On August 26, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an order against a registered investment adviser, Sound Point Capital Management, LP, for its failure to “establish, maintain, and enforce written...more
The federal Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), effective January 1, 2024, whose constitutionality is currently being tested in the courts, follows in the footsteps of the IRC in that it creates a limited statutory exception...more
In April, we issued an alert discussing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Department of Justice’s ("DOJ") expansion of insider trading to 10b5-1 plans. On June 21, 2024, a federal jury in California...more
As discussed in our March 3, 2023 post, the DOJ and SEC brought an insider trading case against the founder and former CEO and Executive Chairman of Ontrak, Inc. based upon the former executive failing the “clean hands”...more
On December 26, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) issued an administrative cease and desist order against a middle market private equity firm (the Private Equity Firm) for failure to enforce its own...more
In a first for Canadian securities laws, on October 20, 2023 Ontario’s Capital Markets Tribunal (Tribunal) released substantive guidance on the meaning of the “necessary course of business” (NCOB) exception to the prohibition...more
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
The Commission created Rule 10b5-1 plans two decades ago. The rule essentially creates a safe haven for those who in good faith trade securities and are not in possession of inside information....more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has released its much-anticipated rule amendments regarding the use of trading plans by insiders. On Dec. 14, 2022, the SEC finalized amendments to Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities...more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which regulates financial services and markets in the UK has fined Sir Christopher Gent, the former non-executive Chairman of ConvaTec Group Plc (the Company), for unlawfully disclosing...more
Christopher Gent, a former CEO of Vodafone Group plc and non-executive Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline plc, was appointed as the non-executive Chairman of ConvaTec Group Plc (“ConvaTec”), a company admitted to trading on the...more
The chair of a premium-listed company has been fined £80,000 for unlawfully disclosing inside information to major shareholders before the information was announced to the market. This case acts as a reminder for...more
On March 1, 2022, HM Treasury published its conclusions on the consultation it launched in July 2021 on major reforms to the U.K.’s prospectus regime. That consultation followed on from Lord Hill’s Listing Review which made...more
As the SECond Opinions Blog continues our review of FY 2021 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) enforcement activity, we take a deeper dive into the agency's use of technology to generate enforcement leads. The...more
The European Securities and Markets Authority has published its final Market Abuse Guidelines on the disclosure of inside information and interactions with national prudential regulators under the EU Market Abuse Regulation....more
On January 14, 2022, Judge William Orrick of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order denying a former biopharmaceutical company executive’s motion to dismiss and allowing the...more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published Primary Market Bulletin No.33 (PMB No.33) featuring Brexit-related changes for EEA audit firms, details of their new online portal for submitting major shareholdings...more
A recent enforcement action announced by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice included a notable plot twist – the investigation did not turn up an antitrust crime, but instead revealed a criminal...more
This edition of the Primary Market Bulletin includes an update on the implementation of the European Single Electronic Format, COVID temporary policy measures on corporate reporting and a reminder for issuers and their...more
In March 2020, I posted a blog reviewing the evolution of the legal analysis applied to a retirement plan’s holding of “employer securities” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”)......more
Key Takeaways - The COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak has undoubtedly increased firms’ exposure to market abuse risks in a number of ways: Due to the rapidly changing consequences of restrictions caused by COVID-19 for...more
While corporate stock buybacks, as well as dividend payments, are receiving significant scrutiny in the face of the coronavirus pandemic as companies look to preserve cash, the same is not currently true for stock purchases...more
In light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, some public companies in Hong Kong are struggling to meet their financial reporting obligations under the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong...more
The heads of the SEC Enforcement Division, in remarks today, reminded market participants of the need to keep a close eye on the persons that may have material nonpublic information. In the remarks, they noted, “[f]or...more
“Employer securities” in retirement plans have been the source of a significant amount of litigation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). In general, “employer securities” are...more