New York partner John Carney, co-leader of the firm's national White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations group, was the featured guest on Compliance Week's February 19, 2010, podcast, "SEC Enforcement Reforms."
Carney, a former Securities Fraud Chief, Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Senior Counsel and practicing CPA, discussed the SEC's new policies to expedite corporate investigations and encourage witness cooperation.
Asked how needed these reforms were, Carney said, "I think a lot of the criticisms about the SEC are overstated. But as in any agency, there's always room to improve the process. For example, the way the SEC tracked and handled complaints needed to be updated. Even the SEC acknowledged that there was no uniformity to it. Every division and office had its own system of recording, tracking, handling tips and complaints . . . but you have to remember, for every solid tip the SEC and other enforcement agencies receive . . . they receive hundreds of misguided and baseless complaints."
Asked his opinion of how useful a tool the deferred or non-prosecution agreements the SEC is going to start to sign with companies will be, Carney said, "You'd much rather not be enjoined . . . you'd much rather have a contractual agreement with the agency to put in reforms and to remedy and resolve the case. It's certainly a much better place to be in both as an individual and as a company. The devil's going to be in the details. The SEC defense bar is watching this very closely. We see the policy, but now the question is how is the policy going to be implemented."
Those with a Compliance Week subscription can click here to listen to/download the podcast from its website.