Underwriters, Universities and Government Debt Issuers Face a Critical Deadline
On February 10, 2020, an SEC advisory committee called the Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee (FIMSAC) met and adopted a series of recommendations on the topic “Timeliness of Financial Disclosures in the...more
On August 20, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued Release No. 34-83885 (the “Release”) adding two new events (the “New Events”) to the list of events that must be included in the continuing disclosure...more
After a record-breaking fiscal year 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division had a somewhat quieter year, at least in terms of the number of actions filed. The Enforcement Division released its...more
Just in the last weeks of August, the Public Finance Abuse Unit of the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced settlements of securities fraud actions involving a city, an underwriter, a...more
A settlement announced this week by the SEC serves as a reminder that the Commission is in the process of reviewing the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation participants, and that it will continue to pursue...more
On April 5, 2017 the SEC released two orders instituting cease-and-desist proceedings (consent decrees) which are the first post-MCDC cases finding securities law violations based on misstatements in official statements...more
President Donald Trump on Feb. 3, 2017, signed an executive order entitled "Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System," which directed the Treasury Secretary to consult with financial regulators,...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ended settlements under its Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) Initiative. Details of the SEC’s MCDC Initiative can be found in our prior Alert. For those...more
After a federal jury found the City of Miami's (City) former budget director guilty of defrauding investors in connection with a 2009 bond offering, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking a record...more
On August 24, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced settlements with 71 state and local government issuers of municipal bonds and private sector borrowers of bond proceeds (collectively, "issuers")...more
Back in the 1970s, SEC Enforcement Director Stanley Sporkin had a problem. He had stumbled onto what looked like a vast number of illicit payments from public companies to people who shouldn’t have been receiving them,...more
On August 24, the SEC announced settled administrative actions against 71 state and local issuers arising from $3.7 trillion in municipal securities offerings. The Commission alleged the issuers made false statements...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced enforcement actions against 71 municipal issuers of bonds in connection with the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) Initiative. The...more
On August 24, 2016, the SEC announced that it had entered into settlement orders with 71 municipal issuers and other obligated persons for violations of federal securities laws in municipal bond offerings. The issuers and...more
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it brought enforcement actions against 71 municipal issuers and other obligated persons as part of the SEC’s Municipalities Continuing Disclosure...more
On August 24, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced enforcement actions against 71 municipal issuers and other obligated persons (collectively, the municipal issuers) under the SEC’s Municipalities...more
US regulators are “ramping up oversight” of Swift—the financial messaging system used throughout global finance that’s been a key conduit for hackers in recent attacks of Bangladeshi and Ecuadorian banks....more
On June 23, 2016, the SEC instituted a settled enforcement action against Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. and Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp. (collectively, “Merrill”), in which Merrill agreed to pay $415...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
In March 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) initiated the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation Initiative (“MCDC Initiative”) to provide issuers (including obligated persons) and underwriters...more
In responding to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) initiative, the unanswered question for many municipalities and broker-dealers was determining whether...more
On September 30 the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced another round of enforcement actions against 22 municipal underwriting firms for disclosure violations in connection with municipal bond offerings. The...more
On September 30, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced enforcement actions against 22 municipal bond underwriters, the second round of enforcement actions brought by the SEC under the Municipalities...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week announced enforcement actions under its Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) Initiative, targeting 22 municipal bond underwriting firms for alleged due...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to increase its enforcement efforts in the municipal bond market by focusing on the sufficiency and timeliness of disclosure in initial municipal securities...more