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
On February 8, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided that an employee who blows the whistle under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) does not need to show that their employer had retaliatory intent to find...more
Tackling the tricky issue of how a plaintiff proves an employer's “intent,” in an opinion issued today, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, corporate whistleblowers have...more
On Friday, September 29, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a cease and desist and $10 million civil money penalty against D.E. Shaw & Co, L.P. (“DESCO”). DESCO is a registered investment advisor...more
On May 1, 2023, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal in Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC.1 There, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that an employee whistleblower suing under the...more
In its recent decision in McLaren Macomb, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) concluded that provisions in employment separation agreements prohibiting disparagement of the employer and requiring...more
Reductions in force (RIFs) are making headlines as companies trim their worker ranks in the face of a weakening economy. Employers must decide whether to implement voluntary or involuntary RIFs (or both); the considerations...more
Terminating a CEO “for cause” requires that the board of directors (“Board”) of the employer focus on two questions – What is the applicable standard for cause? Do the facts and circumstances satisfy this applicable standard?...more
Corporate Governance and Securities Law Developments - Directors Can Be Held Liable for Failure to Oversee “Mission Critical” Regulatory Compliance - On October 1, the Delaware Court of Chancery refused to dismiss a...more
On July 18, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on a SOX whistleblower retaliation claim, holding that the Plaintiff did not have...more
On October 2, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania federal court denied a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss a SOX whistleblower retaliation claim, reasoning that Plaintiff sufficiently alleged...more
ANTICORRUPTION DEVELOPMENTS - DOJ Extends FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy to Misconduct in Mergers and Acquisitions - On July 25, 2018, in a speech to the Ninth Global Forum on Anti-Corruption Compliance in High Risk...more
On November 28, 2017, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument on whether whistleblowers are entitled to protection from retaliation under Section 922 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection...more
Employment separation and layoffs can present some unique challenges for the compliance practitioner. Employees can use layoffs to claim that they were retaliated against for a wide variety of complaints, including those for...more
A California Magistrate Judge in BofI Federal Bank v. Erhart ruled that a whistleblower’s attorney’s communications sent to federal regulators were protected by the attorney work product doctrine. No. 15-cv-2353 (S.D. Cal....more
On August 10, 2016, the SEC announced that BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (Company) is settling charges that it violated Rule 21F-17 by requiring outgoing employees to waive whistleblower bounty awards in connection with severance...more
Question: We learned that some of our employees may have been engaging in unethical, and perhaps even illegal, behavior. We don’t tolerate this, so we hired a law firm to conduct an investigation, and based on the results...more
On March 28, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed an amicus brief in a whistleblower lawsuit brought by a former in-house attorney against Vanguard Group (the “Company”). The case is Danon v....more
EU Permits Employers to Monitor Private Employee Communications - Why it matters - In a favorable ruling for employers, the European Union's (EU) highest court concluded that an employee's right to privacy was not...more
"Wherefore Art Thou Due Process?" Part III - Why it matters: It is time for another installment in our continuing "Wherefore Art Thou Due Process?" coverage into the ongoing constitutional challenges to the SEC's...more
Second Circuit Splits from Fifth Circuit on Whistleblower SEC Reporting Obligations On September 10, 2015, the Second Circuit in Berman v. Neo@Ogilvy LLC, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 16071 (2d Cir. 2015), ruled that...more
A recurring question under the federal whistleblower laws is whether plaintiffs suing their employers for retaliation have the right to a jury trial. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act1 appears...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado followed a trend of decisions concluding that a plaintiff need not have provided the SEC with information regarding alleged federal securities law violations to pursue a...more
In This Issue: *Financial Industry Developments - Agencies Issue Updated Leveraged Lending Guidance - CFTC No-Action Relief from Required Clearing for Some Partial Swap Novations and Terminations - FHFA...more
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that a SOX whistleblower complaint survived a Rule 12(b)(6) challenge on “reasonable belief” grounds and found that complaints of potential future...more