By Alistair Barr Tue May 22, 2012 1:19am EDT (Reuters) - In the run-up to Facebook's $16 billion IPO, Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter on the deal, unexpectedly delivered some negative news to major clients: The bank's consumer Internet analyst, Scott Devitt, was reducing his revenue forecasts for the company. The sudden caution very close to the huge initial public offering, and while an investor roadshow was underway, was a big shock to some, said two investors who were advised of the revised forecast.They say it may have contributed to the weak performance of Facebook shares, which sank on Monday - their second day of trading - to end 10 percent below the IPO price. The $38 per share IPO price valued Facebook at $104 ... Continue reading →

By Michelle Conlin NEW YORK | Wed May 9, 2012 9:01pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Florida Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Thursday in a lawsuit that could undo hundreds of thousands of foreclosures and open up banks to severe financial liabilities in the state where they face the bulk of their foreclosure-fraud litigation. The court is deciding whether banks who used fraudulent documents to file foreclosure lawsuits can dismiss the cases and refile them later with different paperwork.The decision, which may take up to eight months to render, could affect hundreds of thousands of homeowners in Florida, and could also influence judges in the other 26 states that require lawsuits in foreclosures.Of all the foreclosure filings in those states, sixty ... Continue reading →

By Carrick Mollenkamp, Brett Wolf and Brian Grow NEW YORK | Thu May 3, 2012 7:30am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - In April 2003, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and New York state bank regulators cracked the whip on HSBC Bank USA, ordering it to do a better job of policing itself for suspicious money flows. Staff in the bank's anti-money laundering division, according to a person who worked there at the time, flew into a "panic." The U.S. unit of London-based HSBC Holdings Plc quickly rallied. It hired a tough federal prosecutor to oversee anti-money laundering efforts. It installed monitoring systems for operations that had grown unwieldy during the bank's U.S. expansion. The aim, as HSBC said in an agreement with regulators ... Continue reading →

Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:30pm EDT (Reuters) - Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc squelched its own internal investigation of allegations made by a former executive of its subsidiary in Mexico that the Mexican division had orchestrated a campaign of bribery to grab market dominance, the New York Times reported on Saturday. The paper said in September 2005 a senior Wal-Mart lawyer received an e-mail from a former executive at the company's largest foreign unit, Wal-Mart de Mexico, describing how the subsidiary had paid bribes to obtain permits to build stores in the country.Wal-Mart sent investigators to Mexico City and found evidence of widespread bribery, but Wal-Mart's leaders then shut down the investigation and notified neither American nor Mexican law enforcement officials, the Times reported."We take ... Continue reading →

The former executive gave names, dates and bribe amounts. He knew so much, he explained, because for years he had been the lawyer in charge of obtaining construction permits for Wal-Mart de Mexico. Wal-Mart dispatched investigators to Mexico City, and within days they unearthed evidence of widespread bribery. They found a paper trail of hundreds of suspect payments totaling more than $24 million. They also found documents showing that Wal-Mart de Mexico’s top executives not only knew about the payments, but had taken steps to conceal them from Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. In a confidential report to his superiors, Wal-Mart’s lead investigator, a former F.B.I. special agent, summed up their initial findings this way: “There is reasonable suspicion to believe that Mexican and USA ... Continue reading →

By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY | Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:21am EDT MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Whether you are the world's No. 1 retailer or a humble street vendor, paying public officials a bribe may be the quickest way to get your business growing in Mexico. The New York Times reported this weekend that Wal-Mart Stores Inc investigators probing its Mexican operations found a paper trail of hundreds of suspect payments worth more than $24 million made to grow its business there, and that the company then quashed the investigation.Wal-Mart said it was "deeply concerned" about the allegations, which have lifted the lid on a culture of corruption in Mexico that many of its residents take for granted.One global study said Mexican firms were perceived ... Continue reading →

Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:15am EDT (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc shares fell 4.7 percent in early trading on concerns that an investigation into allegations of bribery at its Mexican affiliate and how those allegations were handled by top management could be costly to the company and hinder attempts to expand. Shares of affiliate Wal-Mart de Mexico, Walmex, were down 6.56 pesos at 36.50. The drop has wiped out the year-to-date gains in the stock, which had been up 12 percent through Friday.The New York Times this weekend reported that the world's largest retailer stymied an internal probe into bribery at its Mexican affiliate, in the middle of the last decade. The allegations if true could be violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), ... Continue reading →

Wed Apr 18, 2012 4:41pm EDT * Retains mineral right under many homes it sells * North Carolina looks at disclosure to buyers* Homebuilder says it has responded to the inquiry* Reports earnings MondayBy Michelle ConlinApril 18 (Reuters) - Homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc is hanging on to the rights to drill for oil and natural gas underneath many of the houses it sells, a practice that state prosecutors are watching closely.The drilling rights could give a lift to the largest U.S. homebuilder, whose shares plunged when the housing market crumbled. As energy companies find vast new gas deposits using a controversial technique known as "hydraulic fracturing," mineral rights are becoming increasingly valuable.But the North Carolina Department of Justice is looking into whether D.R. Horton's customers ... Continue reading →