The Wall Street Legal & Regulatory Feed
Securities Industry Commentator by Bill Singer Esq
April 14, 2020
The Virus Should Wake Up the West / The job of government is to protect its citizens. The pandemic reveals that key institutions in Europe and the U.S. are no longer up to the job (Bloomberg by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge)
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-04-13/coronavirus-pandemic-is-wake-up-call-to-reinvent-the-state
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-04-13/coronavirus-pandemic-is-wake-up-call-to-reinvent-the-state
A thoughtful, provocative, and wholly discomforting article by Micklethwait and Wooldridge, which, in part, questions the role and future of the State:
The Western state is a grumpy, unloved compromise. The people who pay for it think it gets too much; the people who use its services think it gives them too little. The more things the state promises to do, the more it overburdens itself; the more it overburdens itself, the more we all complain.. . .
The Covid crisis has been a powerful reminder that the basic function of the state is the one that Hobbes defined in "Leviathan": to offer its citizens protection. Today that means more than just preventing egotistical citizens from killing each other in "the pursuit of power after power that endeth only in death." It means providing some kind of public health-care and welfare systems. The phrase "herd immunity" may be an ugly one but it gets to the heart of the matter when health is concerned: During a pandemic, the health of even the most privileged is dependent on the health of the least privileged. The fight against a virus is necessarily collective. But the problem with collectivism is that, taken too far, it can squeeze out individual liberty. . . .
The Pandemic Is Putting Law Students' Futures on Hold / States are canceling bar exams while firms are shortening summer programs, clouding career prospects (Bloomberg by Meghan Tribe, Bob Van Voris, and Stephanie Russell-Kraft)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-14/coronavirus-pandemic-is-putting-law-students-futures-on-hold?srnd=premium
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-14/coronavirus-pandemic-is-putting-law-students-futures-on-hold?srnd=premium
As the ripple effects of COVID19 make their impact felt, the Bloomberg article highlights yet another sector hit with uncertainty:
As students graduating from the nation's medical schools prepare to step into the front lines fighting the novel coronavirus, their law school counterparts confront a far more uncertain future. At the beginning of the year, they were looking forward to entering the strongest legal job market in more than a decade. Now, often with six-figure debt loads, they're facing reduced hiring and major delays getting their careers under way.Front of mind for many is that states are postponing bar exams because of social distancing guidelines. Last July thousands of law school grads took the New York bar exam in the hangar-like space of Manhattan's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. It's now serving as a 1,000-bed overflow hospital.
Coronavirus spotlights risk at JPMorgan, Wells Fargo / Of the four largest banks, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo have the largest exposure to real estate (FoxBusiness by Jonathan Garber)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/coronavirus-spotlights-commercial-real-estate-risk-to-banks
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/coronavirus-spotlights-commercial-real-estate-risk-to-banks
As the FoxBusiness article warns in part:
Of the four largest banks, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo have the largest exposure to real estate at 25.5 percent and 27.5 percent of their commercial loan exposure.And JPMorgan's commercial real estate book has the bank's largest credit risk exposure, according to Leon. He says the credit rating agencies have only just started in some cases to lower their ratings from investment grade to junk.
China buys more US farm products amid plunge in trade (CNBC by Evelyn Cheng)
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/14/china-buys-more-us-farm-products-amid-plunge-in-trade.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/14/china-buys-more-us-farm-products-amid-plunge-in-trade.html
As CNBC reporter Cheng notes in part, China purportedly:
Emerging market currencies have been hit by the coronavirus, but analysts say it's not all bad news (CNBC by Elliot Smith)imported 35.56 billion yuan ($5.08 billion) worth of U.S. agricultural products in the first quarter, according to its customs agency. The volume of soybeans imported also doubled and that of pork increased more than six times, the agency said, while Chinese imports of cotton rose 43.5%.From a price perspective, China imported 21.88 billion yuan worth of soybeans, twice that of a year ago. Imports of pork were worth 3.04 billion yuan, an increase of 16 times. That of cotton was 1.59 billion yuan, a 17% increase.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/14/emerging-market-currencies-have-been-hammered-by-covid-19.html
As CNBC reporter Smith explains:
Beyond that aggregate assessment, a number of Latin American currencies were already judged to have reached "severely" undervalued levels by Goldman. These include the Brazilian real, Mexican peso, the Colombian peso and the Chilean peso. In the CEEMEA region, the South African rand is also marked as "severely" undervalued."These severe levels of undervaluation argue for positive returns on a medium-term horizon, but in the near-term these are all currencies exposed to both risk sentiment and commodity prices, and so will remain hostage to the moves in those factors," Pandl added.
