A federal court in California refused to grant a judgment or a new trial to a defendant who was found to have engaged in insider trading when he purchased securities of one company based on material nonpublic information...more
A federal district court in Missouri recently denied a motion to dismiss the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s (“SIFMA’s”) challenge to Missouri Securities Division rules that require financial firms and...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a statement of opinion that reflects some subjective judgment can nevertheless be actionable under the securities laws if it misleads investors into thinking that the...more
8/23/2023
/ Appeals ,
Enforcement ,
Financial Statements ,
GAAP ,
Investors ,
Misleading Statements ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Litigation
The gloves are off. The SEC’s recent enforcement actions against leading crypto exchanges suggest that the SEC has decided that time’s up for the crypto industry as it currently exists in the United States....more
6/15/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Clearing Agencies ,
Coinbase ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Infrastructure ,
Popular ,
Securities ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT)
A federal district court in Virginia recently held that the federal securities laws can apply to transactions in a foreign issuer’s unsponsored American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) that traded over the counter in the United...more
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held today that social media and other mass communications concerning securities can constitute solicitations potentially creating statutory-seller liability under § 12(a)(2) of the...more
A Pennsylvania federal court held yesterday that an agreement not to use confidential inside information for trading purposes need not precede the receipt of that information in order to create liability under the...more
3/22/2017
/ Buyers ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Duty of Trust ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Pleading Requirements ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment Adviser ,
Misappropriation ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Sellers
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held on January 4, 2017 that the federal securities laws apply to U.S. transactions in sponsored, but unlisted, American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) for a...more
1/6/2017
/ Automotive Industry ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Class Action ,
Financial Markets ,
Fraud ,
Misrepresentation ,
Morrison v National Australia Bank ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Over The Counter Derivatives (OTC) ,
Securities ,
Stock Exchange ,
Volkswagen
As U.S. law has become less willing to entertain certain types of lawsuits on behalf of worldwide classes of plaintiffs, litigants have looked for other forums that might allow the prosecution – or at least the resolution –...more
10/18/2016
/ BP ,
Class Action ,
Collective Actions ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Deepwater Horizon ,
EU ,
Investors ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Netherlands ,
Oil & Gas ,
Securities ,
Securities Litigation ,
Settlement ,
Shareholders
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a lengthy opinion today in the long-running In re Vivendi, S.A. Securities Litigation, affirming the jury’s verdict on liability and addressing issues about loss...more
9/28/2016
/ Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Class Members ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Expert Witness ,
Foreign Corporations ,
FRCP 23(b)(3) ,
Loss Causation ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Securities ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholders ,
Stocks ,
Superiority Claims
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit added its voice yesterday to the ongoing judicial effort to construe the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, concerning the extent to...more
1/28/2015
/ Appeals ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Market Manipulation ,
Morrison v National Australia Bank ,
OTCBB ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud ,
Stock Exchange
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. rejected the argument by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to limit the Second Circuit’s decision in United States v. Newman to classical...more
1/26/2015
/ Hedge Funds ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Mergers ,
Misappropriation ,
Personal Benefit ,
Portfolio Managers ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities ,
Securities Fraud ,
US v Newman
The U.S. Government filed a petition seeking panel and en banc rehearing of the Second Circuit’s December 2014 decision in United States v. Newman and Chiasson, ___ F.3d ___, 2014 WL 6911278 (2d Cir. Dec. 10, 2014). That...more
1/26/2015
/ En Banc Review ,
Hedge Funds ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Personal Benefit ,
Petition For Rehearing ,
Portfolio Managers ,
Securities ,
Securities Fraud ,
US v Newman
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit added its voice yesterday to the ongoing judicial effort to construe the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, concerning the extent to...more
The Ninth Circuit recently joined the debate on whether the heightened pleading standard of Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b) or the more relaxed notice-pleading standard of Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a) applies to pleading loss causation for a...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently clarified the elements required to hold a tippee liable for insider trading: a tippee cannot be held liable unless the Government proves that the tippee knew both (i)...more