SEC
Pay $16.5M: Celsius Founders Settle FTC Charges
Mashinsky pays $10 million personally, but the FTC's $16.5 million settlement is dwarfed by the $4.7 billion judgment against Celsius itself.
Masthead · Financial Regulation Writer
Marcus Webb
New York · Joined January 2026
Financial journalist, ex-Reuters. Wrote his first economics piece at age 10 — on how math shapes a state's economy. Invests in Bitcoin. New York.
Stories filed
57
This year
57
Avg. read
1 min
Joined
2026
Stories by Marcus
Legal
FDIC, OCC, NCUA Flag Risk on Non-Work-Authorized Borrowers
Three bank regulators just told lenders to price in deportation risk as a credit factor. The Fed didn't sign on, and that gap is the real story.
Legal
NYC's Junk Fee Rule Hits Every Business With $3,500 Fines
NYC's proposed junk-fee rule stacks $3,500 fines per violation with no cure period, and a paperwork gap alone can flip liability onto the business.
SEC
Transfer Agents Push SEC to Wall Off $2.6T Token Market
Transfer agents want the SEC to lock crypto platforms out of tokenized stock, right as Citi pegs that market at $2.6 trillion by 2030.
SEC
4 Cloud Giants Now Answer to the Bank of England
Four tech giants inherited bank-style oversight overnight, raising compliance costs for FinTechs, and AI vendors could be next in the FCA's sights.
SEC
Hacks Accenture, Claims 35GB of Source Code
A dark-web seller claims 35GB of Accenture's source code and cloud access keys. The company's official statement fits in two sentences.
SEC
Vought Testifies for the First Time: CFPB Faces Congress July 15
Russell Vought makes his first Capitol Hill appearance as CFPB chief on July 15, while his own successor nominee remains unconfirmed by the Senate.
SEC
Goldman Bans Prediction Bets After $1.2M Insider Case
A $1.2M Polymarket insider trading case just pushed Goldman to ban staff bets on stocks, bitcoin and ceasefires. Congress hasn't banned itself yet.
SEC
CFPB Reopens $10B Credit Card Late Fee Fight
The CFPB torched its own $10B late-fee rule in a court settlement last year. Now it's quietly reopening the same fight.
SEC
Musk Pays $1.5M SEC Fine, Keeps $150M Gain
A federal judge slammed 'red flags' in Musk's SEC deal but approved it anyway, letting him resolve a $150 million dispute for $1.5 million.
SEC
CFPB Files RFI to Revive $10B Late-Fee Fight
The CFPB just told the White House it wants another look at late fees, a year after it abandoned its $8 rule in a settlement.
SEC
Cleared: Sony's $40M Trust Bank for Stablecoins
Sony's $40 million trust charter cleared the OCC, and bank lobbyists are already calling it a two-tier system built for stablecoins.
SEC
SEC Plots 3 Crypto Rules to Pull Trading Onshore
No fine, no named target this time. The SEC wants three new rules to pull crypto trading back onto U.S. soil before Congress acts.
SEC
Fed Votes 6-1 to Ease AML Rules for Banks
A Fed governor just dissented on his own board's AML overhaul, calling the new enforcement standard undefined. Banks should take note.
SEC
FinCEN's KYC Rule Hits Nonbank Stablecoin Issuers
FinCEN's first KYC rulebook for stablecoin issuers lands, and nonbank players now face compliance costs that banks have absorbed for decades.
SEC
Blocked in Court, NY Files $10K Open Banking Bill
New York's mini-1033 bill caps violations at $10,000 each, and thousands can stack in minutes. States aren't waiting for the CFPB anymore.
SEC
ECB Scraps 40 Supervisory Guides in Lending Push
ECB scraps 40 outdated supervisory guides and signals its guidance was never legally binding, a clarification EU banks have long wanted.
SEC
HUD Cuts FHA Oversight
HUD's five Mortgagee Letters make appraisal field reviews optional and strip lender pattern-review duties, shifting detection risk onto FHA.