https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/chicken-company-to-cull-birds-as-processing-capacity-plummets
As set forth in part in the Successful Farming article:
As set forth in part in the Successful Farming article:
"Over the last two weeks, Allen Harim's plant attendance has continued to decline and is now at 50% normal operation," reads a letter sent from the company to its contract poultry growers on April 8. "When we started noticing the downward trend in attendance, we reduced the number of eggs set and chicks placed. Unfortunately, reduced placements will not make an impact for another six weeks, and with the continued attendance decline, and building bird inventory daily, we are forced to make a very difficult decision."The company will begin "depopulating" - killing - flocks of chickens to reduce the number of birds being sent to the plant, according to the letter.Allen Harim contracts with 220 farmers, according to its website, and employs more than 1,800 people. . . .
United States Supreme Court Press Release (April 13, 2020)
https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/press/pressreleases/pr_04-13-20
As set forth in part in the Supreme Court's Release:
The Court will hear oral arguments by telephone conference on May 4, 5, 6, 11, 12 and 13 in a limited number of previously postponed cases. . . .In keeping with public health guidance in response to COVID-19, the Justices and counsel will all participate remotely. The Court anticipates providing a live audio feed of these arguments to news media. Details will be shared as they become available.The Court Building remains open for official business, but most Court personnel are teleworking. The Court Building remains closed to the public until further notice.
Bill Singer's Comment: In keeping with the Court's dramatic move to sit via teleconference, it would seem that the time has finally come for broadcasting oral argument live over the Internet and via broadcast- and cable-television stations.
https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-88
The SEC filed a Complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2020/comp-pr2020-88.pdf, charging Asante Berko with violating the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and federal securities laws. As alleged in part in the SEC Release:
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2020/comp-pr2020-88.pdf, charging Asante Berko with violating the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and federal securities laws. As alleged in part in the SEC Release:
[A]sante Berko, a former executive of a foreign-based subsidiary of a U.S. bank holding company, arranged for his firm's client, a Turkish energy company, to funnel at least $2.5 million to a Ghana-based intermediary to pay illicit bribes to Ghanaian government officials in order to gain their approval of an electrical power plant project. The complaint further alleges that Berko helped the intermediary pay more than $200,000 in bribes to various other government officials, and Berko personally paid more than $60,000 to members of the Ghanaian parliament and other government officials. According to the complaint, Berko took deliberate measures to prevent his employer from detecting his bribery scheme, including misleading his employer's compliance personnel about the true role and purpose of the intermediary company.
