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Supreme Court Narrows Federal Bribery Statute That Applies to State and Local Officials

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

SEC Announces First Off-Channel Communications Enforcement Action Against a Standalone Private Fund Manager

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

Coinbase Court Embraces ‘Ecosystem’ Approach to Identifying Crypto-Asset Securities

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

Cross-Border Implications of the FCA’s Consultation Paper on Publishing Information About the Opening and Progress of...

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

SEC Fines 16 Firms More Than $81 Million for Off-Channel Communications

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

Are Crypto Tokens Securities? Terraform Court Says ‘Yes’ in Extensive Decision

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

The SEC’s Second NFT Enforcement Action: SEC v. Stoner Cats 2

Key Point - Just over two weeks after the SEC announced the settlement of its first NFT enforcement action against Impact Theory, on September 13, 2023, the SEC announced its second NFT enforcement action against SC2, the...more

The SEC’s First NFT Enforcement Action: SEC v. Impact Theory

Key Points - On August 28, 2023, the SEC charged Impact Theory, LLC, a media company with an unregistered securities offering through its sale of NFTs. This marks the first time that the SEC has brought an enforcement action...more

The SEC and FCA: A Pond, 362 Investigations and $4 Billion in Penalties Apart

No financial services firm or professional welcomes an investigation by a regulator, let alone enforcement action. Each investigation proceeds differently depending on the target of the investigation, the subject matter and...more

Judges in the Southern District of New York Divided on Whether a Token Is a Security: SEC v. Terraform Labs and SEC v. Ripple Labs

Key Point - Just shy of three weeks after Judge Torres held that the digital asset XRP is not itself a security,1 Judge Rakoff held that the SEC had adequately pled that certain digital assets, such as the UST and LUNA...more

Split Court Decision on Whether a Token Is a Security in SEC v. Ripple Labs

Key Points - A judge in the Southern District of New York recently held that (i) the crypto asset XRP is not, on its own, a security and, (ii) as a result, the determination of whether an offer or sale of XRP required SEC...more

“When you are a hammer, the world is a nail” – SEC and PCAOB Senior Staff Signal Increased SEC and PCAOB Gatekeeper Enforcement

Key Points - SEC Enforcement and PCAOB Enforcement both are pursuing more significant sanctions against auditors, particularly with respect to civil money penalties. Expect 2023 enforcement against auditors to focus...more

Supreme Court and 1st Circuit Significantly Curtail Scope of Federal Property Fraud Statutes

Key Points- In two landmark decisions, the Supreme Court and the 1st Circuit significantly pared back the scope of the federal mail and wire fraud statutes. In Ciminelli v. United States, a political corruption case, the...more

Federal Agency Settlements with Wells Fargo Illustrate Sanctions Risks Involving IT Systems

Key Points - On March 30, 2023, OFAC announced a settlement agreement with Wells Fargo for 124 apparent violations of three different sanctions programs (Iran, Syria and Sudan), all related to a legacy Wachovia Bank...more

New DOJ Focus on Executive Compensation in Resolving Criminal Investigations

Key Points - The DOJ recently announced several policy updates tethering resolution of criminal investigations to a company’s compensation and bonus programs. These updates include executive compensation focused...more

Landmark SEC and DOJ Insider Trading Cases Signal Increased Scrutiny of Rule 10b5-1 Plans

Key Points - On March 1, 2023, the SEC and DOJ filed insider trading charges against a public company executive alleging he traded pursuant to 10b5-1 trading plans he adopted while he was in possession of material...more

DOJ Focuses on Corporate Crime Involving Sanctions Evasion, Export Controls Violations and Similar Economic Crimes

Key Points - On March 2, 2023, DOJ announced that its NSD would hire more than 25 new prosecutors to investigate and prosecute sanctions evasion, export controls violations and similar economic crimes. Consistent with...more

A Fractured Framework: Regulatory Actions Against Mango Token Trader Highlight Complexities of Crypto Enforcement

Key Points - The recent indictment and multiple regulatory enforcement actions brought against a crypto trader alleged to have committed market manipulation highlight the ongoing fractured oversight of the crypto markets...more

Blaszczak II: 2nd Circuit Reverses Course and Overturns Insider Trading Convictions

Key Points - In the wake of the Supreme Court’s “Bridgegate” decision in Kelly v. United States, a divided panel in the 2nd Circuit reversed its prior decision in United States v. Blaszczak, and held that a federal...more

DOJ Criminal Division Announces New Round of Revisions to Corporate Enforcement Policy

Key Points - On January 17, 2023, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. announced revisions to the DOJ Criminal Division’s corporate enforcement policy that offer new incentives to self-disclose corporate...more

Deputy AG Announces Significant Changes to DOJ Policies Regarding Corporate Investigations

Key Points - On September 15, 2022, Deputy AG Lisa O. Monaco released a Memorandum and provided remarks announcing several DOJ policy changes to prioritize and strengthen the Department’s prosecution of corporate crime....more

The FCA and SEC Annual Reports – 2022 Comparison

Key Points - The SEC and the FCA each publish annual reports, which can offer a useful insight into their enforcement actions. The data in the reports only represents a snapshot of the regulators’ activities, but is...more

SEC Ramp Up Means Increased Enforcement Coming to Crypto Platforms, DeFi Exchanges and NFTs

On May 3, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it was nearly doubling the size of the Enforcement Division’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit in order to pursue cases involving crypto asset offerings,...more

Coming to Terms with Materiality Judgments for SEC Financial Statements

Materiality in the context of the federal securities laws has been a topic of repeated focus by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the courts over the years. That attention, however, has not necessarily produced...more

Regulatory Investigations and Enforcement Trends in 2022

The New Year Brings a New Enforcement Focus on Emerging Technology - In 2021, newly confirmed members of the Biden administration set the stage for increased enforcement activity, surging resources to investigations and...more

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