Sec

In these troubled economic times, it's not hard to understand why people might want to protect their life savings by purchasing a hard asset like gold or silver. At least, that's the pitch of Monex, the big Newport Beach investment firm, which bills itself as "America's trusted name in precious metals investments" and assures clients that it's "committed to customer service. " So let's take a look at the experiences of some customers who say their trust in Monex was misplaced.

When the Supreme Court - in our view wrongly - ruled that corporations had a constitutional right to spend their money to influence elections, it also said that disclosure of such expenditures "permits citizens and shareholders to react to the speech of corporate entities in a proper way. " In that spirit, the Securities and Exchange Commission should heed a petition drive to require publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending to...

SEC's case against Goldman The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Goldman, Sachs & Co., with the help of hedge fund king John Paulson, created risky mortgage-backed securities that the firm then sold to clients. Here is how it worked, according to the SEC's complaint: In April 2007, as the mortgage market was collapsing, Goldman created ABACUS 2007-AC1, a security based on the value of subprime mortgages. One of Goldman's vice presidents, Fabrice Tourre, let Paulson decide which mortgages were bundled into ABACUS.

Ever since the Department of Defense shut down George Air Force Base in 1992, the high desert town of Victorville has struggled to reinvent itself. The city encouraged massive residential and retail development. It invested in two new power plants. And it moved to transform the shuttered base into a thriving cargo airport. But those efforts have mostly backfired, creating financial headaches and scandal for the city of 115,000 residents, perched 90 miles from Los Angeles on the edge of the Mojave Desert.

The Southeastern Conference has suspended officials from last weekend's Arkansas-Florida game after the crew was involved in its second controversial call of the year. Referee Marc Curles' crew called a personal foul on Arkansas defensive lineman Malcolm Sheppard in the fourth quarter as Florida was rallying for a 23-20 victory. The league said there was no video evidence to support the call. The same group of officials called the Louisiana State-Georgia game earlier this month, which included a late unsportsmanlike conduct penalty the league said shouldn't have been called.

An Orange County investment advisor and his firm agreed Wednesday to pay more than $100,000 to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that they placed clients into what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme run by disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu. The SEC alleged that Paul H. Heckler and his Tustin firm, Yosemite Capital Management, defrauded clients by conducting inadequate research before investing $3.25 million in a company...

NEW YORK -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will review trading glitches with Nasdaq's handling of Facebook's IPO. “As is our practice, staff will review the incident with Nasdaq to determine its cause and steps that will be taken to address it,” SEC spokesman John Nester said in a statement after an inquiry from The Times. Brokerages complained of technical issues with the Nasdaq exchange, as investors did not know whether their trades in the highly anticipated stock offering had been executed.

at No. 1 Florida 62, Charleston Southern 3: Tim Tebow accounted for two touchdowns as the Gators opened a season of great expectations with a nearly perfect performance. at Tennessee 63, Western Kentucky 7: Jonathan Crompton threw five touchdown passes, leading the Volunteers to their largest margin of victory in nine years in Lane Kiffin's coaching debut. at Arkansas 48, Missouri State 10: Dennis Johnson returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, and the Razorbacks set a school record with 447 yards passing.

A Los Angeles federal judge barred a Pomona man and his two companies, Ben-Wal Leasing Co. and Ben-Wal Management Inc., from doing business in response to a complaint alleging investor fraud filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The civil complaint said the two firms, run by Jerry E. Benson, ran a Ponzi scheme that took in nearly $6 million from about 125 investors, many of them elderly, who lived in mobile home parks throughout California. The court ordered a halt Wednesday to the alleged fraud and froze the assets of Benson and his Ben-Wal companies.

at No. 1 Florida 56, Troy 6: After a slow start, Tim Tebow threw four touchdown passes, ran for another score and the Gators (2-0)beat the Trojans (0-2) in their final tuneup before beginning conference play. at No. 4 Alabama 40, Florida International 14: Greg McElroy completed a school-record 14 straight passes, freshman Trent Richardson rushed for a pair of second-half touchdowns and Alabama the Crimson Tide (2-0) pulled away to beat the Golden Panthers (0-1). at No. 11 Louisiana State 23, Vanderbilt 9: Keiland Williams rushed for 72 yards and two touchdowns for the Tigers (2-0, 1-0)

A member of the LulzSec hacker group was sentence to a year in federal prison Thursday as a result of his involvement with a cyberattack in 2011. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ordered Cody Andrew Kretsinger, a 25-year-old Decatur, Ill., resident to also serve a year of home detention after he completes his time in prison. He will also be required to perform 1,000 hours of community service and pay more than $605,000 in restitution. Kretsinger, who went by the name of "recursion" during his days with LulzSec, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer in connection with the hacker group's attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer systems in May and June 2011.

