The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (the “Court”) issued a major ruling against the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on August 29, 2023, holding that the SEC acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a cease-and-desist order on August 28, 2023, charging Impact Theory, LLC (“Impact Theory”) with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities in violation...more
9/8/2023
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethereum ,
Howey ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Tokens
In the latest decision evaluating the application of federal securities laws to the digital asset context, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”) ruled in favor...more
8/23/2023
/ Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Howey ,
Investment ,
Investment Contract ,
Liquidity ,
New York ,
Profits ,
Registration Requirement ,
Ripple ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins ,
Token Sales
On July 13, 2023, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”) issued a major ruling in in a closely-followed lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”)...more
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday in United States v. Banks1 that under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, “loss” means only actual loss and not intended loss.
Although the term “loss” is not explicitly...more
In a year of increased volatility across the world’s financial markets, prosecutors, regulators and exchanges on both sides of the Atlantic sharpened their focus on “spoofing” – i.e., bidding or offering without the intent to...more
2/24/2021
/ CFTC ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Market Manipulation ,
Market Participants ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Traders ,
Securities Violations ,
Spoofing ,
UK ,
White Collar Crimes
In recent weeks, so-called “meme stocks” have demonstrated how statements by investors on social media can have an outsized impact on stock prices. Regulators have said that they are monitoring extreme volatility in certain...more
2/15/2021
/ Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Defamation ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Markets ,
Internet Memes ,
Investment ,
Investment Fraud ,
Online Commentary ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Short Selling ,
Stock Prices
On February 12 2019 the Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Act 2019 (the “COPO Act”) came into force in the UK. This new law gives UK authorities (including the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) and the Financial Conduct Authority...more
3/8/2019
/ CLOUD Act ,
Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) ,
Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Act 2019 (the COPO Act) ,
Designated International Co-Operation Agreement (DICA) ,
Document Productions ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
HMRC ,
International Litigation ,
Long Arm Statute ,
National Crime Agency (NCA) ,
Nexus ,
Overseas Production Order (OPO) ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
In a decision with significant implications for cross-border criminal and regulatory investigations in both the UK and U.S., a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently overturned two convictions for...more
9/2/2017
/ Compelled Testimony ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Cross-Border ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Indictments ,
International Litigation ,
Libor ,
Reversal ,
Self-Incrimination ,
UK
U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Berman denied a motion to dismiss the indictment in the closely followed criminal prosecution of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish/Iranian businessman charged with conspiring to evade U.S. economic...more
10/20/2016
/ Banks ,
Blocked Entities ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Evasion ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Financial Transactions ,
Foreign Relations ,
Fraud ,
General Licenses ,
Indictments ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
International Litigation ,
Iran Sanctions ,
ITSR ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Turkey
The Sentencing Council’s Definitive Guidance for Fraud, Bribery and Money Laundering Offences (the “UK Guidelines”) came into force on 1 October 2014. The UK Guidelines set out a ten step process for sentencing and apply to...more
A D.C. Circuit decision (In re Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc.) has confirmed privilege over employee statements during in-house investigations. Can the world take comfort? This article examines privilege in the context of...more
7/12/2014
/ Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cross-Border ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Internal Investigations ,
KBR (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root) ,
Legal Advice Privilege ,
Litigation Privilege ,
SFO ,
UK ,
Upjohn Warnings