Blue Sky Laws: Defending State-Level Securities Violations
Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) and Gamification: Your Questions Answered
Business and Legal Issues Around Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies
Summer Enforcement Action Review; Raising Money in a Pandemic - Investment Management Roundtable Discussion
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – The annuity regulatory landscape
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – FinTech initiatives
Ropes & Gray’s PEP Talk: General Solicitation by Private Equity Funds Under 506(c)
On August 5, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a proposed settlement with Legends Hospitality Parent Holdings (“Legends”), a global venue services company, in connection with its proposed acquisition of ASM...more
The SEC’s litigation against the largest digital asset exchanges in America has been unfolding for over a year, beginning with the agency suing various Binance entities in June 2023, followed by actions against Coinbase...more
In the world of compliance and ethics, the Citigroup internal control debacle serves as a glaring reminder of the critical importance of robust, well-designed, functioning and effective internal controls. The U.K. Financial...more
In March 2024, the SEC announced that it settled two cases against investment advisers Delphia (USA) Inc. and Global Predictions Inc. for making false and misleading statements about their purported use of artificial...more
With the close of FINRA’s fiscal year comes the opportunity for broker-dealer firms to consider where regulators have focused their enforcement efforts and also what can be expected in the coming year. Fortunately, FINRA has...more
On October 13, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved final rules requiring increased disclosure of short selling activities of institutional investment managers and securities lending activities of...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently brought its first two enforcement actions against issuers of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), resulting in cease-and-desist orders, penalties and other remedies, finding that the...more
Two SEC commissioners dissented and urged the Commission to provide further guidance on non-fungible tokens ("NFTs")....more
In a published settlement of the charges on August 28, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) stated that non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) issued by Impact Theory, LLC (“Impact”) were “securities” under US...more
Summary - The SEC’s focus on the crypto industry expanded this week to include non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In its first NFT-enforcement action, the SEC settled with Impact Theory, a media and entertainment company, over...more
On August 9, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres requesting leave to file an interlocutory appeal in SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc. as to the two adverse liability...more
It’s the Transaction, Not the Token. Issuers cannot offer or sell securities without registering them with the SEC under Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 or finding a valid exemption from registration. XRP is the...more
On March 1, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the insider-trading indictment of Terren Peizer, Chairman and former CEO of health-care provider Ontrak. DOJ called this indictment “groundbreaking,” in that it is...more
Allegations of unauthorized trading claims present significant risks for investment brokers and brokerage firms. In addition to investor arbitration with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), brokers and...more
The Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued a finding of violation (“FoV”) to Nodus International Bank, Inc. (“Nodus”), located in Puerto Rico, for violation of Venezuelan Sanctions. Nordus...more
Recent settled enforcement actions illustrate FINRA’s expansive view of what it means to “participate” in a private securities transaction. Private securities transactions, sometimes characterized as “selling away,” involve...more
On June 15, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a complaint against California-based broker-dealer Western International Securities, Inc. (“Western”) alleging violations of Regulation Best Interest...more
The SEC's Enforcement Action Against Ripple - In December 2020, the SEC commenced an enforcement action against Ripple and two of its senior executives alleging that the defendants violated Section 5 of the Securities Act...more
The SEC's Enforcement Action Against Ripple - In December 2020, the SEC commenced an enforcement action against Ripple and two of its senior executives alleging that the defendants violated Section 5 of the Securities Act of...more
District Court Denies Payday Lender's Bid To Dismiss SEC Enforcement Action; Delaware Chancery Court Dismisses Camping World Insider Trading Derivative Suit; California Federal Judge Certifies Class Of Apple Common-Stock...more
On February 15, 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) published an initial set of regulations to implement sanctions targeting investments in Chinese Military-Industrial Complex...more
CBDC Research Published, Fintech Firms and Banks Launch Crypto Initiatives - The Boston branch of a major U.S. banking agency and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently released “the findings of their initial...more
The SEC prevailed on a motion to dismiss a closely watched lawsuit alleging that a company employee had engaged in insider trading based on news about a not-yet-public corporate acquisition when he purchased securities of a...more
The SEC prevailed on a motion to dismiss a closely watched lawsuit alleging that the defendant had engaged in insider trading based on news about a not-yet-public corporate acquisition when he purchased securities of a...more
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California held on January 7, 2022 that the federal securities laws do not apply to U.S. transactions in unlisted, unsponsored American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) for a...more