Episode 286 -- Matt Stankiewicz on the Ripple Decision and Celsius CEO Indictment
Blue Sky Laws: Defending State-Level Securities Violations
The Justice Insiders: The Administrative State is Not Your Friend - A Conversation with Professor Richard Epstein
Four Decision Points in SEC Securities Investigations
Crypto Enforcement Is Here, and Always Has Been
Cryptocurrency: The Regulator’s Perspective
Investment Management Roundtable Discussion – Regulatory and Enforcement Update
In this issue of our monthly Securities Enforcement Roundup, we highlight top securities enforcement developments and cases from September 2024. In September 2024 (the last month of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s...more
On September 9, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced settlements with seven public companies relating to their use of separation agreements that the SEC says violate whistleblower protection rules by...more
About eight years ago, I propounded the following five theses regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission's whistleblower bounty program...more
In September 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “the Commission”) resolved three separate actions against corporate entities for reaching agreements with employees, potential employees, and clients that,...more
Whistleblowers who exposed what has been called “one of the biggest frauds in Texas history” are not eligible to receive Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) whistleblower awards based on the collections recovered in a...more
There was a flurry of DOJ whistleblower program activity over the last two weeks as the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY Program), District of New Jersey (DNJ Program), Southern District of...more
On September 9, 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced settled charges against seven public companies for violation of the whistleblower protection rule in connection with employment, separation,...more
On September 9, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it settled charges against seven public companies for alleged violations of Securities Exchange Act Rule 21F-17. According to the SEC,...more
SEC rules prohibit taking “any action” to impede an individual from communicating directly with the SEC about a possible securities law violation, including by enforcing, or threatening to enforce, a confidentiality...more
On September 4, the SEC announced it had settled charges against three affiliated registrants (the respondents) accused of violating the whistleblower protection rule. According to the SEC order, from May 2021 through...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to investigate companies for including language in their employment and separation agreements or retail client settlement agreements that potentially discourages...more
Last week, the SEC announced settled charges against seven public companies for use of agreements that the SEC alleges have provisions that violate the whistleblower protection rule. Coincidentally, I recently recorded a...more
The SEC has begun to bring enforcement actions against companies whose employment and client agreements could appear to infringe on the right to report cases in violation of Section 21f-17(a) of the Exchange Act. On September...more
As discussed in our December 15, 2023 client alert, the SEC has waged an aggressive effort to enforce alleged violations of the whistleblower protection rule. On September 9, 2024, the SEC announced settled charges resulting...more
Earlier this week, the SEC announced an enforcement sweep charging seven public companies with violating the whistleblower protections rule in various employment-related agreements. These charges reflect the SEC’s continuing...more
Yesterday's post again discussed whether the Securities and Exchange Commission exceeded its authority in adopting Rule 21F-17(a), which provides...more
Yesterday, the SEC announced it had charged seven companies with violating ’34 Act Rule 21F-17(a) by using employment and separation agreements to impede potential whistleblowers from reporting misconduct to the SEC....more
In a blog post this morning, Liz Dunshee notes that the Securities and Exchange Commission has recently announced the settlement seven more cases involving Rule 21F-17(a), which provides...more
On September 4, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order against three investment adviser firms for violating the whistleblower protections of Rule 21F-17(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This...more
On August 23, 2024, the SEC announced payment of more than $98 million in total to two whistleblowers who provided the SEC with information and assistance that led to successful enforcement actions by the SEC and another...more
As new areas of the law emerge, driven in part by technology and the free flow of information, federal agencies are becoming more aggressive with a tried and true carrot-and-stick approach to law and regulatory enforcement. ...more
On June 17, 2024, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “the Commission”) issued a groundbreaking order against an energy, metals, and minerals commodity trading company (the "Company”) registered in Singapore....more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently held that proving an employer’s retaliatory intent is not required for whistleblowers seeking protection under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC, 144 S. Ct. 445 (2024),...more
As seen in the previous article, whistleblowing cases regularly make the news headlines. And while some of the names of the reporters or the cases are well known, it’s worthwhile to take a closer look at the people behind the...more
The SEC has opened a new track in the whistleblower litigation derby. While SEC enforcement actions concerning whistleblower violations are nothing new, they typically involve claims that companies precluded employees from...more