Data breaches are a reality that all businesses need to take seriously. Knowing your vulnerabilities is only part of the solution. You and your key stakeholders should be prepared with an incident response plan that defines...more
The upcoming U.S. Supreme Court term promises to be a big one, featuring a patent case that could be a game changer for many clients and a host of other cases that may affect how tech and life sciences companies deal with...more
10/2/2017
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Carpenter v US ,
Chevron Deference ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Energy Sector ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
First Amendment ,
Fourth Amendment ,
Free Exercise Clause ,
Free Speech ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Internal Reporting ,
LGBTQ ,
Location Data ,
Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd v Colorado Civil Rights Commission ,
NLRA ,
Oil States Energy Services v Greene's Energy Group ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Public Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SAS Institute Inc. v Lee ,
SCOTUS ,
Search & Seizure ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Stored Communications Act ,
Technology Sector ,
USPTO ,
Whistleblowers
In a case with important implications for late-stage private companies, a federal magistrate judge ruled last week that investors in funds holding private company securities can bring fraud claims against the issuer of the...more
4/27/2017
/ Common Law Claims ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Indirect Purchasers ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Intermediaries ,
Life Sciences ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Private Company Shares ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Theranos ,
Unfair Competition Law (UCL)
In an unprecedented one-day blitz, the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission was joined by the SEC Enforcement Director in events in Silicon Valley and San Francisco on March 31 focused on one message: the SEC is...more
SEC Enforcement Trends for 2016 -
Welcome to the latest edition of Fenwick and West’s Securities Litigation and Enforcement Newsletter. In this newsletter, we look at SEC enforcement trends for 2016, starting with a...more
4/1/2016
/ Accounting Fraud ,
Auditors ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Cooperation ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Reporting ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Mary Jo White ,
MCDC ,
Personal Liability ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Voluntary Disclosure
In an important break from past practice, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) is reported to be conducting routine examinations of investment advisers to venture...more
The SEC’s enforcement numbers are in for its fiscal year ended September 2015, and to no one’s surprise, the agency filed a record number of enforcement cases. As announced on October 22, 2015, the SEC filed 807 enforcement...more
A recent court decision holding that employees can claim the Fifth Amendment and refuse to unlock password-protected smartphones, even though the phones were issued by their employer for company business, demonstrates the...more
As our last newsletter highlighted, the government is ramping up enforcement investigations against both regulated entities and public companies for perceived cybersecurity failures. Proving the point, on September 22, 2015,...more
In a recent string of decisions, the Delaware Chancery Court has addressed the scope of the right of Directors and Officers to have their legal expenses paid while governmental investigations or legal proceedings against them...more
The SEC continues to focus on accounting and disclosure violations, including in the area of executive perks disclosure in corporate proxy statements. In the past year, the SEC brought two enforcement cases against executives...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the SEC are flexing their regulatory muscles to rein in securities and commodities rules violations by start-up companies in the virtual currency space. On September 17,...more
In this our second edition of Fenwick’s Securities Litigation and Enforcement Newsletter, we continue to provide you with short insights about timely securities litigation and enforcement developments. This edition’s topics...more
The government has increasingly focused its FCPA enforcement firepower on individuals. On August 31, a Russian official living in Maryland pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with arranging $2...more
9/24/2015
/ Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Defense Contracts ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Goodyear ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Internships ,
Money Laundering ,
Personal Liability ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The SEC has given the go-ahead to a venture capital firm’s plan to conduct 506(b) private placements online. On August 5, 2015, the Commission issued a no-action letter to Citizen VC, Inc., saying the firm’s proposed online...more
9/23/2015
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Investment ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Investors ,
No-Action Letters ,
Online Platforms ,
Private Placements ,
Regulation D ,
Rule 506(c) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchanges ,
Venture Capital
The SEC recently issued guidance specifying that whistleblowers do not first have to take their concerns to the SEC in order to be covered by the SEC’s anti-retaliation rule. The guidance clarifies that those whistleblowers...more
9/22/2015
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Barnes and Noble ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Internal Investigations ,
Internal Reporting ,
KBR (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root) ,
Retaliation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
The government appears to be increasing its enforcement efforts regarding cybersecurity risks. A three-judge panel of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently held the FTC may bring a claim that a company’s...more
9/21/2015
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Hackers ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Section 5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Target ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
A CD or not a CD, That is the Question… That the Auditors Should Have Answered -
A headline-grabbing SEC enforcement action last week against BDO USA and several of its national partners may lead audit firms to insist on...more
9/18/2015
/ Auditors ,
Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Construction Contracts ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Defense Contracts ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Embezzlement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Fraud ,
Internal Investigations ,
Internships ,
Money Laundering ,
Nuclear Power ,
Private Placements ,
Regulation D ,
Rule 506(c) ,
Russia ,
SAP America Inc. ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Software ,
Sovereign Wealth Funds ,
Whistleblowers ,
Willful Misconduct
On Dec. 3, 2014, the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought an enforcement action against two former top executives of Assisted Living Concepts LLC, a large provider of senior living...more
On December 10, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed insider trading convictions against two former hedge fund managers, and in the process sharply limited two key doctrines underpinning many recent...more
12/16/2014
/ Dell ,
Hedge Funds ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
NVIDIA ,
Personal Benefit ,
Portfolio Managers ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities ,
Securities Fraud