In the recent Supreme Court case, Navellier & Associates, Inc. v. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the petitioners sought a writ of certiorari challenging the decisions of the lower courts regarding the scope of...more
5/16/2025
/ Appeals ,
Disgorgement ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Materiality ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Regulatory Violations ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation
On April 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit vacated a summary judgment ruling in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Commonwealth Equity Services, LLC, also known as Commonwealth...more
4/17/2025
/ Appeals ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Materiality ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Summary Judgment ,
Transaction Fees
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly announced internally a major reorganization of its enforcement and exams divisions. This restructuring, effective April 9, 2025, was detailed in a staff memo...more
4/8/2025
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Government Agencies ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
According to news sources, including Reuters, on Friday, February 21, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly informed regional directors at its 10 regional offices that it plans to eliminate their roles...more
On January 17, the District of Columbia Circuit issued a pivotal opinion regarding the Fifth Amendment rights of a defendant-appellant compelled by the FBI to unlock his cellphone using his thumbprint. The D.C. Circuit’s...more
1/30/2025
/ Biometric Information ,
Cell Phones ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Evidence ,
FBI ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Fingerprints ,
Personal Data
On November 22, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its enforcement results for fiscal year (FY) 2024. As compared to FY 2023, the Division of Enforcement (the division) reported a 26% decline in the total...more
On October 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Examinations announced its 2025 examination priorities (2025 guidance) for registered investment advisers and investment companies, broker-dealers,...more
On September 4, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order against three investment adviser firms for violating the whistleblower protections of Rule 21F-17(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This...more
On June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court released a 6-3 decision in SEC v. Jarkesy, et al., ending the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) long-standing use of in-house administrative law judge (ALJ) tribunals in cases where...more
The Financial Industry Regulation Authority’s (FINRA) Enforcement Division recently announced a resolution to a nearly two-and-a-half-year investigation in which TradeZero America, Inc. (TradeZero) agreed to pay a fine of...more
On June 11, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the first settled case in its ongoing review of collaborations between investment advisors and short publishers. The SEC fined affiliated investment advisors...more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) Enforcement Division recently announced its first settlement involving a firm’s supervision of social media influencers. The respondent, M1 Finance LLC (M1), is a...more
On April 4, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a stay on the implementation of its newly enacted climate impact disclosure rules. This decision is connected to a challenge to the rules currently pending in...more
It was a busy year for enforcement activity in the cyber, crypto, SPAC, and whistleblower spaces, with several pending actions that will likely have wide-ranging implications in 2024. We are also awaiting a ruling from the...more
2/29/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Whistleblowers
In a 2-1 opinion issued on February 14, 2024, an Eleventh Circuit panel partially reversed a lower court ruling that would have barred a defendant from participating in future penny-stock offerings. The majority found it was...more
Despite a 50% increase in whistleblower tips over fiscal year (FY) 2022, the number of whistleblowers who received awards from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decreased significantly in FY 2023. This trend...more
On November 14, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published its enforcement results for fiscal year 2023, which concluded on September 30. These results provide insight into the SEC's priorities and enforcement...more
On October 4, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada announced the formation of a new task force, the Corporate and Securities Fraud Strike Force....more
10/13/2023
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
California ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Insider Trading ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Securities Violations ,
State and Local Government ,
Tax Evasion ,
Trading Platforms
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case this term involving the circuit split over the types of disclosures that private plaintiffs can enforce under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Section 10(b)...more
10/6/2023
/ Certiorari ,
Class Action ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Macquarie Infrastructure Corp v Moab Partners LP ,
Regulation S-K ,
Rule 10(b) ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations
On September 8, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it settled charges against Monolith Resources LLC, a privately held technology and energy company headquartered in Nebraska. The SEC’s...more
On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in SEC v. Jarkesy, et al. and agreed to hear the case that could potentially end the use of administrative courts and administrative law judges (ALJ) in administrative...more
In recent years, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has had its eye on the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) market — warning investors against putting money into SPACs, expressing skepticism about...more
On April 26, the SEC’s Division of Examinations (EXAMS) issued a risk alert on the importance of broker-dealers and investment advisers (collectively, “firms”) establishing and following written policies and procedures aimed...more
On April 14, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reopened the comment period for a January 2022 proposal that would subject cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms to the Securities...more
On April 14, the Supreme Court unanimously held that federal district courts have jurisdiction to review constitutional challenges to the structures of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission...more