On Monday, March 10, 2025, the SEC announced a new final rule revoking the Director of Enforcement’s previous authority to issue formal orders, which have the effect of officially initiating investigations and permitting...more
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently announced settlements with a number of companies whose separation agreements or internal policies the SEC viewed as impeding employees’ participation in the...more
10/5/2023
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Former Employee ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Separation Agreement ,
Settlement ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
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The SEC’s pursuit of the crypto industry continues with its second-ever settlement of a non-fungible token (NFT) enforcement action. The SEC settled with Stoner Cats 2 LLC (SC2), which sought to finance an...more
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The SEC’s focus on the crypto industry expanded this week to include non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In its first NFT-enforcement action, the SEC settled with Impact Theory, a media and entertainment company, over...more
9/5/2023
/ Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethereum ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Offerings ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Securities Violations ,
Unregistered Securities
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly nearing a settlement with a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO) over its failure to preserve certain credit-ratings...more
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Two more broker-dealers became the latest financial institutions to settle with the SEC for failing to maintain and preserve electronic communications. What distinguishes these settlements from the 17 prior...more
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A proposal by the Securities and Exchange Commission to amend Rule 10b5-1, as well as recent enforcement activity relating to these plans, suggest that the SEC is concerned that the rule has been used as cover...more
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week released its annual Congressional Budget Justification. The agency is seeking a budget of $2.15 billion for FY 2023, which is almost $240 million more than...more
Today, the SEC sent a very clear signal about one of its chief enforcement priorities by announcing the creation of a Climate and ESG Task Force within the Division of Enforcement. ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and...more
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today that it has settled its case against The Cheesecake Factory charging the national restaurant chain with providing misleading disclosures in filings—the...more
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced yesterday, August 20, 2019, that it charged TherapeuticsMD, Inc., a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, with violations of...more
8/21/2019
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDA Approval ,
Financial Markets ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Insider Trading ,
Non-Public Information ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation FD ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Stock Prices
For years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has aggressively utilized its own administrative law judges to adjudicate enforcement proceedings, prompting critics to argue that this strategy gives the SEC a decided...more
6/25/2018
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Appeals ,
Appointments Clause ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Final Written Decisions ,
Lucia v SEC ,
Officers of the United States ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Special Trial Judges (STJs)
As we previously have blogged, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) became one of the first regulators to wade into the regulation of cryptocurrency when it released interpretive guidance in March 2013 stating...more
3/9/2018
/ AML/CFT ,
Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Markets ,
FinCEN ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Interpretive Rule ,
Money Services Business ,
Money Transmitter ,
Mutual Funds ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
Wednesday, the SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) announced its 2018 examination priorities, released in order to “improve compliance, prevent fraud, monitor risk, and inform policy.” ...more
2/9/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banking Sector ,
BSA/AML ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Money Laundering ,
NEP ,
OCIE ,
Retail Investors ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
The following joint statement was issued this last week from the Enforcement Directors of the Securities Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission...more
1/22/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Virtual Currency