US to Sue Bank of America

On August 6, 2013, the US DOJ filed a civil lawsuit against Bank of America in a Charlotte federal courthouse, accusing the bank and several of its subsidiaries of failing to adequately disclose the risks associated with $850 million in mortgage bonds sold to investors during height of the banking crisis in 2008. Apparently, the bank didn't disclose that more than 70 percent of the mortgages backing the investments were written by brokers outside the bank's network. Investors eventually lost about $100 million on the investments. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a related suit against Bank of America during the day too. This is the most high-profile lawsuit since US took the Standard and Poor's to the court earlier this year. 

Amazon Founder Buys Washington Post

On August 5, 2013, the new media became the winner in acquiring a venerable brand from the old media as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos agreed to buy the landmark newspaper and other assets for a value of $250 million from the Washington Post Co., whose Chairman and CEO, Donald Graham, called Bezos a "uniquely good owner". This is the first time the ownership will switch from the Graham family, which has controlled the Washington Post since 1933, in almost eight decades. Katharine Weymouth, granddaughter of Phillip L. Graham and Katharine Graham, will remain the CEO and publisher of the newspaper. The Washington Post Company's name will be changed, but will retail all other assets such as Slate online magazine, TheRoot.com and Foreign Policy magazine. The rich history and the rightful place of the Post in American political fabric brought the investigative journalism to world stage with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein becoming the household names after their unraveling and unwrapping of the Watergate scandal that had led to President Richard Nixon's quitting the office. In 2008 alone, Post achieved six Pulitzers for exposing mistreatment at Walter Reed Hospital, covering the Virginia Tech massacre and detail reporting on the private security contract in Iraq.

SAC Capital Advisors

The US brought criminal charges against the revered Wall Street hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors and related companies on counts that cover which the US Attorney Preet Bharara called the enabling and promoting insider trading practices. However, the criminal charges filed on July 25, 2013 didn't name the founder of the hedge fund, Steven Cohen. The criminal charges were filed almost a week after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil case aimed at barring Cohen from managing investor funds for his failure to prevent insider trading by his employees.

On November 4, 2013, SAC Capital agreed to the largest ever insider trading settlement with US Attorney Bharara, and would pay a fine of $1.2 billion. SAC Capital also pleaded guilty to each of the five counts in the indictment, which notes that eight former employees were charged with securities fraud. Six of them had pleaded guilty, and two of them will be put in trials in the coming months. The trial of two former traders--Michael Steinberg and Mathew Martoma--will put the spotlight squarely on Steven Cohen, billionaire founder of the hedge fund. SAC Capital previously agreed to pay an additional $616 million in fine to Securities and Exchange Commission. As part of the November 4, 2013, settlement terms, SAC is barred to manage money of any outside investors. It is free to manage personal wealth of Cohen, who was not charged on any wrongdoing.

Largest Criminal Fine for Insider Trading Against SAC Capital
A federal judge, US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, on April 10, 2014 sentenced SAC Capital with $1.8 billion in fine, largest criminal fine in insider trading, on charges of wire fraud and security fraud committed by the trader and three related entities. All admitted to the charges last fall (2013 fall).