Digital Commons Network^™

Fiddling On The Roof: Recent Developments In Cybersecurity, Melanie J. Teplinsky

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cleaning Up The Financial Crisis Of 2008: Prosecutorial Discretion Or Prosecutorial Abdication?, Bradley T. Borden, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

When finance professionals play fast and loose, big problems result. Indeed, the 2008 Financial Crisis resulted from people in the real estate finance industry ignoring underwriting criteria for mortgages and structural finance products. That malfeasance filled the financial markets with mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that were worth a small fraction of the amount issuers represented to investors. It also loaded borrowers with liabilities that they never had a chance to satisfy.

Despite all the wrongdoing that caused the financial crisis, prosecutors have been slow to bring charges against individuals who originated bad loans, pooled bad mortgages, and sold bad MBS. Unfortunately, …

American Terrorists As Perpetrators Of Communitarian Assaults, Amitai Etzioni

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Creativity In The Ethical Orientation Of Oregon Cpas, John D. Porter

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Agency theory is the theoretical foundation upon which to explain the practice of accounting and the behavior of individual CPAs. Recent accounting scandals, however, cast doubt on agency theory's adequacy for that purpose. This research explored the impact of individual characteristics of CPAs, primarily creativity, had relative to explaining their ethical orientation. The data generated herein from a sample of Oregon CPAs was not persuasive with respect to the study hypotheses, however, it did suggest a statistically significant inverse relationship between creativity and ethical idealism. It also suggested an alarming level of CPAs whose self-assessed creativity measure did not include …

Town Of Goffstown, New Hampshire 2012 Annual Report., Goffstown Town Representatives

Goffstown, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire.

Unregulated Corporate Internal Investigations: Achieving Fairness For Corporate Constituents, Bruce A. Green, Ellen S. Progdor

Faculty Scholarship

This article focuses on the relationship between corporations and their employee constituents in the context of corporate internal investigations, an unregulated multi-million dollar business. The classic approach provided in the 1981 Supreme Court opinion, Upjohn v. United States, is contrasted with the reality of modern-day internal investigations that may exploit individuals to achieve a corporate benefit with the government. Attorney-client privilege becomes an issue as corporate constituents perceive that corporate counsel is representing their interests, when in fact these internal investigators are obtaining information for the corporation to barter with the government. Legal precedent and ethics rules provide little relief …

A Constitutional Right To Lie In Campaigns And Elections?, Richard L. Hasen

Montana Law Review

After Alvarez, the state may no longer have the power to ban or punish malicious false campaign speech, whether made by candidates or others. The result of this conclusion is that we are likely to see more false campaign speech in elections, including some brazen lies. With candidates’ pants increasingly on fire, and with the wooden noses of campaign consultants growing ever longer, the question is whether counterspeech—from opposing candidates, the media, and perhaps the government—will be enough to give voters the tools they need to make intelligent choices. I take solace in Jack Shafer’s depressing observation that most voters …

Regulatory Effectiveness & Offshore Financial Centers, Andrew P. Morriss, Clifford C. Henson

Faculty Scholarship

Onshore jurisdictions, such as the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany, are critical of offshore financial centers (OFCs), such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and the Channel Islands. Arguments against OFCs include claims that their regulatory oversight is lax, allowing fraud and criminal activity. In this article, we present cross-jurisdictional data, showing that OFCs are not lax. We also provide qualitative analyses of regulatory effectiveness, demonstrating that input-based measures of regulation are inappropriate metrics for comparing jurisdictions. Based on both quantitative input measures and a qualitative assessment, we reject the onshore critique of OFCs as bastions of laxity.

Federal White Collar Sentencing In The United States: A Work In Progress, Daniel C. Richman

Faculty Scholarship

At first blush, it seems odd for an American contributor to an international conference on sentencing to focus on "high end" federal white collar sentencing. After all, federal cases make up a relatively small part of the U.S. criminal justice system. (Between October 2005 and September 2006, about 1,132,290 people were sentenced for a felony in state courts, and 73,009 in federal courts.) Even within the federal system, white collar cases of all sorts are a relatively small part of a criminal docket dominated by immigration, drug, and gun cases, which together comprised nearly 73% of all federal cases in …

Back Matter

Seidman Business Review

No abstract provided.

The Chinese Reverse Merger Companies (Rmcs) Reassessed: Promising But Challenging, Qingxiu Bu

Journal of International Business and Law

No abstract provided.

