White House press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed that President Obama will sign the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014. Congress passed the Act unanimously on December 13, 2014. The bill gives the President the authority to expand U.S. sanctions significantly against the Russian Federation regarding its continued intervention in Ukraine. By allowing the President to impose sanctions directly against foreign entities, the bill marks a departure from the Administration's approach under various Ukraine-related Executive Orders whereby U.S. persons are prohibited from taking certain actions

In a blog post titled " Is This Prosecution a Spoof of a Real Manipulation Case?" University of Houston finance professor Craig Pirrong questions the legitimacy of "spoofing" as an allegation in a criminal case involving the trading practices of Michael Coscia. The indictment represents the first criminal case to use the anti-manipulation authority provided in the Dodd-Frank Act to charge spoofing in the context of commodities transactions. Coscia is calling for a dismissal on the grounds that the language in Dodd-Frank regarding spoofing is "hopelessly vague." According to Mr. Pirrong, this

After a six-week trial, a jury in federal court in Miami found that BankAtlantic Bancorp, Inc. (now known as BBX Capital Corporation) and its CEO committed securities fraud in connection with BankAtlantic's public disclosures and financial statements. The jury found that, in 2007, statements from BankAtlantic's second quarter earnings fraudulently misled investors regarding the financial health of the bank. Additionally, the jury found that BankAtlantic's 2007 annual report fraudulently understated the Bank's loss for that year by approximately $53 million. The verdict came after the SEC

FINRA fined Merrill Lynch for fair pricing and supervisory violations in connection with retail customer transactions in distressed securities over a two-year time period. FINRA found that the firm's Trading Desk purchased notes from retail customers at prices below that of the prevailing market. FINRA also found that the firm did not have an adequate supervisory system in place to detect whether the firm's Credit Desk executed a retail customer transaction at a price that was consistent with the prevailing market price of that security. See: FINRA Press Release.

The CFTC announced that Gary Barnett, Director of the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight ("DSIO"), will depart from the DSIO in January to take a senior position at the SEC. CFTC Chair Tim Massad announced that Tom Smith, who is currently the Deputy Director of DSIO's Capital, Margin and Segregation Branch, will become Interim Director for DSIO upon Mr. Barnett's departure. See: CFTC Press Release.