Latest news with #Enron-era
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
PCAOB imposes smaller exam cheating fines, citing cooperation
This story was originally published on CFO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CFO Dive newsletter. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced three separate settled disciplinary orders against Netherlands member firms of Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers, sanctioning them with penalties totaling $8.5 million for violating the board's rules and quality control standards related to their internal training programs, according to a Wednesday press release. From 2018 to 2022 hundreds of the firms' professionals, including partners, improperly shared answers to tests for mandatory firm training courses on such topics as professional independence, audit requirements and professional integrity, the PCAOB release states. Without admitting or denying the findings, Deloitte Netherlands and PwC Netherlands each agreed to pay a $3 million civil penalty and EY Netherlands agreed to pay $2.5 million. The fines would have been 'significantly larger' if the firms had not been as cooperative, according to the release. The U.S. audit watchdog's latest exam-cheating sanctions come as the board's broader future is uncertain: Republican lawmakers have proposed to eliminate the Enron-era body and fold its duties into the Securities and Exchange Commission. The PCAOB was handed a legislative lifeline last week when the Senate Parliamentarian found that the provision in President Donald Trump's massive tax and spending bill wasn't compliant with the so-called Byrd rule. Still, the Trump administration's push for deregulation could drive other means of curbing the board's powers, CFO Dive previously reported. The fines are smaller than the record $25 million penalty imposed last year by the board when it sanctioned KPMG Netherlands and its former head of assurance in connection with cheating and sharing of answers on the firm's internal training exams during a five-year period. At the time, the PCAOB noted that the widespread cheating on the training courses was enabled by the firm, which took 'virtually no steps to investigate' the misconduct which was ultimately brought forward by a whistleblower. With the clock potentially ticking with regard to the board, Robert Pawlewicz Ph.D., an assistant professor of accounting at the University of Richmond's Robins School of Business, said the PCAOB may be willing to settle for less to have these violations closed and made public before the SEC makes any changes. It's possible 'the PCAOB was incentivized to wrap up the enforcements,' he said. He also said that the board, acting alongside the newly appointed SEC administration, isn't likely to pursue such actions that aren't audit-related which can be criticized by some as regulatory overreach, although Pawlewicz doesn't agree with that view. 'With a new Board, I would not expect to hear about more of these violations,' Pawlewicz said in an email. A PCAOB spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. In a statement emailed to CFO Dive, EY Netherlands said integrity is a core value and that it takes such matters seriously, noting that it has fully cooperated with PCAOB. 'We have taken extensive actions to reinforce our culture of compliance, ethics, and integrity, as well as further measures to address the issues identified through our investigation. With this settlement, we can bring these matters with the PCAOB to a conclusion and will work with local regulator AFM [Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets] to ensure the long-term effectiveness of the measures we have taken,' the statement from EY said. In a press release PwC Netherlands said it has taken steps to remediate the problem and that the settlement coincides with its internal investigation. 'This behaviour is contrary to our values, and we have imposed a range of sanctions on those found to be involved, including written warnings, financial penalties, demotions and exits from the firm,' the release states. Deloitte did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Recommended Reading PCAOB wins Senate lifeline while future remains murky Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
GAIL gets offers from 5 US companies for stake in LNG projects
Image used for representative purposes NEW DELHI: Five US companies have submitted bids in state-run GAIL's tender for acquiring up to 26% stake in a LNG (liquefied natural gas) project alongside a long-term supply contract for a million tonne of gas annually, a move that will help India reduce trade surplus with Washington. "We are currently evaluating five bids," company's director (business development) Rajeev Kumar Singhal said Tuesday but declined to identify bidders. Separately, people in the know said the bidders include two developers of projects in Louisiana, one of which has recently secured the Trump administration's nod to export gas to non-FTA countries. GAIL chairman Sandeep Gupta said the company is looking to tie up more US energy, even though it has two long-term contracts for a total of 5.8 million tonne per year because of price advantage. "We expect Henry Hub (US benchmark rate)-linked LNG prices to average $3.5-4 (per unit) in the short to medium term, making energy more affordable (than crude-linked gas) for customers. There is great scope for US energy as others (oil companies) also appear to be interested," he said. Expanding energy imports from the US was identified as one of the measures for reducing India's trade surplus during discussions in Washisgton between PM Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump in Feb. Gupta said GAIL has completed the construction of the Enron-era breakwater at Dabhol LNG terminal in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district, which will allow operations during the monsoon to allow import of more LNG cargos. "We are expecting (statutory) approvals this week." GAIL's director (finance) R K Jain said the company's capex plan will be about Rs 10,000 crore in current fiscal. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Wall Street Journal
