As the world is navigating through COVID-19 and as we are focused on our health and well-being as we self-quarantine and engage in social distancing to do our part to stop the spread, our markets remain open, active, and...more
On March 3, 2020, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Liu v. SEC, No. 18-1501. This article summarizes what transpired at the hearing, in which the arguments centered on a challenge to the ability of the U.S....more
3/21/2020
/ Administrative Authority ,
Certiorari ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equitable Relief ,
Lack of Authority ,
Liu v Securities and Exchange Commission ,
Penalties ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Split of Authority ,
Statute of Limitations
In February, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a settlement with Diageo plc, a London-based producer of liquor, wine and beer, for failure to make required disclosures of known trends and uncertainties,...more
Steven Seagal just learned the hard way that, unlike the title of his 1988 police action movie, he is not Above the Law. Unfortunately for the prolific action movie star, the SEC took notice of his recent actions and was Out...more
The SEC and DOJ have long prioritized insider trading prosecutions. Moreover, insider trading cases frequently involve parallel investigations in which the SEC and DOJ share information and coordinate efforts to collect...more
2/26/2020
/ Civil Liability ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Federal Agency Taskforce ,
Information Reports ,
Insider Trading ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations ,
Willful Violations
According to a White House budget issued on February 10, 2020, the White House is considering transferring the authority of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB or Board) to the SEC by 2022 in order to...more
The college football bowl season is upon us, NFL teams are jockeying for playoff seeding, and with the college basketball season underway fans of that game are looking longingly towards March for how their brackets may look...more
12/17/2019
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Gambling ,
Investment Contract ,
Investment Fraud ,
Investment Schemes ,
Investors ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Sports Betting ,
Unregistered Securities
Facing a 35-day government shutdown and new restrictions on the ability to recover disgorgement, it would be perfectly understandable if the SEC’s Division of Enforcement suffered a lackluster year. Nevertheless, according to...more
11/18/2019
/ Conflicts of Interest ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Disgorgement ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Kokesh v SEC ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative (SCSD) ,
Statute of Limitations ,
White Collar Crimes
Last week, the Southern District of New York dropped its prosecution of Richard Lee, a former portfolio manager at SAC Capital who, in 2013, entered a guilty plea to trading on material nonpublic information that he gained...more
On September 30, 2019, the SEC ordered an additional 16 self-reporting investment advisory firms to pay nearly $10 million in disgorgement. Some have referred to this as the “second wave” of the SEC Division of Enforcement’s...more
The SEC announced settlements with an auditing firm (the “Firm”) and one of its partners relating to violations of certain auditor independence rules involving nineteen audit engagements with fifteen SEC-registrant...more
9/30/2019
/ Auditor Independence ,
Auditors ,
Audits ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Disgorgement ,
PCAOB ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Professional Misconduct ,
Regulation S-X ,
Rules of Practice ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations ,
Settlement
Recently, the Department of Justice indicted three precious metals traders in the Northern District of Illinois, charging each them with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (“RICO”), committing...more
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) sent a strong message to Chief Compliance Officers (“CCO”) this week when it held a CCO held accountable for lying to the National Futures Association (“NFA”) during an...more
9/19/2019
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Bad Actors ,
CEOs ,
CFTC ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Commodity Futures Contracts ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Misappropriation ,
National Futures Association ,
Private Equity Funds
On August 29, 2019, the SEC filed a complaint against a registered investment adviser alleging failures to disclose four categories of conflicts of interest and seeking disgorgement of $10 million in undisclosed compensation....more
9/12/2019
/ Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Investment Adviser ,
OCIE ,
Revenue Sharing ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Reporting ,
Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative (SCSD) ,
Share Classes
In a ruling handed down on Tuesday, a Southern District of New York judge ordered the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (“USAO”) to submit a full account of their communications with the SEC after...more
6/21/2019
/ Affidavits ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Due Process ,
Intent to Defraud ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
U.S. Attorney ,
Wire Fraud