WASHINGTON — The inspector general of the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether political or other factors influenced the timing of the filing and subsequent settlement of the commission's securities fraud case against Goldman Sachs, according to letters between his office and a Republican congressman.
It is not clear what sort of settlement the commission will try to elicit from Morgan Stanley, but a monetary settlement could be substantial because employees in the division are highly paid.
Nevertheless, the unbundling of Media Player is likely to be the toughest obstacle in the way of a settlement between the commission and Microsoft.
Mr. Silverstein has agreed to a partial settlement of the complaint, the commission said.
The remarks, at a news media breakfast, were the first by Ms. Schapiro to address the issue since a federal district judge refused last year to approve a commission settlement of fraud charges involving Citigroup.
Asked at a Senate hearing in Washington today to clarify what he hoped to accomplish as a result of the two weeks of settlement talks, the commission's chairman, Curtis L. Hébert Jr., was noncommittal.
The company had reached a settlement with the commission over its treatment of two disabled employees.
The fight has gone to the United States Supreme Court, which in 1985 accepted the Indian Lands Claim Commission's settlement of the land issue.
A growing number of those lawsuits result in the kind of settlements the commission is now investigating.
Yuri Popov The Russian special envoy heads his country's delegation to a joint commission for the settlement of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict.
After the Sears settlement, the commission did act on stoves — sort of, as Ed Mierzwinski of U.S. PIRG points out.