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
トランプ氏指名の検事正代行、司法省を内部調査 議事堂襲撃事件巡り
【ワシントン】2021年1月6日に発生した米議会議事堂襲撃事件に絡み、数百人の被告を妨害罪の重罪で訴追した司法省の判断について、ドナルド・トランプ大統領が指名した連邦地検の検事正代行が内部調査を開始した。事情に詳しい複数の関係者が明らかにした。 首都ワシントン（コロンビア特別区）連邦地検のエド・マーティン検事正代行は27日、電子メールで検察官らに対し、議事堂襲撃事件に関連するファイル、文書、メモ、電子メールなどの情報提出を求めた。関係者によると、最も暴力的だった一部暴徒に対する起訴の情報も提出対象に含まれている。 WASHINGTON—A top Trump-appointed prosecutor has opened an internal review of the Justice Department's decision to charge hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants with felony obstruction offenses in connection with the Capitol attack, according to people familiar with the matter. Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., asked prosecutors in an email Monday to turn over 'all files, documents, notes, emails and other information' related to the cases, which included charges against some of the most violent rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Supreme Court last year ruled the department overstepped in relying upon an Enron-era obstruction statute, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, to charge defendants with obstructing the joint session of Congress that convened on Jan. 6 to certify Joe Biden's election victory over President Trump. Martin referred to the use of the obstruction charge as a 'great failure,' writing, 'we need to get to the bottom of it.' 'This 1512 Project is important work,' he added, referring to the number of the statute in the U.S. criminal code. The contents of his email were viewed by The Wall Street Journal. A spokesman for Martin declined to comment. Department officials, both career employees and Biden appointees, have insisted their Jan. 6 prosecutions weren't politically motivated. Defendants accused of the obstruction offense also faced other charges, but the allegation was crucial in elevating the seriousness of cases and the amount of potential prison time. Martin's loosely defined inquiry jarred prosecutors in the office, as well as others who recently left, and some took steps to arrange legal counsel to prepare for what comes next, the people familiar with the matter said. Department lawyers who worked on the cases viewed the inquiry as an opening salvo in the Trump administration's stated aim of investigating the Jan. 6 investigators, the people said. Trump pardoned virtually all of the Jan. 6 defendants last week. Martin previously served on the board of the Patriot Freedom Project, a group that supported Jan. 6 defendants, and he helped organize the 'Stop the Steal' movement to keep Trump in the White House after he lost in 2020. Martin last week publicly railed against an order prohibiting Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other members of the far-right group from visiting Washington without court permission, fueling a clash with the judge who issued it. The judge lifted his restrictions on Monday for Rhodes and other Oath Keepers members who received commutations from Trump. The Justice Department brought the obstruction charge in some of the highest-profile prosecutions. In trials and other court proceedings, prosecutors argued that Jan. 6 defendants violated the obstruction law by disrupting an 'official proceeding'—the joint session of Congress that convened to certify the election results. The Supreme Court's decision read the law more narrowly to apply only when a defendant's actions impaired the integrity of physical evidence. The decision prompted the Justice Department to dismiss the obstruction charge in scores of cases and resulted in a number of defendants receiving new sentences. Write to C. Ryan Barber at and Sadie Gurman at
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Acting US Attorney for DC initiates 'review' of office's Jan. 6 investigation
The acting U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., has initiated a "review" into the office's prosecutions of the more than 1500 rioters charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, multiple sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News on Monday. Ed Martin, a promoter of President Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" campaign who was himself seen on Capitol grounds during the riot, has ordered prosecutors in the office to turn over all records related to their work on the cases. MORE: Supreme Court limits scope of obstruction charge against Capitol rioters, Trump The review appears to center on the office's decision to bring a felony obstruction charge against several hundred rioters that a majority of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last summer amounted to an overreach in use of the Enron-era statute. MORE: Trump's pardons for rioters 'disturbing,' former top Jan. 6 prosecutor says Martin's email to staffers in the office, described by a source to ABC News, is likely to further deplete morale following President Trump's sweeping pardons last week for nearly all of the rioters charged in connection with the Capitol attack. Several career assistant U.S. attorneys resigned as a result of the pardons, after seeing years of their work virtually washed away with the stroke of a pen. Acting US Attorney for DC initiates 'review' of office's Jan. 6 investigation originally appeared on