Currently Mandated Myopia Of Rule 10b-5: Pay No Attention To That Manager Behind The Mutual Fund Curtain, The , Kelly S. Kibbie

Missouri Law Review

This Article examines the current state of the Rule 10b-5 right of action following a constricting trilogy of Supreme Court cases that have rendered it a myopic remnant of the right previously endorsed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and hundreds of courts over a span of numerous decades. The Roberts Court’s pronouncement in Janus Capital Group, Inc. v. First Derivative Traders has generated an immense amount of criticism and a slew of conflicting lower court decisions. By effectively abolishing most private Rule 10b-5 claims against secondary actors, including lawyers, accountants, credit rating agencies, underwriters and …

Criminalizing Hacking, Not Dating: Reconstructing The Cfaa Intent Requirement, David Thaw

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Report, Library Services And Resources In Support Of The Department Of Criminology, 2013, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg. Nelson Poynter Memorial Library

All-Library Assessments Reports, Summaries & Misc Reports

A report assessing library collections that support the Department of Criminology.

Market Structure Of The Chinese Equity Markets, Chengxi Yao

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Imputation, The Adverse Interest Exception, And The Curious Case Of The Restatement (Third) Of Agency, Mark J. Loewenstein

University of Colorado Law Review

The imputation doctrine in the common law of agency provides that knowledge of an agent acquired in the course of the agency relationship is imputed to the principal. An important exception to the imputation doctrine, known as the adverse interest exception, provides that knowledge is not imputed if it is acquired by the agent in a course of conduct that is entirely adverse to the principal. These doctrines play an important role in sorting out liability when senior management of a corporation engages in a financial fraud that harms the company. Typically, new management is brought in and it sues …

The Dark Side Of The Boom: The Peculiar Dilemma Of Modern False Claims Act Litigation, David S. Torborg

Journal of Law and Health

Spurred by treble damages, substantial penalties, and lucrative relator awards, litigation under federal and state False Claims Act (“FCA”) statutes has exploded in recent years. Much of that explosion stems from aggressive and creative legal theories that challenge controversial industry practices or even well-known loopholes or waste in government policy. Evidence from governmental entities can be critically important in litigating these FCA claims. Unique aspects of False Claims Act actions, however, can aggravate the risk of losing this important evidence, leaving the parties, judges, and juries without the evidentiary record necessary to equitably adjudicate these disputes. Defendants can face the …

Risk-Shifting Through Issuer Liability And Corporate Monitoring, Martin Gelter

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores how issuer liability re-allocates fraud risk and how risk allocation may reduce the incidence of fraud. In the US, the apparent absence of individual liability of officeholders and insufficient monitoring by insurers under-mine the potential deterrent effect of securities litigation. The underlying reasons why both mechanisms remain ineffective are collective action problems under the prevailing dispersed ownership structure, which eliminates the incentives to moni-tor set by issuer liability. This article suggests that issuer liability could potentially have a stronger deterrent effect when it shifts risk to individuals or entities holding a larger financial stake. Thus, it would …

Four Signal Moments In Whistleblower Law: 1983-2013, Geoffrey Christopher Rapp

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

This contribution to the 30th anniversary symposium of the Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal identifies four signal legal changes in the law governing whistleblowers between 1983 and 2013. Three of these are well known and easily identified -- the amendments to the federal False Claims Act enacted in 1986, the Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protection scheme enacted in 2002, and the Dodd-Frank securities fraud whistleblower bounty program enacted in 2010. Equally important may prove the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (actually enacted in 2006), which created an unusual carrot for state law whistleblower reward and protection reform. After discussing the impact …

Blurring The Lines: The Continuities Between Executive Power And Prerogative, Clement Fatovic

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lexis Nexus Complexus: Comparative Contract Law And International Accounting Collide In The Iasb-Fasb Revenue Recognition Exposure Draft, Kurt S. Schulzke, Gerlinde Berger-Walliser, Pier L. Marchini

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

U.S. and international accounting-standard setters plan to launch a new, global revenue accounting standard, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, in 2013. Poised at the nexus of comparative contract law and international accounting, the proposal's contract-based revenue recognition model creates new legal risks and opportunities for accountants, lawyers, clients, and financial statement users. Despite its focus on legally enforceable contracts, the proposed standard was drafted without input from the legal community. This Article models the proposal's complex contract-analysis process, demonstrating that its revenue outcomes may vary materially because of seemingly minor interjurisdictional differences in law applicable to "open-price" contracts; offers practice …

Deferred Prosecution And Non-Prosecution Agreements And The Erosion Of Corporate Criminal Liability, David M. Uhlmann

Articles

On April 5, 2010, a massive explosion killed twenty-nine miners at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine near Montcoal, West Virginia. Following the explosion, President Barack Obama vowed that the U.S. Department of Labor would conduct "the most thorough and comprehensive investigation possible" and work with the U.S. Department of Justice ("Justice Department" or the "Department") to address any criminal violations. Later in the month, the President and Vice President flew to West Virginia to eulogize the victims and comfort their families. It was the nation's worst coal mining disaster in forty years. The tragic loss of life at the …

Imputation, The Adverse Interest Exception, And The Curious Case Of The Restatement (Third) Of Agency, Mark J. Loewenstein

