[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, President Bush's nominee to head the SEC, Rep. Christopher Cox [congressional profile], told the Senate Banking Committee [official website] Tuesday that he would vigorously enforce securities laws. Cox also pledged to enforce the controversial Financial Accounting Standards Board [official website] (FASB) rule requiring companies to count stock options given to employees as a business expense. As a congressman, Cox had introduced a bill intended to limit the SEC's power to force companies to comply with the rule. Reuters has more.

In other corporations and securities law news...

• Circuit board producer Merix [corporate website] says that an employee is being sued by the SEC for insider trading. The company said that the company is not being sued by the SEC and that Merix has cooperated with the SEC's investigation. AP has more.
  
  
• A federal judge has said he is considering leniency in sentencing former Cendant [corporate website] vice chairman E. Kirk Shelton. The prosecutors in the case recommended that Shelton, who was convicted in January of 13 fraud-related counts [DOJ press release], face 12-15 years in prison for fraudulently overstating revenue for Cendant's predecessor CUC International. US District Judge Alvin Thompson said he is considering sentencing Shelton to between 10 and 13 years in jail. AP has more.
  
  
• WorldCom's ex-CFO Scott Sullivan and two other executives have reached civil settlements over their roles in WorldCom's disastrous accounting fraud [JURIST news archive] that bankrupted the company. Sullivan--who famously testified against recently-convicted WorldCom founder Bernard Ebbers [Wikipedia profile]--and the other executives plead guilty to criminal charges and await sentencing next month. CNN has more.
  
  
• Former SEC operations chief Peter Derby is being investigated and sued for his involvement with a hedge fund. Derby reportedly made $186,000 from his investments with Sterling Watters [CNN report]. The New York Post has more [registration required].