On 27 June 2024, in a ruling much-anticipated by the securities industry and other similarly regulated industries, the Supreme Court (the Court) held in SEC v. Jarkesy that when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)...more
7/5/2024
/ Administrative Authority ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Jury Trial ,
SCOTUS ,
SEC v Jarkesy ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Securities Fraud ,
Seventh Amendment ,
Statutory Authority
On 17 April 2024, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new Strategic Civil-Criminal Enforcement Policy designed to improve collaboration between its civil and criminal enforcement offices, with the goal of...more
On 16 November 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC or Commission) Office of Enforcement (Enforcement) released its 2023 Annual Report on Enforcement (FY2023 Report). The FY2023 Report is the 8th annual...more
Introduction - A perennial message from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Enforcement is to extol the benefits of cooperation with enforcement investigations. The link between cooperation and a...more
On 22 May 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued two orders approving stipulation and consent agreements that resolve enforcement investigations by FERC’s Office of Enforcement (FERC Enforcement) of two...more
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the dismissal of a shareholder derivative suit filed against the manager and trustees of a Massachusetts business trust and SEC-registered investment company. In doing so,...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a new policy that it intends to use in considering costs imposed by No Discharge Zones (NDZs) under § 312(f)(3) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Calling this...more
In a strong opinion, a federal court in the Southern District of New York recently dismissed a suit alleging that the defendant charged “excessive” fees to a mutual fund....more
On Wednesday, March 27, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and endorsed a broad view of so-called “scheme liability” under SEC Rule 10b-5(a) and (c)....more
4/5/2019
/ Appeals ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Statements ,
Fines ,
Intent to Defraud ,
Investment Banks ,
Lorenzo v SEC ,
Material Dissemination ,
Misleading Statements ,
Reaffirmation ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Suspensions
Consistent with recent trends, 2018 saw significant activity in False Claims Act (“FCA”) litigation. While the government has made efforts to formalize its approach to FCA dismissals, the lower courts have continued to...more
Introduction - A recent decision by Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) (“FCC”) has renewed important questions with respect to legal privilege, its varied conceptual and practical scopes and...more
On June 21, 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lucia et al. v. Securities and Exchange Commission, [1] that the appointment of certain administrative law judges (“ALJs”) was unconstitutional, and that those with matters...more
7/2/2018
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Appeals ,
Appointments Clause ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Final Written Decisions ,
Lucia v SEC ,
Officers of the United States ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Special Trial Judges (STJs)
The D.C. Circuit on October 13, 2017, issued an order remanding to the SEC a question involving an application of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kokesh v. SEC: whether FINRA’s imposition of a lifetime bar on a...more
Court Recognizes Theory but Reaffirms the “Rigorous” Materiality and Scienter Requirements, Making Clear that the FCA is No Remedy for “Minor or Inconsequential” Infractions
The Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated...more
Recently, attorneys from K&L Gates’ Government Enforcement practice group attended the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s (“SIFMA”) Compliance and Legal Society Annual Seminar. We wanted to share with you...more
3/31/2016
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
BSA/AML ,
CFTC ,
CMBS ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Halliburton v Erica P. John Fund ,
Individual Accountability ,
Public Offerings ,
Retirement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Self-Reporting ,
SIFMA ,
Toys R Us
On March 2, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) instituted its first data security enforcement action, in the form of a consent order against online payment platform Dwolla, Inc....more
3/10/2016
/ Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Data Security ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Dwolla ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinTech ,
Online Payments ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
UDAAP ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Companies in receipt of a civil investigative demand (CID) from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) are required to take a number of quick and important actions and make decisions that can have significant impact...more
On April 29, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new Cybersecurity Unit within the Criminal Division issued a summary of “Best Practices for Victim Response and Reporting of Cyber Incidents” (“Best Practices”). While created...more