KPMG Australia has sanctioned seven employees after an internal investigation concluded that confidential client information was improperly shared inside the firm, a finding that stands in marked contrast to the firm's earlier position that previous inquiries had failed to substantiate wrongdoing.
What appeared on the books as re-inspection fees was, prosecutors say, something else entirely. Over six years, The Scoular Company allegedly reimbursed customs brokers for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes paid to Mexican border officials, a scheme that has now resulted in a resolution worth more than $10 million with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The PRA has fined HDI Global £4.165 million in connection with inaccurate information submitted on multiple occasions between August 2021 and August 2024 relating to Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) liabilities and FSCS fee tariff data. Some of those errors appeared in filings the insurer submitted as part of efforts to remediate previous mistakes, extending rather than resolving the problem.
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.