“Charles Ross, a criminal defense attorney in New York City, said the SEC appeared to be focusing on abusive short-selling. He said the agency would likely track trading patterns and also look at e-mails, Web sites, chat rooms and blogs to see if there were any rumor-mongering campaigns.

“Charles A. Ross, a founding partner of Charles A. Ross & Associates LLC, said he has never seen prosecutors circle back after a high-profile trial to say that they want a certain executive who was not formally charged to resign. ‘This is breaking new and inappropriate ground for prosecutors,’ he said. ‘This is an example of overkill and prosecutors being overzealous in their self-appointed task of policing American businesses.’”

“‘The trend over the next year will include more insider trading cases but will see an increase in focus upon the subprime mortgage meltdown,’ said Charles A. Ross, a partner with Charles A. Ross and Associates. ‘Subpoenas have already issued to securities ratings agencies regarding concerns about a lack of diligence and disclosure on the risks involved in investing in packages of securitized subprime loans. In addition, domestic private-equity groups and hedge funds may continue to fuel investment in foreign markets, which may draw the scrutiny of U.S. regulators such as the SEC and the CFTC,’ Ross said.”

“‘It’s a very surprising verdict given the relatively weak case of the prosecution,’ said Charles Ross, a veteran criminal defense attorney who formerly chaired the white-collar defense group at Herrick Feinstein LLP. ‘This conviction may mean more individuals are prosecuted criminally for option backdating fraud.’”

“In another setback for the beleaguered plaintiffs firm Milberg Weiss & Bershad LLP, a judge ruled that the company should not act as lead counsel in a class-action against Ford Motor Company’s retirement plan…. Some found Pope’s decision to be an unreasonable move against the firm, which has yet to face trial. ‘I think it’s totally unfair. Obviously Milberg Weiss should be protected by the presumption of innocence,’ said Charles Ross, an attorney at Charles A. Ross & Associates.”

“As firms continue to look for new and innovative ways to raise capital, private investment in public equity (PIPE) transactions are gaining popularity, and in turn garnering the attention of regulators. ‘PIPE transactions are becoming more and more popular as capitalization vehicles,’ said Charles A. Ross, a partner at Charles A. Ross & Associates. ‘We’re likely to see some increase in PIPEs regulatory actions because there has been an increased favoring of PIPE investments.’”

“Even a slight scaling back of Section 404 will go a long way towards assuaging some of the problems caused by the regulation, said Charles Ross, a partner at Charles A. Ross & Associates. ‘From an individual client perspective, a corporate officer can be criminally prosecuted and sued in an SEC enforcement proceeding for falsely certifying that internal controls are adequate,’ Ross said. ‘This aspect of 404 has made being a CEO of a public company the one of the most dangerous jobs in America due to the lack of specificity on what constitutes materiality.’”