The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government,created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market manipulation.
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that mandates certain practices in financial record keeping and reporting for corporations. The act,Pub. L. 107–204 (text)(PDF),116 Stat. 745,enacted July 30,2002,also known as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act" and "Corporate and Auditing Accountability,Responsibility,and Transparency Act" and more commonly called Sarbanes–Oxley,SOX or Sarbox,contains eleven sections that place requirements on all U.S. public company boards of directors and management and public accounting firms. A number of provisions of the Act also apply to privately held companies,such as the willful destruction of evidence to impede a federal investigation.
Lisa Ann Murkowski is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Alaska,having held the seat since 2002. She is the first woman to represent Alaska in the Senate and is the Senate's second-most senior Republican woman. Murkowski became dean of Alaska's congressional delegation upon Representative Don Young's death.
Jeffrey Keith Skilling is an American businessman who in 2006 was convicted of federal felony charges relating to the Enron scandal. Skilling,who was CEO of Enron during the company's collapse,was eventually sentenced to 24 years in prison,of which he served 12 after multiple appeals.
The Hatch Act of 1939,An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities,is a United States federal law that prohibits civil-service employees in the executive branch of the federal government,except the president and vice president,from engaging in some forms of political activity. It became law on August 2,1939. The law was named for Senator Carl Hatch of New Mexico. It was most recently amended in 2012.
Sibel Edmonds is a former contract translator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the founder and editor-in-chief of the independent news website NewsBud.
Enron:The Smartest Guys in the Room is a 2005 American documentary film based on the best-selling 2003 book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind,who are credited as writers of the film alongside the director,Alex Gibney. It examines the 2001 collapse of the Enron Corporation,which resulted in criminal trials for several of the company's top executives during the ensuing Enron scandal,and contains a section about the involvement of Enron traders in the 2000-01 California electricity crisis. Archival footage is used alongside new interviews with McLean and Elkind,several former Enron executives and employees,stock analysts,reporters,and former governor of California Gray Davis.
The State Bar of California is an administrative division of the Supreme Court of California which licenses attorneys and regulates the practice of law in California. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law,investigating complaints of professional misconduct,prescribing appropriate discipline,accepting attorney-member fees,and financially distributing sums paid through attorney trust accounts to fund nonprofit legal entities. It is directly responsible to the Supreme Court of California. Its trustees are appointed by the Supreme Court,the California Legislature,and Governor of California. All attorney admissions are issued as recommendations of the State Bar,which are then routinely ratified by the Supreme Court. Attorney discipline is handled by the State Bar Office of Chief Trial Counsel,which acts as prosecutor before the State Bar Court of California. The State Bar has been cited for its corrupt practices during the 21st century,and is subject to reforms issued by its governing body,the California Supreme Court.
The United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a permanent independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose basic legislative authority comes from four federal statutes:the Civil Service Reform Act,the Whistleblower Protection Act,the Hatch Act,and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). OSC's primary mission is the safeguarding of the merit system in federal employment by protecting employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices (PPPs),especially reprisal for "whistleblowing." The agency also operates a secure channel for federal whistleblower disclosures of violations of law,rule,or regulation;gross mismanagement;gross waste of funds;abuse of authority;and substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. In addition,OSC issues advice on the Hatch Act and enforces its restrictions on partisan political activity by government employees. Finally,OSC protects the civilian employment and reemployment rights of military service members under USERRA. OSC has around 140 staff,and the Special Counsel is an ex officio member of Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE),an association of inspectors general charged with the regulation of good governance within the federal government.
Gary S. Gensler is an American government official and former investment banker serving as the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Gensler previously worked for Goldman Sachs and has led the Biden–Harris transition's Federal Reserve,Banking,and Securities Regulators agency review team. Prior to his appointment,he was professor of Practice of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
The Enron scandal was an accounting scandal sparked by American energy company Enron Corporation filing for bankruptcy after news of widespread internal fraud became public in October 2001,leading to its accounting firm,Arthur Andersen,then one of the five largest in the world,dissolving. In addition to being the largest bankruptcy reorganization in U.S. history at that time,Enron was cited as the biggest audit failure.
Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Kwok-Cheung Chow is a Hong Kong-born felon with ties to a San Francisco Chinatown street gang and an organized crime syndicate,including the American branch of the Hong Kong-based triad Wo Hop To and the Hop Sing Boys.
Dianne Wilkerson is a convicted felon and former Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate,representing the 2nd Suffolk District from 1993 to 2008 as the first African American female to serve in the chamber.
Joseph Dee Morrissey is an American Democratic politician,businessman,and former lawyer who won election to both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly from districts including Richmond or surrounding Henrico County,Virginia. He represented Virginia's 16th Senate district from 2020 to 2024,having been elected during the 2019 election. He represented much of southern Richmond,as well as all of the cities of Petersburg and Hopewell and portions of Chesterfield,Dinwiddie and Prince George counties. He lost the 2023 Democratic primary for his district.
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party,he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the eighth district and as a member of the Texas House of Representatives.
A whistleblower is a person who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal,unethical,or not correct within an organization that is either private or public. The Whistleblower Protection Act was made into federal law in the United States in 1989.
The 2011 Turkish sports corruption scandal was an investigation about match fixing,incentive premium,bribery,establishing a criminal organization,organized crime and intimidation in Turkey's top two association football divisions,the Süper Lig and First League.
Blake Percival was the Director of Fieldwork Services,Western Pennsylvania (WPA),for USIS. He became a whistleblower in July 2011,when he filed a qui tam suit saying he was fired from USIS,for not ordering his subordinates to submit cases to the U.S. Government for payment,that had not been completed. He had worked for USIS from January 2001 to June 2011. In his suit he stated he had been fired after he refused to order his employees to continue an elaborate fraud known as dumping.
Michael Kevin Atkinson is an American attorney. He worked for the United States Department of Justice for approximately 15 years,before becoming the second Inspector General of the Intelligence Community. He assumed office on May 17,2018.
President Joe Biden began his presidency with fewer vacancies to fill than his predecessor. He pledged to nominate people with diverse backgrounds and professional experience;further he pledged to nominate the first black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States.