SEC
Nacha Expands ACH Fraud Monitoring to All Banks, June 19
Nacha's Phase Two ACH fraud rules are live as of June 22: unauthorized fraud now drives 71% of bank losses, and every RDFI must respond.
SEC
CFPB Rewires Complaint Portal After 3,700% Surge
CFPB's biggest complaint system overhaul since 2011 pushes consumers to exhaust FCRA rights first. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion quietly win.
SEC
CFPB Tightens Complaint Portal After 3,700% Surge
Credit repair clinics turned the CFPB portal into a revenue engine. New triage rules could shut that down and snag legitimate disputes too.
SEC
Coinbase Clears SEC for AI Adviser, Eyes Full Finance Stack
Coinbase's new system update puts an SEC-registered AI adviser at the center of its bid to become a bank, brokerage, and crypto wallet in one app.
SEC
iRhythm Files Breach 8-K; Hackers Demand Ransom on 12M
Hackers used social engineering to steal cardiac health data from 12 million iRhythm patients; the HIPAA breach notice to HHS is next.
SEC
Hacked via Open API, ServiceNow Shares Fall on Disclosure
ServiceNow patched an open API silently on June 5, then disclosed attackers had queried customer tables four days later. Shares fell on disclosure.
SEC
Breached via Vendor, SoFi Hong Kong Can't Gauge Damage
SoFi's Hong Kong unit discovered a vendor breach on April 30 but can't say who was hit, what was taken, or whether the vendor was extorted.
SEC
Fed Orders $300B Private Credit Disclosure
The Fed can't see where $300B in bank money flows into private credit, and it's now demanding answers before the next cockroach surfaces.
Legal
Fined $104M, AT&T and Verizon Lose at Supreme Court
The Supreme Court's 8-1 ruling upholds $104M in FCC fines against AT&T and Verizon for selling real-time location data to bounty hunters.
FDA
How to Respond to an FDA Form 483 in 15 Days
The FDA's first 483-response guidance sets a 15-day clock and wants risk assessments. Miss the window and you invite a warning letter.
FDA
Form 483 vs Warning Letter: What's the Difference
One is field notes from an FDA inspector. The other is the agency's formal legal escalation. Confuse them and you mishandle both.
SEC
Filed: CFTC's Prediction Market Rule Under OMB Review
CFTC's formal prediction market rule is now in White House hands: 3,534 comments in, four state lawsuits filed, and the text still secret.
SEC
OCC Hits Wise, Crypto.com Partner Bank on AML
Wise and Crypto.com's U.S. sponsor bank got an OCC consent order after its AML system was auto-closing alerts that should have triggered SARs.
SEC
FFIEC Cuts Management's Clout in 30-Year CAMELS Rewrite
The FFIEC just stripped Management's veto over composite bank ratings for the first time since 1996. The comment window closes August 17.
SEC
Warren Demands Fed Revoke Morgan Stanley Exemption
Warren gave the Fed, OCC, and FDIC until June 3 to justify a Morgan Stanley exemption she says diverts U.S. deposits to fund a German bank.
SEC
Goldman Paid $500M to End 1MDB Shareholder Suit
Goldman's $500M shareholder settlement adds to a $7.5B total 1MDB bill, or 12x the $600M in fees the bank collected for that deal.
SEC
CFPB Narrows 1071 to $1M Threshold, 2028 Deadline
The CFPB's revised 1071 Rule cuts the small-business revenue ceiling to $1M, drops key demographic data, and pushes compliance to 2028.
AI
Apple Stopped $2.2B in App Store Fraud in 2025
Apple stopped $2.2B in App Store fraud in 2025, rejected 1.1 billion fake account creations, and now sits at $11.2B blocked over six years.
SEC
Wells Fargo Settles $110M Discrimination Suit
Wells Fargo agreed to a $110M discrimination settlement. The $100M goes to a new mortgage fund, not to the Black homeowners turned away in 2020.
