Criminal Violations

Prof. Volokh blogged about the difficulty people have had in finding actual criminal violations stemming from 60 Minutes forged papers.

I thought I had found a statute, but alas, it appears I was wrong, though I still think an argument can be made that the signature of an officer on an official memo, over his rank, serves as a de facto seal. Its not enough, on its own, to prosecute over, but if other charges were filed, perhaps its worth attempting to expand the law in this area.

I belong to a legal ethics mailing list (its one of the areas I've found myself doing lots of work in lately), and this email, from University of Oklahom Professor of Law Drew Kershen, came across it today.

If CBS lawyers (in-house and outside) have acquired "evidence of a material violation" by CBS employees that will affect any SEC filing, the CBS lawyers have Sarbanes-Oxley obligations to make certain that the CLO and/or CEO are made aware of the misconduct by CBS employees and that the CLO and/or CEO take effective action to remedy the material violation.

CBS lawyers should be thinking carefully about their Sarbanes-Oxley obligations. I do not have sufficient facts to make a judgment but I can say that CBS lawyers are very unwise and unprepared if they are not thinking Sarbanes-Oxley.

Interesting