The SEC awarded more than $4.5 million to a whistleblower whose tip triggered the company to review the allegations as part of an internal investigation and subsequently report the whistleblower’s allegations to the SEC and...more
The U.S. Supreme Court considered the extent of liability under Rule 10b-5 and other rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission and related statutes in Lorenzo v. Securities and Exchange Commission. The facts of the...more
3/28/2019
/ Appeals ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Statements ,
Fines ,
Intent to Defraud ,
Investment Banks ,
Lorenzo v SEC ,
Material Dissemination ,
Misleading Statements ,
Reaffirmation ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Suspensions
Elon Musk, in a court filing, offered the following reasons why he should not be held in contempt of court for violating a court Order a recent tweet...more
3/12/2019
/ Automotive Industry ,
Criminal Contempt ,
Elon Musk ,
Embedded Tweets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Internal Controls ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations ,
Social Media ,
Tesla ,
Twitter
The SEC announced settled charges against four public companies for failing to maintain internal control over financial reporting, or ICFR, for seven to 10 consecutive annual reporting periods. ...more
In SEC v. Blockvest, LLC, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California examined the SEC’s argument for a preliminary injunction halting an initial coin offering, or ICO....more
12/3/2018
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
The SEC simultaneously announced a pair of settled enforcement actions related to illegally offered ICOs with extensive remedial provisions to fix the faulty offerings....more
11/19/2018
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment ,
Investment Products ,
Offerings ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Remediation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
In perhaps the fastest moving SEC enforcement action of all time, the SEC charged Elon Musk with securities fraud on September 27, 2018 after settlement agreements reportedly fell apart....more
10/1/2018
/ Automotive Industry ,
Elon Musk ,
Embedded Tweets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure-to-File ,
Internal Controls ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations ,
Social Media ,
Tesla ,
Twitter
In Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC brought an administrative action before one of its administrative law judges, or ALJ’s, against Raymond Lucia for allegedly using misleading slide presentations to...more
6/25/2018
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Appeals ,
Appointments Clause ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Final Written Decisions ,
Lucia v SEC ,
Officers of the United States ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Special Trial Judges (STJs)
In perhaps the SEC’s first major shot across the bow, Yahoo (now known as Altaba) has agreed to pay the SEC $35 million for failure to disclose a massive security breach to its investors. I’m guessing Equifax, Facebook and a...more
SEC Chair Clayton delivered the following remarks at a conference of securities professionals:
“My first message is simple and a bit stern. Market professionals, especially gatekeepers, need to act responsibly and hold...more
1/23/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency ,
Young Lawyers
The SEC charged a biopharmaceutical company with committing a series of accounting controls and disclosure violations, including the failure to properly report as compensation millions of dollars in perks provided to its...more
Munchee Inc., a California-based company selling digital tokens to investors to raise capital for its blockchain-based food review service halted its initial coin offering (ICO) after being contacted by the SEC. Munchee Inc....more
12/12/2017
/ Blockchain ,
Capital Raising ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
In a settled enforcement action, the SEC assessed a civil money penalty against a director of Medient Studios, Inc. for two missed Section 16 filings. But there was really only one transaction that was missed. One was a...more
The SEC announced a settled action against Beverly Hills-based investment adviser, Platinum Equity Advisors, LLC, for charging three of its private equity fund clients with about $1.8 million more than it should have in...more
David I. Osunkwo was a principal at Strategic Consulting Advisors, LLC, or SC Consulting. SC Consulting offered compliance consulting and CCO services to two SEC registered investment adviser firms under common control, Aegis...more
The SEC recently brought charges against the CEO and CFO of UTi Worldwide Inc. in a settled enforcement proceeding. The Company was engaged in multinational freight forwarding and logistics operations. In connection with its...more
The SEC announced that John David Telfer, the former chief compliance officer and anti-money laundering (AML) officer of a registered broker-dealer, agreed to a securities industry bar to settle charges in a pending...more
The opinion of the SEC in KCD Financial Inc. upholds a FINRA disciplinary action against a FINRA member broker-dealer that sold securities in a private placement when no exemption from registration was available....more
3/30/2017
/ Accredited Investors ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Press Releases ,
Private Offerings ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulation D ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations
The SEC announced that Allergan Inc. had agreed to admit securities law violations and pay a $15 million penalty for disclosure failures in the wake of a hostile takeover bid.
The SEC’s order finds that Allergan failed...more
1/23/2017
/ Allergan Inc ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Hostile Takeover ,
Mergers ,
Negotiations ,
Penalties ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Valeant
The SEC announced that Equidate Inc. agreed to settle charges that it violated federal securities laws by failing to register security-based swaps that were offered and sold online to shareholders in pre-IPO companies....more
SEC staff in the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations are examining compliance with key whistleblower provisions arising out of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The staff is...more
In a settled enforcement action, the SEC charged a private equity advisor, First Reserve Management, L.P., with conflicts of interest and other matters. First Reserve did not admit or deny the SEC’s findings....more
The SEC charged four private equity fund advisers affiliated with Apollo Global Management for misleading fund investors about fees and a loan agreement and failing to supervise a senior partner who charged personal expenses...more
In Beacom v. Oracle America, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit considered retaliation claims under Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank.
The essence of the matter was a business unit of Oracle...more
In remarks before the 2015 National Society of Compliance Professionals, National Conference, Andrew Ceresney, Director, SEC Division of Enforcement, outlined the type of criteria used to charge Chief Compliance Officers with...more
11/4/2015
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Investors ,
Portfolio Managers ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations