The SEC has rejected a proposal by its own enforcement staff to settle a landmark case in which the agency is trying to force a former corporate chief executive to give up millions of dollars in bonuses and stock profits he received while the company was cooking its books. The plan to settle for significantly less money than the agency originally sought posed a test question for the Securities and Exchange Commission: Was the staff letting the former executive off the hook too easily? Or was the agency being overzealous when it brought the case in the first place? Read full article >>