On May 22, 2025, the SEC brought a case of affinity fraud before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Bay Area real estate investor Kenneth Mattson alleging more than $46 million in...more
7/2/2025
/ Criminal Prosecution ,
Fraud ,
Investment Fraud ,
Investors ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
White Collar Crimes
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
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. 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
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
Public companies should be mindful not to interfere with or retaliate against whistleblowers, and stretching is best reserved for the yoga mat, not the numbers in a company's public disclosures. So says the U.S. Securities...more
6/12/2023
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Retaliation ,
Rule 21F-17 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations ,
Severance Agreements ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers