[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, Christopher Cox [Wikipedia profile] was sworn in as the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission [official website]. Cox, who became the 28th chairman of the SEC, took the oath of office from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. The SEC said in a press release that Cox's duties will officially begin on Thursday. Cox's nomination was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in July and he has pledged to vigorously uphold the law, including controversial new SEC rules [JURIST report].

In other corporations and securities law news...

• As reported earlier in JURIST's Paper Chase, Time Warner [corporate website] has agreed to a large settlement with investors. In a press release, Time Warner announced that it had agreed to a $2.4 billion settlement of a securities lawsuit and will set aside an additional $600 million for further litigation costs. The lawsuit was brought by investors who held stock in the company at the time of its disastrous merger with AOL [Wikipedia entry]. BusinessWeek has more.
  
  
• Bloomberg is reporting that the US Justice Department [official website] may push for a large settlement with KPMG [corporate website] instead of carrying on with criminal indictments against the company. The report cites unnamed sources who say the government would prefer to fine the auditing firm upwards of $500 million for its role in creating illegal tax shelters [JURIST report] and lying to the IRS [official website].