In a significant turn of events on July 2, 2025, the SEC, SolarWinds Corp. and its Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Timothy Brown, announced through a joint letter to the U.S. District Court for the Southern...more
7/18/2025
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Investors ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
Settlement Negotiations ,
SolarWinds ,
Stays ,
Technology Sector
The SEC on June 2, 2025, filed a complaint against David A. Nagler and New Line Capital LLC (Defendants) in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duties and defrauding...more
7/17/2025
/ Breach of Duty ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Elder Abuse ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fraud ,
Investment Adviser ,
Penalties ,
Pending Litigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In the first artificial intelligence (AI)-washing enforcement cases brought by the SEC and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Trump Administration, on April 9, 2025, the SEC and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the...more
7/10/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Statements ,
Fraud ,
Indictments ,
Investors ,
Misleading Statements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
In Hollywood, the sequel (or, even more so, the third installment) is rarely as good as the original movie. In the world of enforcement, the same rings true....more
3/6/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Consent Order ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Statements ,
Financial Crimes ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations ,
Subsidiaries ,
White Collar Crimes
Like a fashion trend that never fails to come back in style (we look fabulous in baggy jeans, btw), we're revisiting SEC enforcement actions involving public company executive perquisites – or "perks" – a topic we have...more
1/31/2025
/ Cooperation ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Compensation ,
Perks ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Settlement
Readers, thank you for journeying with us through all nine (and this, our 10th and final!) installments of Season's Readings. In this final piece, we turn from the past and look ahead to what may be in store from the SEC's...more
Whistleblower programs are the gifts that keep giving to enforcement agencies, driving a record number of cases, sanctions and awards across multiple agencies. In this ninth installment of Season's Readings, we revisit some...more
12/20/2024
/ Appointments Clause ,
Article II ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
FinCEN ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
The SEC's wave of enforcement actions concerning "off-channel" communications did not abate in 2024. In total, the SEC announced more than 70 firms agreed to pay more than a half-billion dollars combined to settle charges for...more
12/20/2024
/ Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Mobile Devices ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
The SEC was increasingly active in fiscal year (FY) 2024 in pursuing enforcement actions involving cybersecurity incidents and artificial intelligence (AI) (query how long society will continue to define AI; harkens to the...more
The number of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)-related actions the SEC and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reported in 2024 reflects that these cases remain a priority for both agencies. However, DOJ took the lead over...more
12/13/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
FEPA ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Qui Tam ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Whistleblowers
The SEC did not take its foot off the pedal in fiscal year (FY) 2024 when it came to prosecuting insider trading. In the third installment of Season's Readings, we consider several recent actions in which the agency secured...more
12/12/2024
/ Consent Order ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Failure-to-File ,
Hackers ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Misappropriation ,
Regulation FD ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
The dog days of late summer are a frenzied time within the SEC's Division of Enforcement as staff work feverishly to complete their investigations and secure the requisite yes vote from a majority of commissioners to...more
12/9/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Fraud ,
Insider Trading ,
Market Manipulation ,
Private Funds ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations
The SEC on Oct. 22, 2024, announced charges against four companies for allegedly making materially misleading disclosures concerning the impact of cybersecurity incidents associated with the compromised SolarWinds' Orion...more
10/31/2024
/ Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Form 8-K ,
Material Misrepresentation ,
Misleading Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Software ,
SolarWinds
This Holland & Knight blog post is the second installment in a two-part series that examines the challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) charges in its landmark case against SolarWinds Corp....more
7/29/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Material Misrepresentation ,
Misleading Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
SolarWinds
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on July 18, 2024, dismissed most of the SEC's landmark cyber enforcement litigation against SolarWinds Corp. (SolarWinds or the Company) and the Company's Chief...more
7/24/2024
/ Audits ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Form 8-K ,
Hackers ,
Internal Controls ,
Material Misstatements ,
Materiality ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
NIST ,
Popular ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Software Developers ,
SolarWinds
The SEC continues to expand its cybersecurity enforcement authority to include allegations that a company's failure to monitor its managed security service providers (MSSP) amounts to violations of federal securities laws....more
7/9/2024
/ Accounting Controls ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Form 8-K ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Internal Controls ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
The SEC has been aggressively pursuing cybersecurity investigations and enforcement actions against public companies and foreign private issuers. In these actions, the SEC often alleges one of two theories: 1) that the...more
7/8/2024
/ Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Private Issuers ,
Form 8-K ,
Materiality ,
Misrepresentation ,
Professional Liability ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Puffery ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Security and Privacy Controls ,
SolarWinds
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on May 30, 2024, approved a settled final judgment against technology company Arista Networks' former chairman and CEO, Andreas "Andy" Bechtolsheim based on...more
6/11/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Breach of Duty ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Confidential Information ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Misappropriation ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud ,
Settlement ,
Stock Options ,
Target Company
Although the SEC has long adhered to its Seaboard Report of Investigation to outline the analytical framework for the agency's cooperation program for companies, the exact benefits of self-policing, self-reporting,...more
11/17/2023
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Internal Investigations ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Remediation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
Voluntary Disclosure
In a series of settlements announced this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) penalized several broker-dealers for allegedly failing to file...more
11/9/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banking Sector ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
FinCEN ,
NASD ,
Registered Representatives ,
Regulation SHO ,
Remediation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Self-Reporting ,
Settlement ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Threshold Requirements
The SEC on Oct. 30, 2023, filed a landmark cybersecurity enforcement action against SolarWinds Corp. (SolarWinds) and the company's current Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Timothy Brown. The SEC's complaint alleges...more
11/7/2023
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Information Technology ,
NIST ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
SolarWinds
Digital assets are not the only coins drawing regulatory scrutiny these days. Earlier this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it filed a complaint against California-based Red Rock Secured...more
10/27/2023
/ 401k ,
CFTC ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Parallel Proceedings ,
Rare Earth Metals ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations
As the SEC closed its fiscal year, it filed three separate enforcement actions against companies for purported violations of Rule 21F-17 under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, which prohibits persons from impeding...more
10/10/2023
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Remediation ,
Retaliation ,
Rule 21F-17 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations ,
Separation Agreement ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
Specifically, the SEC wants a change to persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit – now, not later – of its view that Torres got it wrong when she determined that the company's offer and sale of its XRP token...more
8/11/2023
/ Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Platforms ,
Discovery Disputes ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Investment Contract ,
Popular ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Unregistered Securities
We return once more to the issue of public company executive perquisites or "perks" – a topic we anticipated last year would "be a hot-button enforcement issue for the foreseeable future." We were not wrong. In light of the...more
7/11/2023
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Governance ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Compensation ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Perks ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Self-Reporting