For nearly two decades since its enactment in 2005, PCAOB Rule 3502 prohibited any “person associated with a registered public accounting” firm from taking or omitting to take an action knowingly or recklessly in a way that...more
9/11/2024
/ Accounting Standards ,
Amended Rules ,
Auditors ,
Audits ,
Ethics ,
Liability ,
Negligence ,
PCAOB ,
Professional Liability ,
Proposed Rules ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In 2012 and 2013, while James Snyder was the mayor of Portage, Indiana, the city purchased garbage trucks from local trucking company Great Lakes Peterbilt for roughly $1.1 million....more
On Thursday, June 27, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, held that the Seventh Amendment entitles a defendant to a jury trial in instances where the SEC seeks civil penalties against that defendant for alleged securities...more
7/3/2024
/ Administrative Authority ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Jury Trial ,
SCOTUS ,
SEC v Jarkesy ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Regulation ,
Seventh Amendment
Prompted by congressional scrutiny of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) efforts to root out those abusing lucrative Puerto Rico tax benefits, the agency has committed to devoting more resources to audits of those taking...more
In a recent interview with Law360, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal reiterated the agency’s commitment to the encouragement of voluntary self-reporting, going as far as to say that...more
On April 2 and 3, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) presented its annual SEC Speaks program in conjunction with PLI, where senior members of the Commission provided updates on the current...more
After years of explicitly warning taxpayers that failing to report or underreporting income from transactions involving digital assets would lead to criminal charges, federal prosecutors are now beginning to follow through on...more
2/23/2024
/ Bitcoin ,
Capital Gains ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinTech ,
Income Taxes ,
Indictments ,
IRS ,
Required Forms ,
Tax Evasion ,
Tax Returns ,
Virtual Currency
The newly announced whistleblower policy gives certain individuals who promptly and completely cooperate with prosecutors the opportunity to receive a non-prosecution agreement in exchange for their information....more
On October 24, SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal addressed compliance professionals at the New York City Bar Association’s 2nd Annual Compliance Institute. His remarks focused on three topics: creating “a culture of...more
In an important policy announcement aimed at rewarding robust due diligence and compliance programs, DOJ announced that acquiring companies that promptly and voluntarily disclose criminal misconduct discovered at the acquired...more
10/10/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Deadlines ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Policy Statement ,
Remediation ,
Restitution ,
Safe Harbors ,
Voluntary Disclosure
For years, regulators have emphasized that the starting point for maintaining an effective compliance program is understanding the particular risks the company faces. According to Munter, this same concept applies to...more
The settlements announced by the SEC and CFTC on Monday are a continuation of the regulators’ focus on off-channel communications by employees of registered entities....more
8/11/2023
/ Books & Records ,
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Data Preservation ,
Data Retention ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hedge Funds ,
Mobile Apps ,
Private Equity ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Settlement ,
Swap Dealers
Join BakerHostetler for our series of Fireside Chats about the latest developments impacting the capital markets and their participants, and the blockchain industry....more
7/12/2023
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Blockchain ,
Capital Markets ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement ,
Popular ,
SEC Commissioner ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Webinars
On May 3, 2023, a jury found Nathaniel Chastain, a former manager of OpenSea (a major NFT marketplace), guilty of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with his attempts to conceal his use of confidential business...more
5/25/2023
/ Commodities ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Digital Assets ,
Fraud ,
Insider Trading ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Misappropriation ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Securities ,
Wire Act ,
Wire Fraud
The SEC and CFTC settlements with HSBC and Scotia Capital come after years of federal regulators’ and prosecutors’ steadily increasing scrutiny of off-channel communications. Anchoring these settlements are long-standing...more
5/24/2023
/ Amended Rules ,
Books & Records ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Data Preservation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discovery ,
Electronic Communications ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Mobile Devices ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On March 29, Gensler testified before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee’s Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee during a hearing on the SEC’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Justification Annual Performance...more
In Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. FTC and SEC v. Cochran, the respondents in administrative agency enforcement actions brought suit in federal district court, challenging the constitutionality of each respective agency’s attempt to...more
In a March 3 speech at the ABA’s Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime, Kenneth Polite, chief of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, announced that the Criminal Division’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (the...more
On March 15, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ or the Department) launched a three-year Compensation Incentives and Clawbacks Pilot Program (Clawback Program) intended to incentivize companies to create more robust...more
3/30/2023
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Clawbacks ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Incentives ,
Pilot Programs ,
Preemption ,
Section 10D ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On Wednesday, March 1 the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its first-ever prosecution of an individual for insider trading based on an executive’s use of 10b5-1 trading plans. Terren Peizer, the executive chairman of...more
3/8/2023
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Amended Regulation ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Form 8-K ,
Indictments ,
Insider Information ,
Insider Trading ,
Popular ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
Monaco’s and Polite’s remarks, and the DOJ’s new policies and guidance, come amid the Department’s increasingly tough on corporate crime approach and emphasis on rewarding companies that have effective compliance programs...more
3/7/2023
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Executive Compensation ,
Monaco Memo ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements
On Feb. 7, 2023, the Division announced its 2023 examination priorities. These priorities, updated and published annually, provide insights into the Division’s prioritization of certain practices, products and services in its...more
As discussed more fully in our alert when Blaszczak I was issued, the crux of this case was that four individuals were charged with and convicted of an alleged scheme to obtain nonpublic information from the Centers for...more
1/27/2023
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Dirks v SEC ,
Insider Trading ,
Kelly v United States ,
Legal History ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Medical Reimbursement ,
Personal Benefit ,
Property Ownership ,
Remand ,
Tippers ,
Vacated
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance (CorpFin) recently issued guidance (Guidance), including a “Dear Issuer” Sample Letter (Sample Letter) to assist companies in meeting their...more
On July 25, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) made headlines announcing insider trading charges against 10 individuals across four separate cases, signaling an increased and renewed focus on...more