasdaq composite gained 11 or 0.4 percent, to 2,780.
Retailers reported mixed sales results. Gap Inc. fell 2.3 percent after sales fell across all its brands. Target Corp. fell nearly 3 percent after missing expectations as sales traffic slowed during the second half of the month. Costco Wholesale Corp. was among the few retailers that did not lose ground. The warehouse retailer gained 0.1 percent after reporting higher revenue, thanks in part to international sales.
Fears that the economy is stalling sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 280 points Wednesday, erasing more than a quarter of the stock market's gains for the year. Treasury bond yields fell to their lowest level since December as traders put a higher value on safer investments. |
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US investigating Google claim of China hacking
Headline Legal News |
2011/06/01 09:05
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Authorities in the United States are investigating a Google claim that hackers in China stole email details of senior U.S. government officials -- an issue that illustrates the problem of attribution in cyberspace, the coordinator for cyber issues at the U.S. State Department said Thursday.
Google disclosed Wednesday that personal Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including senior U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists, had been breached. The company said it traced the origin of the attacks to Jinan, China, the home city of a military vocational school whose computers were linked to an assault 17 months ago on Google's systems. China has said it does not support hacking.
"The issue of attribution and knowing whether a state or non-state actors are involved is a huge problem in cybersecurity," Christopher Painter, coordinator for cyber issues for the State Department, told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a cybersecurity conference in London. He declined further comment on the Google claim.
Yuan Xu of the Internet Society of China, an industry group, defended her country's actions against phishing -- the type of attack that Google says was used against its users. Phishing fools users into giving their personal details to rogue websites.
She declined to comment on the specifics of the Google case, saying she didn't know enough about it, but noted that the CNCERT -- one of China's Internet watchdogs -- regularly shares the addresses of suspected phishing websites with its international partners.
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Bauer leaving, Ruemmler in as White House counsel
Headline Legal News |
2011/06/01 09:04
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President Barack Obama's top lawyer at the White House is resigning to return to private practice and represent Obama as his personal attorney and as general counsel to Obama's re-election campaign.
Bob Bauer will be replaced by his top deputy, Kathy Ruemmler, a former assistant U.S. attorney best known as lead prosecutor in the Enron fraud case.
The move means that Bauer, 59, will still play a central but outside role in advising a president who is seeking re-election in a time of divided government.
Meanwhile, the 40-year-old Ruemmler will take over the job as Obama's top in-house counsel and manager of a White House law office charged with juggling the domestic, national security and congressional oversight challenges confronting the president.
In a statement, Obama praised Bauer as a friend with exceptional judgment who will remain a close advisor. As to his new White House-based counsel, Obama said: "Kathy is an outstanding lawyer with impeccable judgment. Together, Bob and Kathy have led the White House Counsel's office, and Kathy will assure that it continues to successfully manage its wide variety of responsibilities."
Bauer has been part of Obama's circle since Obama was a freshmen senator in Washington, and now returns to the campaign counsel role he had when Obama ran in 2008. He has long been a go-to lawyer for Democrats on matters of political law and is married to Anita Dunn, a Democratic communications operative who formerly worked in Obama's White House.
Bauer will leave his White House post at the end of June. In a style typifying the low-key nature of transitions in the counsel's office, the news came in the form of a press release.
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RIM Says Investor Suit Is 'Without Merit'
Securities Class Action |
2011/05/30 13:40
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Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, said Friday that allegations that the company misled investors about its financial state are "without merit."
Lawyers for shareholders of the company filed a lawsuit this week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking class action status. The suit claims that between Dec. 16, 2010 and April 28 RIM executives made false and misleading statements about the company's financial condition and business prospects. The suit, which was filed by Mary T. Stabile on behalf of anyone who bought the stock during that time frame, names RIM itself, Chief Financial Officer Brian Bidulka, and co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Michael Lazaridis as defendants.
The suit is the latest in a string of negatives for RIM. The company's BlackBerry smartphones are known for their security and reliability as email devices, but haven't kept up with Apple Inc.'s iPhones or phones that use Google Inc.'s Android software when it comes to running third-party applications. In addition to its sales struggles, the company released its first tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook, to mixed reviews in April and had to recall about 1,000 of the devices in May due to defective operating software that could have made it impossible for users to set up the device. Most of the gadgets were recalled before being purchased by consumers.
The suit alleges that RIM "failed to inform investors that its aging product line and inability to introduce new products to the market was negatively impacting the company's business and margins." It also argues that RIM knew that BlackBerry shipments would decline and inventory would rise because of problems such as product delays and "lackluster" launches.
RIM's stock dropped 11 percent on March 25 after the company issued a lower-than-expected forecast for its fiscal first quarter. And On April 28 the stock dropped 14 percent when RIM slashed that quarterly forecast, saying it had been selling fewer and cheaper smartphones than it anticipated. Between Dec. 16 and April 29, the stock fell 17.8 percent overall.
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Investment Fraud Litigation |
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Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a practice that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in losses, in violation of the securities laws. Securities Arbitration. Generally speaking, securities fraud consists of deceptive practices in the stock and commodity markets, and occurs when investors are enticed to part with their money based on untrue statements.
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The content contained on the web site has been prepared by Securities Law News as a service to the internet community and is not intended to constitute legal advice or a substitute for consultation with a licensed legal professional in a particular case. | Affordable Law Firm Website Design by Law Promo |
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