|
The Morning Risk Report: SEC’s Musk Lawsuit Highlights Social Media Dangers |
|
|
| |
|
|
Tesla CEO Elon Musk calls an SEC lawsuit filed against him on Thursday unjustified. PHOTO: JAMES GLOVER/REUTERS
|
|
|
An incorrect version of this newsletter was sent earlier today. We apologize for the error.
Good day. A Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed Thursday against Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk highlights the compliance challenges companies face in an era of informal, immediate social media discourse. It also spotlights the risks associated with having a CEO who serves as the face and primary spokesman of a company.
The lawsuit, sparked by Mr. Musk’s social-media posts last month that floated the possibility of taking the electric-car maker private, seeks to bar him from being an officer or director of a public company—one of the most high-profile actions against a corporate executive in recent years.
|
|
|
|
“There will be a lot of general deterrence generated from this action because everyone will hear about it,” Alma Angotti, a former SEC enforcement attorney who now is a managing director at consultancy Navigant, told Risk & Compliance Journal’s Samuel Rubenfeld.
Mr. Musk called the suit unjustified and said he has always taken action “in the best interests of truth, transparency and investors.” Tesla and its board said Thursday in a joint statement they are fully confident in Mr. Musk.
|
|
“The fact that you are the CEO and the chairman of a public company does not mean that it’s your right to say whatever you want without vetting with people who can provide a measure of leavening.”
| — Harvey Pitt, a former SEC chairman |
|
|
|
|
|
In Petrobras Settlement, U.S. Follows Policy of Not Piling On Offenders |
|
The $853.2 million settlement struck Thursday by Brazilian state oil company Petrobras with U.S. and Brazilian authorities reflected a recent U.S. policy not to pile on corporate criminal offenders, Risk & Compliance Journal's Samuel Rubenfeld reports.
|
|
Danske Bank Tipster Seeks Protection |
|
Attorneys representing the man who blew the whistle on money laundering at Danske Bank AS sent a letter to authorities in Estonia and Denmark seeking action to protect the tipster from retaliation.
|
|
|
Standard Chartered Wants Greater Sharing of Financial
Intelligence |
|
Financial intelligence sharing partnerships—voluntary networks where banks, regulators and law-enforcement agencies come together to deter money laundering and terrorism financing—may hold the key to making smarter use of banks’ vast pile of suspicious activity reports.
Risk & Compliance Journal's Mara Lemos Stein spoke with David Fein, Standard Chartered Bank PLC’s general counsel, who shared lessons learned from partnerships in the U.S., U.K., Hong Kong and Singapore.
|
|
|
New Laws Aim to Make Work Hours More Predictable |
|
The minimum wage that workers earn has long been a matter of public policy. Now some city and state governments are weighing how employee hours are set in an attempt to give shift workers more predictability and stability.
|
|
|
CFPB Official Overseeing Discrimination Questioned Hate
Crimes |
|
A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official responsible for policing racial discrimination at financial companies acknowledged writing blog posts more than a decade ago that questioned the legitimacy of hate crimes.
|
|
|
U.S. Probes Ad Industry’s Media-Buying Practices |
|
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have opened an investigation into media-buying practices in the advertising industry and have begun issuing subpoenas as part of the probe.
|
|
|
Australia’s Banks Pursued Profits Over Integrity, Probe
Finds |
|
A judicial investigation into allegations of financial-industry misdeeds blames greed for a failure by Australia’s banks, insurers and pension funds to protect consumers.
|
|
|
|
After Florence, Smithfield Plans Fresh Look at Disaster Prep |
|
The biggest U.S. pork producer is reassessing its disaster preparedness after Hurricane Florence swamped hog farms on floodplains, Smithfield Foods Inc. chief executive Ken Sullivan said.
|
|
|
|
Thyssenkrupp Plans to Split into Two Companies |
|
German steel conglomerate Thyssenkrupp AG plans to split into two listed companies, taking a drastic strategic move following months of pressure from activist shareholders to improve profits and find a simpler structure.
|
|
|
|
Volkswagen Set to End the Reign of Embattled Audi Chief |
|
Volkswagen AG is expected to announce as soon as Friday that it is terminating the contract of Rupert Stadler, the chief executive of the company’s luxury car unit Audi AG, who has been in jail in connection with the diesel emissions-cheating scandal, people familiar with the matter say.
|
|
|
Bed Bath & Beyond to Keep Director Investors Voted to
Oust |
|
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has decided to keep longtime director Victoria A. Morrison on its board despite investors voting three months ago to unseat her.
|
|
|
|
Readers can subscribe to The Morning Risk Report here. Follow us on Twitter at @WSJRisk.
Follow the WSJ Risk & Compliance Team on Twitter: @WSJRisk, @srubenfeld and @LikelyMara.
Send complaints, comments and kudos to Samuel Rubenfeld at samuel.rubenfeld@wsj.com.
|
|
|