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Regulatory Watch News

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  SEC Charges Seven Public Companies with Violations of Whistleblower Protection Rule

  SEC

  September 9, 2024

  Washington D.C., Sept. 9, 2024 —

  The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against seven public companies for using employment, separation, and other agreements that violated rules prohibiting actions to impede whistleblowers from reporting potential misconduct to the SEC. To settle the SEC’s charges, the companies agreed to pay more than $3 million combined in civil penalties.

  • Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., agreed to pay a $1,386,000 civil penalty;
  • a.k.a. Brands Holding Corp. agreed to pay a $399,750 civil penalty;
  • AppFolio, Inc., agreed to pay a $692,250 civil penalty;
  • IDEX Corporation agreed to pay a $75,000 civil penalty;
  • LSB Industries agreed to pay a $156,000 civil penalty;
  • Smart for Life, Inc. agreed to pay a $19,500 civil penalty; and
  • TransUnion agreed to pay a $312,000 civil penalty.

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  FinCEN Issues In-Depth Analysis of Check Fraud Related to Mail Theft

  FinCEN

  September 9, 2024

  Financial Institutions Reported More Than $688 Million in Suspicious Activity in the Six Months Following FinCEN’s Alert on Mail Theft-Related Check Fraud WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Financial Trend Analysis (FTA) on mail theft-related check fraud incidents based on Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data filed in the six months following FinCEN’s issuance of its 2023 alert on this same topic. During the review period, FinCEN received 15,417 BSA reports from 841 financial institutions on mail theft-related check fraud, amounting to more than $688 million in reported suspicious activity. “Financial institutions responded to FinCEN’s alert on mail theft-related check fraud by providing BSA filings that are critical to curtailing this egregious fraud that is affecting communities across the United States,” said FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki. “FinCEN values its ongoing collaboration with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) to raise awareness of this criminal activity impacting innocent Americans across the country.”

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  Fake Bank: BaFin warns consumers about website g-snelle-diensten-finance.com

  BaFin

  September 9, 2024

  The financial supervisory authority BaFin warns against offers on the website g-snelle-diensten-finance.com. Contrary to the presentation on the website, there is no bank in Germany under the name of G SNELLE DIENSTEN.