Judge Engelmayer’s 107-page dismissal of most of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s claims against SolarWinds provides valuable guidance, and some comfort, for public companies and Chief Information Security...more
8/19/2024
/ Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Fraud ,
Internal Controls ,
Misrepresentation ,
Negligence ,
Ransomware ,
Scienter ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
SolarWinds
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
8/16/2024
/ Bitcoin ,
Bitcoin Mining ,
CFTC ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Fraud ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Penalties ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
UK
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
7/25/2024
/ Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement ,
FDIC ,
Fraud ,
Investment ,
IRS ,
Jurisdiction ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
U.S. Treasury
On June 26, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court held 6-3 in Snyder v. United States that a federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1)(B), does not criminalize “gratuities” to state and local officials—i.e., payments made to those...more
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's May...more
6/13/2024
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Blockchain ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
CFTC ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement ,
Ethereum ,
Money Laundering ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Wells Notice ,
Wire Fraud
The big news in crypto policy came out of the Senate this month. On April 17, Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) partnered once again in the digital asset space, this time introducing the...more
On April 12, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposed fines and other sanctions on five registered investment advisers (RIAs) for violations of the Investment Adviser Marketing Rule (Rule 206(4)-1), which has...more
On Friday, April 5, 2024, a San Francisco jury found the defendant liable in SEC v. Panuwat, the closely watched litigated enforcement action brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to so-called...more
On April 3, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its first enforcement action against a registered investment adviser (RIA) with no ties to a broker-dealer regarding so-called “off-channel”...more
4/10/2024
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fund Managers ,
Investigations ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations
In the House, lawmakers continue to make progress on the Clarity for Stablecoins Act (H.R. 4766). On March 19, at a press event hosted by Punchbowl News on the policy landscape for digital payments, outgoing House Financial...more
4/9/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
CFTC ,
Coinbase ,
Copyright Office ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
DIFC ,
FDIC ,
Fines ,
Fraud ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
RICO ,
Sanctions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sentencing ,
Stablecoins ,
USPTO
Key Points - In a thorough decision, a federal district judge in New York largely denied Coinbase’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a case brought by the SEC. Applying the plaintiff-friendly standards required at the...more
Last month, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that it is considering new procedures under which it would publicly identify firms that are under investigation as soon as the investigation has been...more
4/1/2024
/ Cross-Border ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
FSMA ,
Investigations ,
Notice Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK ,
Willful Misconduct
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
3/20/2024
/ Banking Regulators ,
Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
ETFs ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Fraud ,
Investors ,
Legislative Agendas ,
OECD ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Pyramid Schemes ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Stablecoins ,
Tokenization ,
Wire Fraud
On February 20, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal brought by the trustee of the Millennium Lender Claim Trust challenging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit’s August 2023 decision, in which...more
Congress continues to plug along on crypto policy. The Senate’s attention – on a bipartisan basis – has been focused on extending Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulatory authority to the digital assets space. This continues to...more
2/21/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Chapter 11 ,
Coinbase ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
Key Points - On February 13, 2024, FinCEN issued an NPRM that seeks to include certain investment advisers in the definition of “financial institution” under the BSA. As described in the NPRM as well as in FinCEN’s fact...more
2/16/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Due Diligence ,
Exempt Reporting Advisers (ERAs) ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investors ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Proposed Rules ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
Key Points - Last week, the SEC announced settlements with 16 broker-dealers, dually registered broker-dealers and investment advisers, and affiliated investment advisers in connection with their failures to maintain and...more
On the one hand, the year ended where it began. The legislation on stabelecoins and market structure that would provide a regulatory framework for digital assets has still not been enacted into law. And Securities and...more
1/19/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Class Action ,
Coinbase ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
ETFs ,
Fraud ,
Money Transmitter ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Tokens ,
Summary Judgment ,
Terrorism Funding ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Virtual Currency
Key Points - In SEC v. Terraform, the court has granted summary judgment for the SEC on its claim that the defendants offered and sold unregistered securities in the form of “crypto assets.” This comes amidst the SEC...more
1/15/2024
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Howey ,
Ripple ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Tokens ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Stablecoins ,
Summary Judgment
While it took a few decades to surface, the fact pattern set forth in the movie “Trading Places” has finally come to pass. However, instead of the alleged wrongdoers bribing a U.S. government official for a sneak peek at...more
Key Takeaways -
With the SolarWinds enforcement action, the SEC continues to ratchet up its enforcement against companies that fail to properly disclose their cybersecurity incidents and risks. By naming the SolarWinds CISO...more
11/22/2023
/ Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Popular ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SolarWinds
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates these stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
11/20/2023
/ CFTC ,
Coinbase ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement ,
FDIC ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
FinCEN ,
Fraud ,
Jury Selection ,
Licensing Rules ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
On October 24, 2023, the Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division, Gurbir S. Grewal, gave a keynote address to the New York City Bar Association’s 2023 Compliance Institute.
This address,...more
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates these stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
10/10/2023
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FinTech ,
Investment ,
IOSCO ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Key Points -
Last week, the SEC announced settlements with 10 broker-dealers and affiliated investment advisers in connection with their failures to maintain and preserve electronic “off-channel” communications....more