Tag Archive: Conflict of Interest

A Trump presidency must be free of business entanglements

by Alex Howard

policy

Nov 18, 2016 2:56 pm

The least transparent presidential nominee in modern history needs to take immediate steps to avoid becoming the most corrupt president... View Article

In Utah, conflict of interest disclosure available with a click

by Rachel Shorey

Jun 23, 2015 12:01 am

Utah is prominently publishing conflict of interest information online for all state lawmakers.

The Landscape of Local Asset Disclosure

by Alisha Green

policy

Dec 9, 2013 2:00 pm

Many local government officials have to disclose information about potential conflicts of interest, but this information is difficult to find released as open data.

Meetings missing from CFTC website

by Nancy Watzman

investigations

Dec 7, 2011 1:32 pm

A week before Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioners unanimously approved new rules restricting how brokerage firms may invest customer funds, executives from Newedge, which had pushed against the rules along with the now bankrupt firm MF Global, attended several meetings with high ranking CFTC officials.

However, not all of these meetings were disclosed on the agency's official logs that track meetings of CFTC officials with outsiders on implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial law.

On November 28, the CEO and high level executives from Newedge, a global brokerage firm, attended two meetings at the CFTC, according to meeting log ...

Moody’s has most employees leaving through revolving door

by Stevie Mathieu

investigations

Nov 16, 2011 10:29 am

Moody's credit rating service -- one of the major credit rating agencies that was cited as a contributor to the 2008 financial meltdown -- has more employees go through the revolving door to work at companies they used to rate than any other credit rating agency, according to new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings required under the Dodd-Frank financial law.

Eighty-two Moody's employees have moved on to jobs at big banks such as Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America over the past five years, according to the filings, which are available here. This is nearly four times ...

MF Global pushed regulators to use client funds

by Nancy Watzman

investigations

Nov 2, 2011 1:52 pm

Late last year MF Global—the failed investment firm headed by Democratic heavyweight Jon S. Corzine that can't account for as much as $900 million of its clients' money--urged a federal agency to allow futures firms to invest funds from their customer segregated accounts in foreign sovereign debt.

In a December 2010 comment letter to the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), MF Global, along with another firm, Newedge, argued that the agency’s proposal to disallow such investments “is unnecessary, and will eliminate a liquid, secure, profitable and necessary category of investment....no foreign country that actually defaulted on ...

Dodd Frank: How rating agencies contributed to the financial crisis

by Anu Narayanswamy

investigations

Aug 18, 2011 9:56 am

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed in response to the financial crisis of 2008, added new regulations and new regulators for some—but not all—of the institutions whose actions led to the crisis. Over the next several days, we’ll be taking a look at each of the major groups of contributors to the economic crisis, who the major players were, what political influence they brought to bear on Congress and regulators, how Dodd-Frank intends to regulate them, and, using our new Dodd-Frank Meeting Logs tool, what rules these groups are trying to influence as ...

Geithner meets with Obama campaign fundraiser

by Nancy Watzman

investigations

Mar 4, 2011 11:36 am

Penny Pritzker, who served as President Obama’s finance chair during his 2008 campaign and whose name was mentioned as a possible U.S. Commerce Secretary, met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and several other top government heavyweights to discuss Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), according to meeting logs released by the agency this week.

In 2008, Pritzker who has a stake in several real estate and hotel businesses across the country, came under scrutiny for her role in a failed bank that made subprime loans in the leadup to the financial crisis. Pritzker said at the time that the bank ...