Boland Quoted on SEC Enforcement on S&P Ratings Service

Partner Beth Boland was quoted in an Inside Counsel article, “SEC Ratings Case Leads to Payments by S&P,” on January 27, 2015. The article discussed the decision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to fine Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services for allegedly fraudulent ratings and S&P’s one-year suspension for rating some commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). Boland was quoted saying, “S&P may or may not care about being temporarily excluded from the conduit fusion CMBS space, but the SEC’s focus on obtaining injunctive relief which may affect both the business and reputation of a credit rating agency is significant. The takeaway for GCs is the increasing focus by the SEC on injunctive – and perhaps even market-changing – relief such as extracting from defendants admissions of culpability, retractions of prior statements, and agreements to exit key markets.”