SEC
Cut Out: SEC Token Exemption Bypasses Stock Issuers
The SEC's 'innovation exemption' would let platforms tokenize Apple shares without issuer consent, and there's no limit on duplicate wrappers.
SEC
SEC Kills 50-Year Settlement Gag Rule
Chairman Atkins just gave every company fighting an SEC enforcement action a new weapon: the right to publicly deny while still settling.
SEC
CFPB Drops Disparate Impact in 3-Part ECOA Overhaul
CFPB just scrapped disparate impact under ECOA, but mortgage lenders and state AGs in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts won't play along.
SEC
Ran First: SVB's $49M Depositors Led 2023 Bank Runs
FDIC's transaction-level data shows the $49M-threshold depositors who drained SVB in six days, and they ran at Signature and First Republic too.
SEC
Hunts Polymarket Insiders With AI: CFTC
CFTC chairman Selig says the agency is chasing hundreds of insider trading tips on prediction markets, with AI surveillance tools now live.
SEC
Cuts Cases: SEC's Woodcock Goes Quality Over Quantity
SEC enforcement chief Woodcock commits to quality over quantity, signaling that borderline inquiries could quietly fall off the agency's docket.
SEC
Judge Orders Musk, SEC to Explain $200M Deal
A federal judge wants answers on how Musk's SEC deal was reached, why it uses a trust, and whether White House meddling tainted the process.
SEC
Killed Citi's $24.5M CFPB Order 3 Years Early
CFPB killed Citi's Armenian discrimination order three years early. Vought told Congress the $24.5M fine was 17x the actual redress.
SEC
Caught: 140 Sham Deals Expose Telkom Indonesia to SEC, DOJ
Telkom Indonesia's 140 sham transactions have drawn both SEC and DOJ scrutiny, spanning revenue recognition, internal controls, and FCPA compliance.
SEC
CFPB Strips ECOA Disparate Impact, July 21
The CFPB's April 2026 ECOA rule kills disparate impact for credit cards and auto loans, but leaves mortgage lenders still exposed under the FHA.
SEC
CFPB Cuts Lender Data Rule: 2,500 to 280
$166 million in annual compliance savings sounds like a win.
SEC
OCC Clears JPMorgan's $250M Trade Surveillance Order After 2 Years
$348.2 million later, the OCC decided JPMorgan Chase has done enough.
SEC
FDIC, OCC Bar Reputation Risk as Debanking Basis Starting June 6
The FDIC and OCC just banned reputation risk as a basis for bank supervision.
Legal
FDIC Proposes 191-Page Stablecoin Rule, Blocking Pass-Through Insurance
The FDIC proposed a 191-page Genius Act stablecoin rule Tuesday, its second under the Act.
SEC
Paid $2.4M to SEC: VC Fund Chief Settles Investor Fraud Claims
Nearly $2.4 million is the price a Florida-based VC fund chief agreed to pay the SEC to settle fraud claims.
SEC
Sue First: FCA Draws a Line on Car Finance Redress
Nikhil Rathi warned claims firms and law firms over the tension between car finance litigation and the FCA's redress scheme.
SEC
FinCEN and OFAC Propose Stablecoin AML and Sanctions Rules
Treasury's FinCEN and OFAC issued a joint proposed rule placing every U.S. stablecoin issuer under AML and sanctions compliance.
SEC
SEC Names Woodcock to Head 1,000-Person Enforcement Division
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins taps Gibson Dunn securities partner David Woodcock to lead the 1,000-person Enforcement Division, effective May 4, 2026.
SEC
SEC's FY2025 Enforcement Take Was $2.7B, Not $17.9B
The SEC's FY2025 enforcement haul drops to $2.7B once you strip the Stanford Ponzi and parallel criminal proceeds from the $17.9B headline.
SEC
SEC Paid $50M+ to One Whistleblower for Early Enforcement Tip
The SEC paid one whistleblower $50M+ for an early tip that triggered an enforcement action, implying at least $167M in underlying sanctions.
