SEC Approves New PCAOB Audit Standards, Including Move to Negligence Standard

SEC Approves New and Updated PCAOB Audit Standards and an Amendment to the PCAOB’s Contributory Liability Rule

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has approved two Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) proposals updating audit standards regarding general responsibilities of the auditor and use of technology-assisted analysis in conducting an audit. The SEC also approved a proposal amending a PCAOB ethics rule governing the liability of an associated person when they directly and substantially contribute to audit firm violations.

Sam Bankman-Fried, a personal verdict

Before handing Sam his sentence, he dwelled for a moment on the deeper why of the case. He said he’d realized something important while listening to Caroline Ellison testify. Then he picked up the transcript of her testimony and read:

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Q. Did he ever give other coin-flip examples?

A. Yeah. I guess he also talked about this in the context of thinking about what was good for the world, saying that he would be happy to flip a coin if it came up tails and the world was destroyed — as long as if it came up heads, the world would be, like, more than twice as good.”

In other words,” said the judge, “a man willing to flip a coin as to the continued existence of life and civilization on Earth, if the chances were imperceptibly greater that it would come out without that catastrophic outcome, that’s really a leitmotif in my judgment of this entire case. … It’s his nature.” Because it was his nature, the judge concluded, Sam would, if given the chance, do something like what he had just done all over again. “There is a risk that this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future, and it’s not a trivial risk, not a trivial risk at all,” said the judge. “So, in part, my sentence will be for the purpose of disabling him.” He then sentenced Sam to 25 years in prison, with no possibility of parole.

Gold Price Hits Milestone as Bars Worth a Million Dollars for First Time

For the first time ever, a bar of gold is worth a cool one million dollars.

The milestone was reached Friday, when the precious metal’s spot price surpassed $2,500 per troy ounce, an all-time high. With gold bars typically weighing about 400 ounces, that would make each one worth more than $1 million.

Latham & Watkins Will Require Four Days in Office for New York

Latham & Watkins is asking its attorneys in New York City be in the office four days a week in the coming year.

Starting January 1, 2025, the law firm is expecting that all its attorneys in the Big Apple to work in office at least four days per week, according to a Tuesday email sent by Marc Jaffe, managing partner of Latham’s New York office, viewed by Bloomberg Law.

Crypto Token Holders Approve SEC Settlement Absent Any Charges

The crypto token holders that manage Mango Markets voted to approve a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission even though the agency hasn’t charged the DeFi platform with any wrongdoing.

In April, a trader accused of exploiting Mango Markets rules to steal $110 million from the decentralized-finance exchange was convicted of fraud in the first US trial involving criminal charges tied to cryptocurrency manipulation.

The settlement would include “the payment of a civil monetary penalty, injunctive relief,” and other provisions, according to the proposal that is posted up for vote on the website of Mango DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization whose members vote on the project’s actions. The DAO also proposed to stop all sales of its governance MNGO token in the US. The SEC still has to accept the proposed settlement offer, according to the DAO, which said it wouldn’t be admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations of violating securities laws.

Ex-Goldman Worker’s Tippee Gets Probation in Insider Case

The stepbrother of a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. associate was sentenced to a year of probation for trading on inside tips taken from the investment bank and from Blackstone Inc.

Christopher Salamone avoided prison because of his cooperation with prosecutors, including secretly recording his stepbrother, Anthony Viggiano. Salamone, who was sentenced Tuesday by Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan federal court, also was ordered to forfeit $307,339.