As Congress moves to enact comprehensive stablecoin legislation under the Trump administration, both the Senate and the House of Representatives have updated their respective payment stablecoin bills. Our recent Commentary...more
3/18/2025
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Committee ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinTech ,
Payment Systems ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Stablecoins ,
U.S. Treasury
President Trump's recent executive order "Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology" promoted the development of dollar-backed stablecoins as official U.S. policy. To facilitate this policy, Congress...more
3/3/2025
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinTech ,
OCC ,
Payment Systems ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Stablecoins ,
Trump Administration
The United States lacks a regulatory framework geared toward digital assets. This raises consumer protection concerns, causes regulatory turf battles and duplicative enforcement actions, impedes innovation, and puts the...more
President Trump signed an executive order ("EO") titled "Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology" that signals a radical shift in the federal government's posture towards digital assets and the...more
Reporting companies should take note of a recent clarification by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") that the Beneficial Ownership Information ("BOI") Rule requires reporting companies that exist on or after...more
On March 1, 2024, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a revised version of New York State's LLC Transparency Act, which is modeled on FinCEN's Beneficial Ownership Information Rule. Other states are...more
The Second Circuit recently revived a securities class action against the crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd., holding that plaintiffs plausibly alleged their transactions on the exchange were "domestic," as required by the...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") has issued a final rule ("Final Rule") extending the initial reporting deadline for new entities required to file beneficial ownership information ("BOI") with FinCEN to 90...more
The recently created SDNY Whistleblower Pilot Program encourages individuals to self-disclose certain criminal conduct and cooperate in resulting investigations and prosecutions.
...more
2/8/2024
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Liability ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
New York ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Pilot Programs ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
We are pleased to present our latest update on financial reporting and issuer disclosure enforcement activity. This White Paper primarily focuses on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) enforcement activity...more
On January 9, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a 2022 jury verdict for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") against EOX Holdings LLC and a former broker, Andrew Gizienski, holding...more
The Background: The CFTC Division of Enforcement ("Enforcement") recently issued an advisory on new enforcement policies that increase the agency's focus on corporate accountability through increasing civil penalties,...more
In light of the DOJ’s most recent guidance on the use of personal devices and third-party messaging applications by corporate personnel, this White Paper addresses issues and challenges that companies are facing in this area...more
10/18/2023
/ CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electronic Communications ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Guidance Update ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Mobile Devices ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Workplace Communication
An estimated 32.6 million domestic and foreign companies will soon be required to report information about their beneficial owners to the U.S. Treasury. This White Paper describes the new requirements and the steps companies...more
We are pleased to present our latest update on financial reporting and issuer disclosure enforcement activity. This White Paper primarily focuses on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) enforcement activity...more
In Short -
The Situation: Recently, two judges in Southern District of New York were required to apply the Howey test in separate cases to decide whether sales of certain crypto assets were investment contracts, and thus...more
8/22/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Due Process ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Popular ,
Ripple ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Stablecoins
In a coordinated announcement, federal agencies stress the benefits of voluntarily disclosing potential trade violations while emphasizing increased enforcement....more
8/22/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
CFIUS ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Controls ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
National Security ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
In Short -
The Situation: In parallel federal actions, the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC"), and Federal Trade Commission ("FTC")...more
7/24/2023
/ CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Market Manipulation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
In Short -
The Situation: Terrorists may be increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions and finance terrorist acts, as recent prosecutions and reports suggest. Under the Antiterrorism Act ("ATA"), as...more
In 2022, anti-money laundering ("AML") and sanctions controls were at the center of regulatory and enforcement activities in the United States and abroad. Globally, governments have continued to recognize the impact of AML...more
Each year, the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and in recent years, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") dedicate substantial resources to investigating and...more
In Short -
The Situation: The European Union's Fourth Anti-Money Laundering ("AML") Directive (Directive (EU) 2015/849 of May 20, 2015) granted broad access to information relating to the beneficial owners of companies...more
The Court held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA") does not apply to criminal prosecutions, but left open the possibility that instrumentalities of foreign states may have common law immunity from prosecution....more
On February 22, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ" or "Department") announced the Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy ("VSD Policy" or "Policy"), detailing the circumstances under which a company can receive credit for...more
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) enforcement has yet to rebound from the immediate pre-pandemic period. In 2022, DOJ and SEC resolved eight corporate FCPA matters for $878 million, including four resolutions coordinated...more
3/3/2023
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)