In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Jarkesy decision, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") dismissed two contested Rule 102(e) proceedings against accountants, suggesting that the agency believes...more
Seventh Amendment entitles defendants to jury trials when the SEC seeks civil penalties for securities fraud. ...more
The U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") won at trial in its first insider trading prosecution against an executive based exclusively on his sales of stock under 10b5-1 trading plans....more
On March 6, 2024, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") adopted the much anticipated climate-related disclosure rules, two years after publishing the proposed rules. Immediately following the adoption...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the new SEC regulation of private fund advisers exceeded the agency's statutory authority....more
The United States Supreme Court in Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. v. Moab Partners, L.P., No. 22-1165, ruled that a corporation is not liable under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 for...more
4/29/2024
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Item 303 ,
Macquarie Infrastructure Corp v Moab Partners LP ,
Misleading Statements ,
Omissions ,
Regulation S-K ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") won at trial in its first "shadow trading" case, holding a corporate official liable for insider trading for using nonpublic information about his company's acquisition to trade...more
4/19/2024
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Third-Party
Recently, a senior officer from the SEC's Division of Enforcement defended the penalties the Commission has levied on firms for failing to capture and retain their employees' "off-channel" electronic communications, and, in...more
The SEC has adopted the much-anticipated climate-related disclosure rules, which are more than 900 pages long, two years after they were first proposed. Although the rules will almost certainly face challenges in court that...more
On January 30, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") denied a Petition for Rulemaking to amend SEC Rule 202.5(e), known as the SEC's "no-admit/no-deny" rule or, more pejoratively, the "gag rule."...more
We are pleased to present our latest update on financial reporting and issuer disclosure enforcement activity. This White Paper primarily focuses on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) enforcement activity...more
As public companies increasingly discuss their artificial intelligence ("AI") capabilities, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") reminds us that it is closely watching these claims....more
The D.C. Circuit rebuked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on administrative law grounds but left untouched the test the Agency used to deny proposed bitcoin exchange traded products ("ETP")....more
9/7/2023
/ Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Financial Markets ,
Listing Rules ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Vacated
Two SEC commissioners dissented and urged the Commission to provide further guidance on non-fungible tokens ("NFTs")....more
9/7/2023
/ Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Securities Violations ,
Unregistered Securities
We are pleased to present our latest update on financial reporting and issuer disclosure enforcement activity. This White Paper primarily focuses on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) enforcement activity...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has charged a group of small companies with making deficient filings on Form 12b-25, harkening back to the SEC's "broken windows" strategy from the last decade....more
The Situation: The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has reopened the comment period for its proposed rule requiring public disclosure of security-based swap ("SBS") positions that exceed certain thresholds....more
8/23/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Comment Period ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Legal Entity Identifiers ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swaps ,
Third-Party
In Short -
The Situation: Recently, two judges in Southern District of New York were required to apply the Howey test in separate cases to decide whether sales of certain crypto assets were investment contracts, and thus...more
8/22/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Due Process ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Popular ,
Ripple ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Stablecoins
In Short -
The Situation: Following a cyberattack on a law firm's systems, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") subpoenaed the firm for information, including the identity of clients whose information may have...more
8/15/2023
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Discovery ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Evidence ,
Fourth Amendment ,
Government Investigations ,
Hackers ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Subpoenas
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has adopted new rules that expand antifraud and anti-manipulation measures for security-based swaps ("SBS")....more
A unanimous Supreme Court has confirmed that a claim brought under section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 ("1933 Act") requires that a plaintiff plead and prove that the shares purchased were issued pursuant to an allegedly...more
The largest-ever award highlights the importance of whistleblowers to the SEC's biggest cases.
On May 5, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") awarded $279 million to a whistleblower, the agency's largest...more
Each year, the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and in recent years, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") dedicate substantial resources to investigating and...more
The U.S. Supreme Court holds that district courts have jurisdiction to hear constitutional challenges to the structure of Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") and Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") administrative...more
If adopted, these proposed rules would (i) enhance protection of customer information under Regulation S-P, (ii) add new requirements addressing cybersecurity risk to the U.S. securities markets, and (iii) expand the types of...more