Securities and Exchange Commission

The Los Angeles Times is reporting the death of California financier Danny Pang. The Securities & Exchange Commission has charged that Pang defrauded investors; his investment company, Private Equity Management Group, was taken over by the federal government earlier this year.

Should the Securities and Exchange Commission facilitate director nominations by shareholders in an effort to make companies more accountable and responsible? The SEC is considering just such a rule. The comment period has just ended and two comment letters are of special interest: in one, seven large law firms took the unusual step of submitting a joint letter opposing the idea; in the other, 80 professors, led by Harvard Law Professor Lucian A.

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary L. Schapiro, has appointed Eric J. Spitler to be Director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at the SEC. In this position, Mr. Spitler, who most recently served as Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, will play a key role in the financial regulatory reform to come.

People were sweating in sweltering New York City yesterday, and federal district court judge Jed Rakoff didn’t make it any cooler in his courtroom.

The Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, Robert Khuzami, gave his first speech as chief enforcer on this past Wednesday. He touched on changes to the SEC’s enforcement program and some of the recent cases the SEC has filed, among other things.