A student decides not to continue their studies and is told they owe the university a month's tuition to leave. Another clicks what appears to be nothing more than an "Apply" button and, according to Poland's consumer watchdog, has already entered into a paid contract before realizing it.
More than three years after the Securities and Exchange Commission brought its case, a federal court has handed the regulator what amounts to a decisive victory against cannabis company American Patriot Brands, its subsidiaries, and the company's chief executive and chief operating officer. The judgment reaches well beyond monetary sanctions. It permanently bars the two executives from leading public companies or participating in most securities offerings, while ordering the companies to surrender millions the court determined were tied to the misconduct.
The European Commission has fined AliExpress €550 million after concluding that the marketplace failed to meet its obligations under the Digital Services Act to assess and reduce the risks associated with illegal, unsafe, and counterfeit products sold through its platform.
The numbers arrive in clusters, almost daring the eye to become numb. $579.5 million (AUD $830 million) in court-ordered civil penalties, 449.5 million (AUD $644 million) to be returned to consumers and investors, more than 250 investigations, twenty-five criminal convictions etc. Read too quickly, they blur into the familiar arithmetic of regulation, another annual accounting of enforcement activity. Read more carefully, and something else emerges. This was not simply a year in which the Australian Securities and Investments Commission imposed larger penalties than before. It was a year in which nearly every lever available to a financial regulator (civil litigation, criminal prosecution, remediation, market intervention) was pulled with unusual force.
A Massachusetts-based drugmaker, EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, has agreed to pay $4,657,463.18 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to certain ambulatory surgery centers to encourage them to purchase and dispense DEXYCU, an injectable treatment approved for ocular inflammation following cataract surgery. The alleged conduct spans from Jan. 1, 2019, through March 1, 2023. Under separate agreements, EyePoint will also pay an additional $21,518.68 to certain participating states.
Thirty ESG evaluation and data providers had endorsed Japan's Code of Conduct for ESG Evaluation and Data Providers as of June 30, 2026, according to an updated list published by the country's Financial Services Agency (FSA).
There are few assets as carefully protected as the right to call yourself an Olympic sponsor. Companies spend years negotiating for that privilege and millions securing it. Others, seeing the attention the Games inevitably command, sometimes try a less expensive route, such as standing close enough to borrow the glow without ever paying for the light. Italy's competition regulator has decided that six companies crossed that line.