SEC backs rule to delay bonuses

SEC backs rule to delay bonuses

WASHINGTON

The Securities and Exchange Commission has taken a step toward curbing risk-taking at big Wall Street firms and reducing the influence of credit-rating agencies, two factors that contributed to the financial crisis.

The commission voted Wednesday to back a proposed rule that would make top executives at big firms wait at least three years to be paid at least half of their annual bonuses. The rule would apply to financial firms with $50 billion or more in assets. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. advanced the rule last month.

Allegations probed about plane luggage

HONOLULU

The Transportation Security Administration says it is disciplining several officers after looking into allegations that workers at Honolulu International Airport didn’t screen checked bags for traces of explosives.

TSA announced the action Wednesday after a report by KITV that at least 27 workers at the airport were investigated for failing to open and check possibly thousands of pieces of luggage. The Honolulu station reported that, in some cases over a period as long as four months, officers marked suitcases as having been screened when the bags hadn’t been examined.

The investigation began after two Honolulu TSA employees tipped off officials.

Trial of former art dealer begins

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

A former art dealer earlier convicted of tax fraud duped investors out of $6 million and used the money to buy cars, antique Japanese swords and valuable works of art, a prosecutor said as the man’s trial began in federal court Wednesday.

Rocco DeSimone has pleaded not guilty to mail fraud and other charges in the case. His defense attorneys declined to deliver an opening statement. But they wrote in a pre-trial court filing that they plan to argue that DeSimone’s business dealings relied on information provided by his accountant, Ronald Rodrigues, who they say also had a financial interest in those dealings.

John McAdams, an assistant U.S. Attorney, told a jury in U.S. District Court in Providence that DeSimone convinced acquaintances and others to invest in inventions he said major international corporations, including Nintendo and Sony, had offered to buy for millions of dollars.

“He made false promises and outright lies to get their money,” McAdams said. “He took their money, and he spent it.”

Judge: Ex-dealers can sue GM

DETROIT

A Canadian judge has ruled that more than 200 former General Motors dealers whose businesses were eliminated in a 2009 restructuring can sue the company as a group.

Ontario Superior Court Justice G.R. Strathy on Tuesday granted class-action status to the lawsuit filed by more than 200 GM dealers whose franchises were eliminated during GM’s financial crisis in 2009, according to a statement from two Toronto law firms representing the dealers. The lawsuit seeks $750 million in damages and alleges that GM of Canada violated provincial franchise laws in getting rid of the dealers.

Associated Press