On Monday, Washington, D.C., federal Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, who is overseeing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Citigroup, refused to approve the proposed settlement, pressed the SEC about the extent of its investigation, and asked how it determined the proposed $75 million penalty. Huvelle said she was “baffled” by the proposed pact, adding, “I look at this and say, ‘Why would I find this fair and reasonable?’ You expect the court to rubber-stamp, but we can’t.”

What’s in a name? A Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, if you’re not careful. Just ask BCI Telecom Holding Inc

Just how much are bankruptcy lawyers and advisers making in the ongoing Lehman Brothers bankruptcy? Bloomberg reports that the $873.1 million in fees billed since the beginning of the case would quadruple the annual payroll of the New York Yankees

The financial reform package creates a new whistleblower program with potentially huge cash rewards for individuals who provide information about securities law violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC will pay whistleblowers cash rewards of between 10 percent and 30 percent of any monetary sanctions in excess of $1 million that the government recovers because of whistleblowers’ assistance. Some experts say even companies with robust compliance programs face dangerous waters.

Paris-based Technip SA, a service company for the oil and gas industry, is paying $338 million in civil and criminal penalties to settle claims that it worked with former Halliburton subsidiary KBR to bribe Nigerian officials and win $6 billion in contracts. The $338 million figure includes a $240 million criminal fine, plus a disgorgement of $98 million to resolve civil claims made by the Securities and Exchange Commission