Regulatory oversight

Pipeline Safety Monitoring Software Deliberately Crippled: Whistleblowers

Topics: 
Corporate ethics, Oil & gas industry, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
3

Greg Palast – December 16, 2011

Whistleblowers have told Britain's "Dispatches" that the safety software on major US pipelines contains deliberate errors - and so pipelines can - and have - busted, leaked, exploded ... and killed.

Congressional Republicans are holding extended unemployment benefits hostage until President Obama agrees to speed up approval to build the XL Keystone pipeline. XL Keystone will slice down through the entire width of the USA, moving tar-sands oil from Canada to Houston.

'No contest' settlements short-change investors

Topics: 
White-collar crime, Regulatory oversight, Financial industry
Rating: 
0

Theresa Tedesco  – December 6, 2011

Attempts to bring American-style justice to Canada are sure to meet with stiff resistance. The country’s top capital market watchdog is now collecting feedback on a proposal to allow “no-contest” settlement agreements that offer suspected wrongdoers a chance to settle a case without admitting to breaching securities law.

In so doing, the Ontario Securities Commission’s initiative would bolster its enforcement arsenal with a potent weapon that has helped the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) garner an impressive enforcement record and a fierce international reputation.

Prosecuting Wall Street: 60 Minutes

Topics: 
Financial crisis, White-collar crime, Videos, Regulatory oversight, Financial industry
Rating: 
3

60 Minutes – December 4, 2011

Two high-ranking financial whistleblowers say they tried to warn their superiors about defective and even fraudulent mortgages. So why haven't the companies or their executives been prosecuted?

Eileen Foster, a former senior executive at Countrywide Financial, and Richard Bowen, a former vice president at Citigroup, tell Steve Kroft the companies ignored their repeated warnings about defective, even fraudulent mortgages.

Canada’s financial consumers out in the cold

Topics: 
White-collar crime, Regulatory oversight, Financial industry, Watchdogs
Rating: 
3

Theresa Tedesco – November 22, 2011

What’s the difference between baby strollers, pharmaceutical and health products, tainted deli meat, bank service charges and unsuitable investments?

Canadians are protected with warnings, advisories and recall alerts for faulty food, drugs, auto parts and a bevy of other consumer products, but not for financial products, even though virtually every household in the country uses them.

Nursing home residents abused

Topics: 
Regulatory oversight, Nursing home abuse
Rating: 
4

Moira Welsh and Jesse McLean – November 17, 2011

Seniors in Ontario nursing homes are being beaten, neglected and even raped by the people hired to care for them, a Star investigation has found.

In one case, a helpless 71-year-old Toronto woman with advanced dementia was raped in her bed, allegedly by a male nurse identified months earlier by other staff at the home as someone who regularly disappeared on shift “without explanation.”

SEC targets low-level bankers, spares top execs

Topics: 
USA, SEC, Regulatory oversight, Financial industry, Anti-corruption efforts
Rating: 
2

Aruna Viswanatha – November 15, 2011

The U.S. government is not taking advantage of an enforcement tool that could potentially hold top Wall Street figures accountable for their role in the recent financial crisis, despite its prior success.

Broker-dealers, investment advisers, and others regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission are required to supervise their representatives. If a trader engages in misconduct, the SEC can sue the management with "failure to supervise."

Public funds wasted on toothless mining industry watchdog

Topics: 
Regulatory oversight, Resources industry, Watchdogs
Rating: 
4

Kate Heartfield – November 16, 2011

In October 2009, the federal government appointed Marketa Evans as the country's first "counsellor" on the subject of corporate social responsibility in the mining sector. After two years, her taxpayer-funded office has accepted only two cases for review.

The first review ended abruptly and without resolution, when the mining company involved — Excellon Resources Inc. — pulled out.The second review is at an early stage of "trust-building" between the parties, a stage that can last about six months; the next stage is structured dialogue.

Flight policy change called a risky manoeuvre

Topics: 
Aviation safety, Transport Canada, SMS, Videos, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
0
Rick Wolsey crash

CBC News – November 9, 2011

A new safety approach aimed at getting airlines to police themselves could endanger passengers, particularly those flying with smaller airlines, aviation experts warn.

In 2005, Transport Canada began changing over to a system that critics say essentially left airlines to regulate themselves, instead of primarily relying on federal inspectors to oversee airplane safety as they had before.

10 Things the SEC Won't Tell You

Topics: 
White-collar crime, Regulatory oversight, Financial industry
Rating: 
0

Quentin Fottrell – October 31, 2011

1. "We will never live up to your expectations."

"Occupy Wall Street" protestors aren't livid with just the financial industry. They're also mad at the people who were supposed to be policing that sector. On that score, the Securities and Exchange Commission is first in the firing line.

It infamously missed the warning signs related to some of the biggest financial scandals in history, experts say: The collapse of energy giant Enron in 2001, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008 and Bernie Madoff's multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme in 2009.

Judge Critical of SEC Practices

Topics: 
Financial crisis, White-collar crime, SEC, Regulatory oversight, Financial industry
Rating: 
0

Peter Lattman – October 20, 2011

It is boilerplate language found in nearly every settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission: A company resolves its case “without admitting or denying” wrongdoing.

There it was again in the S.E.C.’s announcement on Wednesday that Citigroup had agreed to pay $285 million to settle a civil complaint that it had defrauded investors in a mortgage securities deal. The bank did so “without admitting or denying” the government’s accusations.

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