SEC Charges Moog Inc. with FCPA Violations for Bribes Paid by Indian Subsidiary

SEC Charges U.S.-Based Moog Inc. with FCPA Violations for Subsidiary’s Role in Indian Bribery Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Moog Inc., a New York-based global manufacturer of motion controls systems for aerospace, defense, industrial and medical markets, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1.1 million to resolve the SEC’s charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) arising out of bribes paid by its wholly owned Indian subsidiary, Moog Motion Controls Private Limited (Moog Motion Controls).

The SEC’s order finds that, from 2020 through 2022, Moog Motion Controls employees bribed a variety of Indian officials to win business and also used a variety of schemes to make the improper payments, including by funneling them through third-party agents and distributors. These same Moog Motion Controls employees also offered cash bribes to Indian officials in an attempt to cause public tenders in India to favor Moog’s products and exclude competitors.

SEC’s Dropped Auditing Charges Shows Damage of Jarkesy Decision

The message from the US Supreme Court justices was clear: If you violate the law as an auditor, the SEC is limited in how it can hold you accountable. Yes, laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are still on the books setting standards for financial recordkeeping and reporting. And in an ideal world, auditors would follow the law without threat of enforcement and need for sanctions, fines, and prohibitions on practicing before the SEC would be superfluous.

But if you look at the failings of BF Borgers this year and the parade of fines among the Big Four and other large accounting firms in the past few years, it’s clear we aren’t in an ideal world.

While the SEC can still bring civil charges against the most egregious offenders in federal court, many other lower-profile violations—such as failing to maintain independence or report material misstatements—may go uncharged and unpunished. This new era will make it harder to determine good audits from bad ones, because auditors that fail to properly follow auditing standards more likely will be able to keep auditing public clients (absent the SEC taking them to a jury trial).

PE Plumbers

Though the other good move might be to be on the other side of that deal, not working 100 hours a week in private equity to evaluate plumbing deals, but selling to private equity:

Given the surging investor interest, [Alpine Investors founder Graham] Weaver says, anyone with entrepreneurial ambitions should take a second look at the trades, which offer steady income via unclogging toilets, fixing boilers and installing new air-conditioning units.

“You can build a business that’s going to be worth $10-30 million and have a ready list of buyers to sell it to,” he says. “Ten years ago, there was no one to sell it to.”

If private equity is going to pay up for plumbing businesses, then arguably the move is to be a plumber.

Jane Street interns make more than Keir Starmer and Jay Powell

To put this in context, the UK prime minister is currently paid £172,153 ($224,528 at pixel time), roughly split between the salary they get as a member of parliament and as the head of government.

In other words, Sir Keir Starmer currently makes less a month than many of the interns at Jane Street. And yes, sure, he gets to live for free (though we are unreliably informed that until recently 10 Downing Street looked like a “crack den”). And yes, his role does seem to come with an awful lot of other freebies. But Jane Street’s free canteen is supposed to make French chefs faint with envy (though it may not have as good a wine cellar).

Curious as to how Jane Street’s internships compare to other prominent jobs, we found out that the chair of the Federal Reserve makes $203,500. The secretary-general of NATO currently makes a €317,707 a year, and that’s apparently tax free.

But if you’re in it for the money, you’re better off with a Jane Street internship than leading the US central bank or chairing the world’s ninth-largest island. Just brush up on your puzzle-solving skills first.

Can SEC’s Consolidated Audit Trail Survive Post-Chevron?

I’m excited to share my latest article published in Law360, where I explore whether the SEC’s Consolidated Audit Trail, nearly 15 years in development, can survive the 11th Circuit’s review without the benefit of Chevron deference. The CAT, designed to consolidate cross-market trade level detail into a single repository of data, has faced challenges over its scope, privacy concerns, and the burdens it imposes on market participants. In my article, I analyze the arguments presented to the 11th Circuit in a post-Loper Bright environment and what this could mean for the pending petition challenging the CAT in the 11th Circuit. The outcome of this review will have significant implications not only for regulators but also for broker dealers and other market participants navigating the complexities of data reporting and compliance.