Publications

The imputation doctrine in the common law of agency provides that knowledge of an agent acquired in the course of the agency relationship is imputed to the principal. An important exception to the imputation doctrine, known as the adverse interest exception, provides that knowledge is not imputed if it is acquired by the agent in a course of conduct that is entirely adverse to the principal. These doctrines play an important role in sorting out liability when senior management of a corporation engages in a financial fraud that harms the company. Typically, new management is brought in and it sues …

An Examination Of Personal Values And Value Systems Of Chinese And U.S. Business Students, Don E. Giacomino, Xin Li, Michael D. Akers

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

Using the Rokeach Value Survey and the Musser and Orke typology this paper examines the personal values and value systems of business students in China and compares the results with the results of a recent study that used similar methodology to examine the values and value systems of U.S. students. The study also examines the differences in values and value systems of the Chinese students by gender and by major. While there are few differences for the Chinese students by gender, our findings show several differences in the rankings of values by the Chinese and U.S. students as well as …

Deferred Prosecutions And Corporate Governance: An Integrated Approach To Investigation And Reform, Lawrence A. Cunningham

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

When evaluating how to proceed against a corporate investigative target, law enforcement authorities often ignore the target’s governance arrangements, while subsequently negotiating or imposing governance requirements, especially in deferred prosecution agreements. Ignoring governance structures and processes amid investigation can be hazardous and implementing improvised reforms afterwards may have severe unintended consequences—particularly when prescribing standardized governance devices. Drawing, in part, on new lessons from three prominent cases—Arthur Andersen, AIG and Bristol-Myers Squibb—this Article criticizes prevailing discord and urges prosecutors to contemplate corporate governance at the outset and to articulate rationales for prescribed changes. Integrating the role of corporate governance into prosecutions …

Competition Agencies With Complex Policy Portfolios: Divide Or Conquer?, William E. Kovacic, David A. Hyman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Antitrust law has been adopted by 120 jurisdictions worldwide. In more than half of these jurisdictions, the agency charged with enforcing antitrust law also has other responsibilities. The assignment of multiple regulatory tasks can affect the performance of a competition agency in complex and subtle ways. We present a framework for analyzing the consequences of creating public bodies with complex policy portfolios. Using examples from across the administrative state, we analyze the forces that shape the content of an agency’s policy duties, and how the portfolio of assigned duties affects the way an agency approaches its assigned tasks, and its …

The History And Consequences Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Of 2002, Gerald Waltman

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research and thesis is to explore the intended and unintended consequences of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The Act arose from a series of financial scandals including those that happened at Enron and WorldCom. The Act is one of the most wide-sweeping pieces of financial legislation in the country’s history, and it has drastically changed the way that publicly traded companies and their auditors conduct their business. A significant challenge to the Act was heard by the United States Supreme Court, and the Court held a portion of the Act to be in violation of the …

Automating Vendor Fraud Detection In Enterprise Systems, Kishore Singh, Peter Best, Joseph Mula

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Fraud is a multi-billion dollar industry that continues to grow annually. Many organizations are poorly prepared to prevent and detect fraud. Fraud detection strategies are intended to quickly and efficiently identify fraudulent activities that circumvent preventative measures. In this paper, we adopt a DesignScience methodological framework to develop a model for detection of vendor fraud based on analysis of patterns or signatures identified in enterprise system audit trails. The concept is demonstrated by developing prototype software. Verification of the prototype is achieved by performing a series of experiments. Validation is achieved by independent reviews from auditing practitioners. Key findings of …

Insider Threat Detection Using Virtual Machine Introspection, M. Crawford, Gilbert L. Peterson, Robert F. Mills, Michael R. Grimaila

Faculty Publications

This paper presents a methodology for signaling potentially malicious insider behavior using virtual machine introspection (VMI). VMI provides a novel means to detect potential malicious insiders because the introspection tools remain transparent and inaccessible to the guest and are extremely difficult to subvert. This research develops a four step methodology for development and validation of malicious insider threat alerting using VMI. A malicious attacker taxonomy is used to decompose each scenario to aid identification of observables for monitoring for potentially malicious actions. The effectiveness of the identified observables is validated using two data sets. Results of the research show the …

Improper Deportation Of Legal Permanent Residents: The U.S. Government’S Mischaracterization Of The Supreme Court’S Decision In Nijhawan V. Holder, Michael R. Devitt

San Diego International Law Journal

The purpose of this Article is to draw attention to the government’s misinterpretation of the central holding in Nijhawan v. Holder and how it has led to the improper dilution of evidentiary standards in removal proceedings when determining the $10,000 threshold loss requirement under section 101(a)(43)(M)(i) of the INA [hereinafter “M(i)”]. Section II of this article provides a brief doctrinal overview and summary of my proposed procedural methodology; sections III and IV provide essential background information regarding the Supreme Court’s important pre-Nijhawan opinions and the inconsistent methods circuit courts have applied when calculating the monetary threshold under the fraud or …