"Possible cover-up" in SEC Pequot case: lawmaker
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Two senior U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday questioned the handling by market regulators of an insider trading probe involving hedge fund Pequot Capital and John Mack, CEO of Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley .
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WASHINGTON -- All five members of the Securities and Exchange Commission are being asked by Congress to defend the watchdog agency against accusations that it may be tilting toward business interests and away from investors.
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WASHINGTON -- Two senators who wrote a tough but little-understood law to protect corporate whistle-blowers are pressing the Securities and Exchange Commission for aggressive enforcement, just as a case emerges that could determine how companies are policed.
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As Congress looks into "pretexting," CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh asks if politicos are really in favor of our privacy.
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. lawmakers promised to push ahead legislation aimed at cracking down on pretexting despite some objections from telecom carriers and the U.S. Department of Justice. Nearly all the members of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee pledged to push the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act, which would give the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) authority to file lawsuits against pretexters and the people who hire them. The bill would also require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to draw up new rules for telecom carriers to protect private phone records, and it would prevent carriers from sharing customer information with third parties without permission. Despite some concerns about the bill, lawmakers said consumers need protection against pretexting, the practice of posing as a telecom customer to obtain phone records and other private information. "Someone with bad intentions and a few bucks can get a hold of almost anybody's cell phone records," said Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican. President George Bush signed a bill creating criminal penalties for pretexting in January. But proponents of the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act say the extra protections in the bill are also needed. The Energy and Commerce Committee approved the same bill during the last session of Congress, but the legislation apparently was held up on the House floor because of concerns from federal law enforcement agencies that the bill could slow efforts to get information on terrorism suspects. Lawmakers from both parties complained that they received little explanation about why the bill died last year. Thomas Navin, chief of the FCC's Wireline Bureau, said the Department of Justice was concerned that the FCC would set up rules that consumers are notified too soon after their phone records were accessed by someone else. The DOJ wanted a delay of seven days before consumers were notified, he said. But Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said consumers should be notified immediately. "I don't think the Department of Justice should be listened to on that issue," he said. "I think [victims] should be listened to on that issue." Markey pointed to news reports this week saying the FBI may have violated the law and its internal rules while collecting telephone, data, and other personal records through the Patriot Act. "There is still a lack of respect for the law of our country," he said. Beyond the law enforcement concerns, representatives of trade groups the United States Telecom Association and CTIA-The Wireless Association said the bill could prevent them from sharing customer information with third parties that market complementary products. CTIA members don't share customers' personal information with unrelated groups, but the carriers do use third-party vendors to market wireless-related products, said Steve Largent, CTIA's president and CEO. But Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, questioned industry concerns about language in the bill that could require carriers to get opt-in permission from customers to share their personal data. "It seems if we want to protect privacy, we should change this from opt out to opt in," he said.
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Lawmakers say the deal may pose a threat to national security.
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Senator Jim Webb asked federal  authorities on Wednesday to look into &quot;national security  implications&quot; he said are posed by Chinese government  involvement with Blackstone Group LP  as it moves toward  a stock offering expected to raise more than $4 billion.
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Two Republican senators said the S.E.C. failed to follow up on leads in its investigation of Pequot Capital Management.
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The senator said he was not aware that his broker had invested in companies backed by some of his top donors.
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The House ethics committee will investigate Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., to determine whether he violated standards of conduct when an illegally recorded telephone conversation was leaked to reporters during a committee investigation.
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Dow Jones & Co. Inc.  board member David Li over an insider trading case linked to News Corp.'s  bid for the Wall Street Journal publisher, Dow Jones reported on Wednesday.
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A former natural gas trader for a hedge fund facing congressional scrutiny yesterday disputed the findings of Senate investigators who blamed high natural gas prices last winter on the company's speculative bets.
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Disgraced former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham lied to fellow lawmakers on a House ethics panel to disguise kickbacks from a defense contractor, according to a summary of an interview between the congressman and federal investigators.
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Some members of the House oversight committee may have violated a federal law against soliciting things of value from people with interests before the committee.
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A lawyer for Roger Clemens' accuser was told by a congressional committee staff member that his client was unlikely to be granted immunity for his deposition and testimony.
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House and Senate members are proposing legislation to slow the revolving door carrying federal regulators into private banks, following revelations of the role played by a former U.S. examiner in the Riggs Bank affair.
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In a strange anomaly to American securities laws, it is not clear that someone who illegally obtained insider information has broken the law by trading on that information.