STF na Mídia - MyClipp

Reuters General/ ­- Article, Qui, 12 de Abril de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Supreme Court)
SEC commissioner urges U.S.
investor-rights action
By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON | Thu Apr 12, 2012
4:21pm EDT (Reuters) ­- A commissioner with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission is calling for
Congress to take action to help investors after a 2010
Supreme Court decision greatly restricted them from
suing foreign companies for fraud. The comments by
Luis Aguilar, a Democratic member of the SEC, came
in response to a study released by the agency earlier
this week. The SEC study was conducted in response
to a June 2010 Supreme Court case, Morrison v.
National Australia Bank Ltd. The ruling prevented
investors from filing fraud claims against companies
that are not traded on a U.S. exchange. Since that
decision, the vast majority of securities fraud claims
against foreign companies that had been filed in U.S.
courts have been wiped out, leaving investors with one
less tool to combat potential securities fraud. Aguilar
said the ruling has had a very negative impact on
investor protection, and that Congress should take
action so that investors can once again have their day
in court. "Properly functioning financial markets require
the protection of investors' rights. U.S. investors expect
to be protected by U.S. securities laws, regardless of
where the securities transaction ultimately occurs,"
Aguilar wrote in a response to the SEC study. "It is my
view that investors should have a private right of action
under the antifraud provisions of the Exchange Act in
transnational securities fraud cases." When the
Morrison decision first came out, it not only affected
investors, but it also hampered both the SEC and the
U.S. Department of Justice's ability to sue for
transnational fraud. Congress quickly righted this
problem for the SEC and the DOJ just a month later
with the passage of the 2010 Dodd­-Frank law, which
restored the agencies' ability to bring cases with a
more global reach as long as they met certain
conditions. Congress stopped short, however, of
extending that same privilege to investors. Instead,
Congress directed the SEC to study the issue and
provide any recommendations on whether to change
the law. In order to release the study to Congress this
week, all five commissioners at the SEC had to vote
on it. Aguilar's 12­-page statement gave a dissenting
view on the study, which he said was disappointing
because it failed to take a stand for investors or make
any specific recommendations. He also said he was
upset that at one point in the study, the SEC said a
possible option for Congress would be to take no
action in this area. "The study falls far short of
providing Congress with an informed recommendation
and falls far short in fulfilling the Commission's mission
to protect investors," he said. A spokesman for the
Senate Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction
over the SEC, said the chairman is still reviewing the
SEC's report. (Reporting By Sarah N. Lynch; editing by
Matthew Lewis)
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