On April 14, 2023, the Supreme Court issued a consolidated opinion in Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. FTC and SEC v. Cochran.[1] We previously covered the oral argument in these cases here. These cases address whether respondents...more
On March 15, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed a new rule concerning cybersecurity risk management as well as updates to Regulations S-P and SCI (Systems Compliance Integrity).[1] With these...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations (“the Division”) issued a new Risk Alert on March 27, 2023 that takes newly-registered investment advisers to task for three recurring issues its staff...more
On February 22, 2023, a judge in the Southern District of New York ruled that a class action lawsuit may proceed alleging that Dapper Labs, Inc. violated federal securities laws when it issued of a series of non-fungible...more
On Tuesday, February 7, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Division of Examinations announced its 2023 examination priorities, which provide insights into the areas the Division believes present potential...more
Earlier this month, Cornerstone Research and the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse released a report analyzing 2022 securities class action filings. The report indicates that overall securities class...more
Under the leadership of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and Director of Enforcement Gurbir Grewal, the SEC has consistently prioritized compliance with books and recordkeeping obligations for registered broker-dealers, especially...more
It is no secret that over the last several years, there has been an exponential increase in the utilization of blockchain and digital assets. Crypto trading and lending platforms have grown rapidly and the total crypto market...more
As has been widely reported, last week, the SEC, CFTC, and U.S. Attorney’s Office (“USAO”) for the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”) announced charges against Samuel Bankman-Fried (“SBF”), the co-founder and majority...more
On Thursday, December 8, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published a notice to its website informing companies of their potential disclosure obligations regarding their crypto assets....more
On November 7, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the cases of SEC v. Cochran and Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. FTC, which address whether respondents in federal administrative proceedings have the ability to...more
In March 2022, as it does every year, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations (EXAMS) published its Examination Priorities, designed to highlight areas that the Agency views to be worthy of...more
On June 6, 2022, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming proposed federal regulation of digital assets in the Responsible Financial Innovation Act (“RFIA”)....more
On April 27, 2022, the SEC filed suit against family office Archegos Capital Management, LP, as well as its Founder/Owner Sung Kook (Bill) Hwang, CFO Patrick Halligan, Head Trader William Tomita, and Chief Risk Officer Scott...more
A pair of recent legal developments cast doubt on the long term ability of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to try contested actions before the agency’s in-house administrative law judges (“ALJ”). First, the...more
Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed a new rule concerning the disclosure of “certain climate-related information in their registration statements and annual reports” as well as “certain...more
4/4/2022
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Statements ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Proposed Rules ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulation S-X ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On June 29, 2021, a major cryptocurrency exchange (the “Crypto Exchange”) announced a new program called “Lend” in which it proposed offering customers a 4% interest rate on cryptocurrency tied to USD....more
A California Court recently allowed the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or “Commission”) to proceed with its first insider trading prosecution based on a theory of “shadow trading.” On January 14, 2022, Judge...more
2/11/2022
/ Confidential Information ,
Due Process ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Materiality ,
Misappropriation ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Scienter ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations
A key question for any company considering the issuance of cryptocurrency is whether that digital asset will be treated by regulators as a security, like BP stock, or a commodity, like Bitcoin. In 2019, the Securities and...more
2/4/2022
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinTech ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Popular ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
On November 18, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) released its Enforcement Results for fiscal year (“FY”) 2021, which spans from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. The Commission published...more
When it comes to settlements with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement (“Enforcement Division”), a question respondents often ask is how the SEC arrives at a given penalty amount? This blog post will discuss the SEC’s current...more
Last month, we wrote about three actions taken by the SEC signaling a renewed interest in cybersecurity disclosure enforcement. In keeping with this theme, the SEC announced a number of significant new cybersecurity actions...more
The SEC is ramping up its cybersecurity disclosure enforcement. While the agency had made significant efforts relating to cybersecurity disclosure previously, there has been surprisingly little SEC activity in this area...more