False Claims Act - When Does Embellishing Become Fraud?
What is Fraud and How to Defend Against the Claim
Three recent enforcement actions highlight the risks of failing to adhere to representations made to investors regarding ESG and biblically responsible investing strategies....more
On December 3, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission settled charges against biotherapeutics company Kiromic BioPharma, Inc., its former CEO, and its former CFO for failing to disclose material information about...more
On October 31, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit revived claims brought under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 against an outside auditor (the...more
On July 29, 2024, Judge Trina L. Thompson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied a motion to dismiss a putative securities class action brought by investors against a financial...more
On September 11, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced settled enforcement actions against nine separate investment advisory firms for alleged marketing rule violations, assessing a total of $850,000 in...more
On September 12, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) charging a large proprietary trading firm with making materially false and misleading statements and...more
A recent enforcement action from the Fort Worth Regional Office of the SEC reminds one of the agency's investor-protection mission and continued focus on those who deceive retail investors in the private offer and sale of...more
On June 1, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the grant of summary judgment dismissing claims under Sections 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against a financial company and...more
On January 6, 2023, Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York denied a motion to dismiss claims against a cannabis and tobacco engineering company (the “Company”)...more
On December 12, 2022, Judge Colleen McMahon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted summary judgment to a major pharmaceutical company (the “Company”) and dismissed class action...more
When it comes to the federal securities laws, clear answers can occasionally be hard to find. There may be no better example than the question around the overlap of the "misstatement liability" and "scheme liability"...more
Federal courts closed out 2021 with a flurry of securities decisions in the month of December. In this update, we discuss two decisions involving claims under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule...more
In 2015 the SEC proposed rules to implement Section 954 of the Dodd-Frank which added Section 10D to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Section 10D requires the SEC to adopt rules directing the national securities exchanges...more
Coffee fans may argue that a bad day with coffee is better than a good day without it, but Luckin Coffee is certainly putting that adage to the test for its investors. We began writing about the coffee company’s woes earlier...more
In First Ever SEC Sanction for Allegedly Misleading COVID Related Disclosures, Cheesecake Factory Pays $125,000 Civil Penalty; New York State Appellate Court Dismisses Putative Securities Act Class Action on Merits for First...more
At the end of last year, in an enforcement action brought by the Division of Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against ADT Inc. (ADT), reporting companies were reminded that the SEC continues to...more
David I. Osunkwo was a principal at Strategic Consulting Advisors, LLC, or SC Consulting. SC Consulting offered compliance consulting and CCO services to two SEC registered investment adviser firms under common control, Aegis...more