PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Raising Capital 101: A Securities Podcast - What Makes it a Securities Offering?
All Things Investigations: Anchored in Fraud: Mike DeBernardis and Shayda Vance on Austal USA’s Scandal
The Legal Tightrope: Surviving Parallel Investigations
Navigating Government Contracts: Diana Shaw on Oversight and Whistleblower Protections
From Court to Code: Smart Contracts and Arbitration
Episode 335 -- The New DOJ Whistleblower Program
Navigating Emerging Privacy Issues in Financial Services — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Implications of the SEC Cybersecurity Disclosure Rule
Corruption, Crime and Compliance: SEC Suffers Dismissal of Claims in Solarwinds Securities Fraud Case
Episode 334 -- District Court Dismisses Bulk of SEC Claims Against Solarwinds
The Woody Report: The Solar Winds Dismissal
In That Case: Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy
Corruption, Crime and Compliance: Deep Dive into The SEC’s Settlement with R&R Donnelly on Cybersecurity Controls
Episode 332 -- Deep Dive into SEC’s Internal Controls and Cybersecurity Settlement with R&R Donnelly
The Justice Insiders Podcast: Jarkesy’s Implications for the Administrative State
DE Under 3: OFCCP Must Shut Down its Administrative Court Prosecutions as a Result of SCOTUS’ SEC Jury Trial Case Decision
Dogecoin’s Day in Court
Unpacking the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act: Implications for the Digital Asset Industry — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Podcast: Is Cryptocurrency a Security (like an orange grove)?
Navigating the Regulatory Waters: The SEC's Wells Notice to Uniswap and its Impact on DeFi — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Circuits Split Over Whether Targeting Is Necessary for Seller Liability - Key Points - - While courts have long held that solicitations must be tailored to a particular audience to precipitate statutory seller liability,...more
In Pino v. Cardone Capital, LLC, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 35278 (9th Cir. Dec. 21, 2022), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Lynn, J.) joined with the Eleventh Circuit in holding that a person may qualify...more
Influencers and their large and impressionable followings have become a valuable marketing tool for brands big and small. However, brands and influencers alike should proceed with caution as regulators continue to scrutinize...more
On March 23, 2022, Judge Kenneth K. Lee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the United States District Court for the Northern District of California’s dismissal of claims brought under...more
In This Issue. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a sample comment letter on climate change disclosures; the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is conducting a review of brokerage firm...more
Toward the end of December 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the release of a new comprehensive marketing rule. The original advertising rule had not been substantively amended or updated since...more
Welcome back to another week in the Spotlight. It is truly remarkable to think that it has (already? only?) been one year since the World Health Organization’s declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, shuttering sports arenas,...more
Social media started out as a way to connect with old friends and distant relatives. Not anymore. Now, social media is being weaponized by everyday people to topple the giants of Wall Street. Recently, posters on Reddit and...more
A recap of Carlos Ghosn’s big media moment on Wednesday, which was short on the escape details everyone wanted to hear and long on accusations against other execs at Nissan and Japan’s justice system....more
Here’s about as 2019 as we can get in the financial world (with a healthy dose of 1950s-era gender discrimination for good measure): a series of tweets from tech entrepreneur David Heinemeier Hansson alleging gender...more
On August 7, 2018, Tesla CEO Elon Musk used his personal Twitter account (@elonmusk) to propose a buyout of the company for $420 a share, stating that funding was secured....more
In a time when information is increasingly shared through social media, companies—particularly publicly traded ones—must recognize and consider the potential legal ramifications that could arise from statements made by...more
Last Tuesday afternoon, Elon Musk tweeted from his personal handle, “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.” These words drove Tesla’s share prices up by 10% on Tuesday before Nasdaq halted trading,...more
[author: Trevor Starer] The use of social media raises many securities law and compliance challenges for issuers, broker-dealers, and investment advisers. This Compliance Guide summarizes briefly some key principles. ...more
We learned about KraftHeinz’s offer to merge with Unilever only after it had been rejected. And now it appears to be off the table completely—all $143 billion of it....more
Instagram now allows users to zoom in on photos in their feeds and at least 11 brands are already capitalizing on the new feature. Pinterest acquired Instapaper, a tool that allows you to cache webpages for reading at a...more
A settled SEC enforcement action describes an alleged interesting social media fraud. Two defendants that reside in India were alleged to have been behind the fraud. According to the SEC the scheme was an online...more
Earlier last week, the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Alert reminding investors seeking information and advice online to be wary of fraudulent investment schemes involving social media. In...more
Social media is becoming a desirable tool for companies to communicate with their shareholders and potential investors. Over the last few years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has issued guidance on how SEC...more
Shortly after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted the final rule relaxing the prohibition against general solicitation in connection with offerings made pursuant to new Rule 506(c) and Rule 144A, we provided...more
"While the guidance is not hard to understand, it will be difficult to apply. And the SEC will be looking for someone to cross the line..." - Stephen M. Quinlivan; Leonard, Street and Deinard...more
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a report clarifying that companies can use social media channels, such as Facebook and Twitter, to disseminate material nonpublic company information under Regulation...more
On April 2, 2013 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a report (the Netflix Report) announcing that it would not pursue enforcement action against Netflix, Inc. and its Chief Executive Officer, Reed Hastings,...more
The SEC has provided guidance to publicly reporting companies on how to use popular social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, consistent with federal securities laws. On April 2, 2013, the Securities and...more
Yes, you can use social media to make material public disclosures. The SEC did not punish Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. The reality is, however, the SEC gave a warning to executives: we are not going to do anything this time...more