In the largest settlement to date in shareholder suits involving the mortgage crisis, Countrywide Financial Corp. has agreed to pay $600 million to end several class action lawsuits.  The company’s accounting firm, KPMG, will also pay $24 million to settle claims. The lawsuits alleged that Countrywide fraudulently concealed risks stemming from its loose mortgage-writing standards [...]

A proposed amendment to the Senate finance regulatory bill would permit shareholders to bring lawsuits against aiders and abettors of corporate fraud, including professional corporate advisors.  Such “secondary actors” are immune to private lawsuits under current law; only the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Justice Department can bring claims against them.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced proposed new rules to help thwart a major market disruption in the aftermath of the May 6th trading incident that caused the Dow Industrials to fall almost 1,000 points in under a half hour. Under the proposed rules, trading in a stock would be paused by the [...]