Investigations Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Brokerage firms facing scrutiny over a potential compliance violation have long been able to help their cause by engaging with regulators throughout the process. Now Finra, the brokerage industry’s self-regulatory organization, is piloting a new self-reporting initiative that could bring Finra’s inquiries to an end sooner and potentially avoid penalties.Leaders of Finra’s enforcement division described reforms to the organization’s processes at a recent conference in Washington, stressing the importance of volunteering information that could help regulators understand more about the firm’s operations, what might have gone wrong from a compliance perspective, and what the firm is doing to address the issue.At the outset of an investigation, Finra is inviting firms, along with their outside counsel, to sit for an introductory meeting.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Forensic audits have gained significance in today’s world of business as they serve as a useful tool for commercial lenders to investigate fraud by borrowers and/or identify other deep-seated financial irregularities. Forensic auditors are also employed by resolution professionals to report on preferential, undervalued, fraudulent and extortionate (‘PUFE’) transactions for adjudication under India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). While there is no single universal definition, several globally recognized organizations have provided widely accepted definitions (and norms) of forensic auditing.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A trader couldn’t hope for better timing.Moments before President Trump postponed strikes on Tehran’s energy infrastructure in a morning social-media post on March 23, a spasm of trades hit the market during off-hours. More than $800 million worth of U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Are you better off than when Jerome Powell assumed the chair of the Federal Reserve Board on Feb. 5, 2018? From the narrow viewpoint of investors, the answer would be yes.Over those eight-plus years, the central bank and the markets experienced a once-in-a-century pandemic, a near-total shutdown of major economies, and nearly an acute seizure of financial markets, followed by the biggest surge in inflation in over four decades.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: The US market regulator’s $18-million settlement of a civil case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and nephew Sagar Adani has no immediate bearing on a parallel criminal investigation initiated against them by the US Department of Justice (DoJ).The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Adanis acknowledged that the settlement does not grant them immunity from any criminal liability related to the case, they said in their filings with a New York court.“This settles the civil action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It has no implications for the existing criminal charges brought by the DoJ or any other criminal investigation that may be pending,” said Russell A.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Kevin Warsh was approved by the Senate as the next chair of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday afternoon, inheriting an economy reckoning with persistent inflation and an increasingly divided group of policymakers.The chamber confirmed him with a vote of 54-45, almost entirely along party lines. Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman was the lone crossover.The vote came just days before Jerome Powell’s term as chair expires Friday.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.An employee comes forward with embarrassing workplace allegations fraught with legal risks. For company bosses, it presents a thorny dilemma: Fight or pay?It is a situation JPMorgan Chase found itself in weeks before a former banker filed a lawsuit filled with sensational accusations.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.This 100-minute film opens with the MGM lion bleating instead of roaring, setting the tone for a cutesy yarn, or a “herder mystery”, a clever pun used in the promotions. Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story, a 2005 novel by Leonie Swann, is the foundation for the mystery comedy The Sheep Detectives, adapted by Craig Mazin and directed by Kyle Balda.The shepherd in question is George (Hugh Jackman), who dotes on his flock to the extent that he has named each one of them.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Jerome Powell held his last press conference as Federal Reserve chair on Wednesday afternoon, but said he would stay on as a Fed governor pending the conclusion of an investigation into the renovation of the Fed’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.Powell, whose term as a governor runs through early 2028, said he would keep a low profile and has no interest in acting as a shadow chair under his presumptive successor, Kevin Warsh. That may be welcome news to Warsh, given the other challenges he is likely to face, including the most fractious Federal Open Market Committee in more than 30 years.The Fed held its federal-funds rate target steady after its April 28-29 policy meeting in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, as expected.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Federal Reserve succession drama now comes down to a decision only Jerome Powell can make.The Justice Department said on Friday it would halt its criminal investigation of the Fed chair. Initial ambiguity about whether the probe was truly over kept the path uncertain through the weekend.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The government has set up an inter-ministerial advisory body, the AI Governance and Economic Group (Aigeg), to act as a central node for shaping and coordinating policy on artificial intelligence. But what rules are startups currently operating under, and will this new body change anything for innovation in the space? Mint breaks it down.For startups operating in AI in India today, the legal landscape is a combination of multiple laws.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Wall Street’s watchdogs are ramping up their inquiries into how much risk has built up in the $3 trillion private-credit industry, just as investor angst has sparked some backers to head to the exits.The Securities and Exchange Commission in recent months has opened several enforcement investigations of large private-credit managers, according to people familiar with the matter. The Treasury Department has requested information from private fund managers and insurance firms about their business models.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.SÃO PAULO—A Brazilian gang founded in the country’s violent prisons is fast becoming one of the world’s biggest criminal organizations, reshaping global cocaine flows from South America to Europe’s busiest ports and edging into the U.S.Long under Washington’s radar, the First Capital Command, known by its Portuguese initials PCC, started out as a disgruntled band of inmates fighting for soap and toilet paper in the 1990s.It now has some 40,000 members behind bars and on the streets with a vast network of affiliates—making it the largest criminal group in the Americas by some estimates, operating in nearly 30 countries on every continent except Antarctica.“The PCC has become a truly transnational group,” said Lincoln Gakiya, Brazil’s top PCC prosecutor, who has tracked its rise for two decades. “I believe it is now the fastest-growing criminal organization in the world.”With the scale of Italian organized criminal groups and the efficiency of a multinational corporation, the PCC has helped drive record cocaine seizures in Europe and sparked violent turf wars in the heart of major ports in Belgium and the Netherlands.Prosecutors and police in Brazil are calling on President Trump to label the PCC a Foreign Terrorist Organization, joining more than a dozen other Latin criminal networks.The PCC is organized crime at its most organized, prosecutors say.Unlike the narco-tycoons of Mexico, the heavily armed Colombian cocaine militias or the flashy drug lords of Rio de Janeiro’s Red Command gang, PCC members keep a low, businesslike profile, seeking fortune not fame—and shying away from the kinds of gratuitous violence that attract police and TV news crews.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.On Thursday afternoon, Netflix announced that co-founder and chairman of the board Reed Hastings would be stepping down when his term expires later this year “in order to focus on his philanthropy and other pursuits,” according to a letter to shareholders.Hastings founded Netflix in 1997 with Marc Randolph, and took the reins in 1999 when the company was still a DVD-by-mail service. In 2020 he elevated creative executive Ted Sarandos to the co-CEO position, reflecting how important original content had become for Netflix, by then the leading subscription streaming service.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Trump administration spent months demanding the Federal Reserve cut interest rates. This week, two people with close ties to the White House said waiting to move makes some sense.Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran, speaking at an economic forum in Washington, D.C., said Thursday he is reconsidering his rate cut outlook for the year, trimming his projection from four cuts to potentially three and acknowledging the inflation picture had become more complicated even before war with Iran began.The remarks came just days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also took a slight turn from his earlier stance on monetary policy.Cuts should come eventually, Bessent said at a Washington conference, but waiting for clarity on the Iran situation makes sense.