https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/fda_documents/2019064265601
%20Melissa%20A.%20Niederhauser%20CRD%206380536%20AWC%20va.pdf
%20Melissa%20A.%20Niederhauser%20CRD%206380536%20AWC%20va.pdf
For the purpose of proposing a settlement of rule violations alleged by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"), without admitting or denying the findings, prior to a regulatory hearing, and without an adjudication of any issue, Melissa A Niederhauser submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent ("AWC"), which FINRA accepted. The AWC alleges that in 2014, Horace Mann Investors, Inc. filed a non-registered fingerprint form for Melissa A. Niederhauser and that she was licensed to sell insurance and perfom the role of an Office Manager/Administrative Assistant. The AWC alleges that Melissa A. Niederhauser "does not have any disciplinary history with the Securities and Exchange Commission, any state securities regulators, FINRA, or any other self-regulatory organization." In accordance with the terms of the AWC, FINRA found that Melissa A. Niederhauser had violated FINRA Rules 2150(a) and 2010; and the self regulator imposed upon her a Bar from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. As set forth in part in the AWC:
Between January 2016 and August 2017, Niederhauser converted $73,618.41 from Finn customers RC and LC, who are Niederhauser's family members. Both RC and LC owned individual deferred variable annuities issued to them by the Firm in December 2014 and March 2015, respectively. While the customers were out of the country during the Relevant Period, Niederhauser withdrew funds from the variable annuities held by RC and LC by forging their signatures on Horace Mann Annuity Surrender/Withdrawal Request forms ("Withdrawal Forms") that she then submitted to the Firm. On the Withdrawal Forms, Niederhauser directed that the withdrawal checks be mailed to an address where she knew she could obtain them. After retrieving the checks, she deposited them into a joint bank account that she owned with RC and LC and withdrew the funds for her own personal use. In order to cash the checks, Niederhauser forged both RC's and LC's endorsement signatures. Niederhauser made the withdrawals from RC's and LC's variable annuities without RC's and LC's authorization.Niederhauser made a total of 13 separate withdrawals from RC's variable annuity totaling $47,618.37, not including withheld federal and state income taxes. She made a total of seven separate withdrawals from LC's variable annuity totaling $30,368.04, not including withheld federal and state income taxes, although Niederhauser did not subsequently cash and convert a check for one of the withdrawals in the amount of $4,368. Neither RC nor LC authorized, knew of, or consented to the withdrawals from their variable annuities. . . .
https://www.economycandy.com/product-category/candy-chocolate-by-decade/
You know how you want what you can't have? Don't ask, but, for whatever reasons, I visited the Economy Candy website and thought that I would order several pounds of my favorite candy as a way of coping with the plague (I didn't tell my wife, who's working from home but, you know, in the other room, so she has no idea what I'm up to . . . shhhhh . . . don't tell her). OMIGOD!!! It's like an episode of The Walking Dead or Fear the Walking Dead -- we've already eaten through the 1950s, the 1960s, and the 1970s . . . decades of my favorite candy:
OUT OF STOCKINCLUDES: 1 BONOMO TURKISH TAFFY BAR, 1 PACK CHUCKLES, 1 PEZ DISPENSER WITH REFILLS, 1 REEDS ROLL, 1 REGAL CROWN ROLL, 2 CANDY NECKLACES AND 1/2 POUND 50'S MIX (ASSORTED FRUIT TOOTSIE ROLLS, ATOMIC FIREBALLS, BIT-O-HONEY, BUTTERSCOTCH, MINI CHICK-O-STICKS, LEMONHEADS, ROOT BEER BARRELS AND TOOTSIE ROLLS)OUT OF STOCKINCLUDES: 1 LICORICE PIPE, 1 BROADWAY ROLL, 1 EL BUBBLE BUBBLE GUM CIGAR, 1 PACK CANDY CIGARETTES, 1 PACK GOLD MINE GUM, 1 PACK FRUIT STRIPE GUM, 2 CANDY NECKLACES AND 1/2 POUND 60S MIX (ASSORTED FRUIT TOOTSIE ROLLS, ATOMIC FIREBALLS, BAZOOKA GUM, BIT-O-HONEY, CHUPA CHUPS LOLLIPOPS, JAW BUSTERS, LEMONHEADS, AND TOOTSIE ROLLS)OUT OF STOCKINCLUDES: 1 BUBBLE GUM CIGAR, 1 PACK CANDY CIGARETTES, 1 PACK FUN DIP, 1 PACK POP ROCKS, 2 STRIP ZOTZ AND 1/2 POUND 70S MIX (ATOMIC FIREBALLS, BAZOOKA GUM, BIT-O-HONEY, BLOW POPS, CARAMEL CREAM BULLSEYES, DOUBLE BUBBLE, JAW BUSTERS, LAFFY TAFFY, ROOT BEER BARRELS, SMARTIES AND TOOTSIE ROLLS)