NEW YORK -- Former KPMG senior auditor Scott London leaked confidential information on five companies, illegal tips that won him $50,000 in bags of cash as well as other perks, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged. Previous reports of the insider-trading scheme involving London and his friend Bryan Shaw focused on confidential information related to nutritional supplement maker Herbalife and footwear company Skechers, two firms whose audits London oversaw.  The SEC's complaint, released Thursday, alleges London also passed information about Deckers Outdoor Corp., a company for which London served as the account executive.

Investors who lost big when Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme unraveled cannot sue federal regulators, despite the government's “regrettable inaction,” a federal appeals court ruled. Madoff victims had sued, arguing that the Securities and Exchange Commission was negligent for failing to uncover the Ponzi scheme even though the regulator received multiple complaints over the years. On Wednesday in New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed those claims, agreeing with a district court that the SEC's actions or inaction are protected under the law. Madoff is currently serving a 150-year prison sentence for his multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that came to light in December 2008.

A British man has pleaded guilty to his involvement in cyberattacks launched by LulzSec, an Internet hacker group that in 2011 targeted the websites of Sony, the FBI, CIA, PBS and others. Ryan Ackroyd, 26, otherwise known as "Kayla" among hackers, admitted Tuesday to one count of carrying out an unauthorized act to impair the operation of a computer, according to the Associated Press. Ackroyd joins Mustafa Al-Bassam, 18, Jake Davis, 20, and Ryan Cleary, 21, who as members of the group pleaded guilty to the 2011 cyberattacks.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Monday confirmed Mary Jo White to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, placing a tough former prosecutor in the role as Wall Street's top watchdog. White was confirmed by a unanimous voice vote in the Senate, an indication of broad bipartisan support. The Senate Banking Committee voted 22-1 to approve her nomination last month, with the only no vote coming from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). Brown has been critical of federal officials in general for not being tougher on Wall Street.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Securities and Exchange Commission says companies can use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to disseminate key information just as they already do on corporate websites. But, the agency said, companies must make it clear that they plan to make that information available on social media outlets so that investors know where to look for it. The SEC issued guidance in 2008 allowing companies to post information on websites as long as they alert investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's revolving door is spinning as feverishly as ever. Lawyers who leave the SEC for private law firms often immediately begin lobbying on behalf of their new corporate clients, frequently trying to weaken agency regulations or proposed reforms, according to a new report. The issue of top officials leaving the agency has been a concern for years in public-advocacy circles. It is common for young lawyers to put in a few years at the SEC or other government agencies before leaving for far more lucrative jobs in private industry or with high-powered law firms.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission pressed Facebook Inc. executives to explain in more detail how a user shift to mobile devices could impact the company's profits, according to documents made public Friday. "Assuming that the trend toward mobile continues and your mobile monetization efforts are unsuccessful, ensure that your disclosure fully addresses the potential consequences to your revenue and financial results rather than just stating that they 'may be negatively affected,'" the agency wrote to Facebook on Feb. 28. Facebook shares have fallen about 24% since the stock began trading at $38 on May 18 in part because of concern about the company's mobile strategy.

NEW YORK -- Mary Schapiro, who led the Securities and Exchange Commission in the four years following the financial crisis, has landed at a Washington consulting firm. Promontory Financial Group announced Schapiro's new role as managing director and chairman of its governance and markets practice division Tuesday. At the firm, she'll work with banking and financial services clients on governance and risk management. "This is important not only to companies, but also to our markets and to global prosperity," Schapiro said in a statement.

NEW YORK - The legal fallout from Facebook Inc.'s botched initial public offering last year isn't over, although regulators approved the $62-million plan by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. to repay brokerages that lost money in the debacle. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's approval Monday does not stop the government or other parties from taking further legal action against Nasdaq for losses suffered in the Facebook IPO fiasco in May. Swiss banking giant UBS, for one, tallied its losses at $357 million and wants more money back than the settlement could offer.