Mint spoke with, companies are increasingly hiring law firms and investigative agencies before closing deals to ensure that none of the parties involved, including subsidiaries, parents or suppliers, feature on sanctions lists.Clients are now required to sign sanctions standard operating procedures (SOPs) before finalising deals, which mandate disclosures such as ultimate beneficiaries, end-use certificates, and verification of licensed vendors.The purpose of such stringent due diligence is to ensure that companies do not deal with sanctioned entities, thus preventing frozen assets, blocked payments, or stalled deals amid geopolitical tensions.“With growing awareness, turbulent global environment and growing tariff and sanctions regime, sanction checks are carried out on large and key vendors at a pre-transaction stage. Further, post transactions, clients are asking us to implement third-party diligence programs in the acquired company and also have a real-time sanctions screening process,” said Tarun Bhatia, managing director and APAC co-head at financial risk and advisory firm Kroll.A sanctions control and ownership test determines whether an entity is “blocked” due to ownership by sanctioned individuals.

Sebi. Victims have also started complaining more since the markets have been down in the past two years and they have been forced to bear immense losses,” said Tomu Francis, partner at Khaitan and Co.APs operate under brokers’ control and cannot independently handle client funds or act outside regulatory limits.

In a crucial ruling for the banking sector, the Supreme Court clarified that banks are not required to provide borrowers a personal or oral hearing before classifying their accounts as fraudulent. On Tuesday, the court held that a written process is enough to satisfy principles of natural justice.Mint explains the case, the ruling, and what it means for fraud detection by banks and for borrowers.The case before a two-person Supreme Court bench arose from appeals filed by banks, including State Bank of India and Bank of India, against orders of the Calcutta and Delhi High Courts.

Mint.The IPO bankers and the exchange started the drafting process for the offer document and chalked out a rough timeline for the listing, one of the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity."NSE met all 20 bankers together for the first time, where everyone agreed to a tentative timeline for the IPO," this person said, adding that the process will begin with the identification of risks and the preparation of required disclosures, work on which is likely to begin this week.The exchange will contact all retail shareholders who wish to participate in the share sale by the end of April, a second person aware of the discussions said, wishing not to be named discussing private deliberations.The exchange’s registrar had already asked retail shareholders late last month to express their interest in the IPO."The exact date of the filing of the DRHP with Sebi is currently unknown. Accordingly, only such equity shares which have been held continuously since June 15, 2025 (the cut-off date) will be eligible to be sold in the Offer for Sale," the registrar's letter to retail investors read, a copy of which has been reviewed by Mint."Once these retail investors express their interests, the bankers will have a three-week period to review the outreach.

overreaction, with fundamentals remaining largely intact, it is a clear signal to buy. Otherwise, the downside looks pretty steep.

When taxpayers complain that the income tax department is adversarial, the issue is often framed as interpersonal and behavioural. Are officers too aggressive? Are notices too intrusive? Is the department predisposed to distrust the taxpayer? These questions matter, but they misstate the problem. The real difficulty is institutional.